Map Making Guild

This is Just a holding for my new guild, please dont fuk with it. I will add links and stuff latter, just let me finsh it befor peopel go hacking around changing things, or honestly I wont ever finsh it. Thanks.

Yhea.. Right,.. ;-) - TB

Tim Blokdijk?? Is that you :)

Yes, it's me :-) btw, I see that Maelstrom started to work on Maps:Tutorial

Yes I have. People were complaning that there was no good tutorial, and asking where to put the tile fine in the command line, and weird stuff that made no sense. So I made that to clear things up. About to go finish it.

Well... Mines gonna be probablie about 20 times as long as all others, and very in depth. And will Hopefully include pictures, plus i was gonna include test files.

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aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guild:

Stage A – Pre-Preparation

So you want to make a map? Want to give something back? Good! However there are several things you’re going to have to make sure you know before you start. And that’s what this section is about.

Have you the Time?

Believe me when I say, making a map will take a lot of your time. Hours. Days. Some take weeks to finish. So make sure you want to commit yourself to it first (this isn’t a StarCraft style, make a map in 5 minuets sort of situation)

Have you the Hardware?

Making a map unfortunately requires a computer better than that need to actually play spring. Sounds daft? You’re dealing with very large images, which take up a lot of ram. Seeing as Windows needs 512 just to run, you’ll need at least a gig if you want any joy. Also you’ll need a half decent processor, or compiling will take forever. Some people will disagree, but honestly, at least a 2 GHz and a gig of ram would be useful.

Have you the Software?

First off, you will need Several Different pieces of software.

Mapconv:

There are actually two versions; however, I will strongly recommend that you use Mothers Mapconv program. All the advice given below will assume you will be using it. And whilst the vast majority of this will be relevant for the original one, there are a few vital differences in what does what etc…

Art Program:

You will need an art program. Paint will not be sufficient. You can use whatever you are comfortable with, but this guild is written with Photoshop in mind. However many of the options are the same, they all do the same thing in the end. Suggestions of programs to use:

• Photoshop
• Paint shop Pro
• GIMP
• Fireworks

The following are not required, but are useful, or needed for more advanced maps.

Terrain Generators:

Terragen / TerrTexGen – both of these programs take a height map, and create a realistic render of terrain based of it, using values you input.

3D software:

There are HUNDREDS of different 3D packages out there, any one of them can be used to make a feature for you map, however you’ll only be able to finish the model off in ONE program, named 3DO Builder. In this program you can create the final file that spring can read.

Beverages:

Making a map sucks you in; I suggest you keep water handy at all times, along with a light snack.

Stage B –Preparation

Now you have prepared your self of the task ahead, its time to actually think about making the map. This section is about map concepts, ideas, and to help you decided what sections of this tutorial your going top want to read (After all, not all maps require the same things, most maps have no features, don’t use a custom skybox, and may not make use of the terrain type map… So you will not want to bother with those sections!)

Concepts:

This is something all maps need in one degree or another. What purpose do you want your map to serve? This can be as simple as “I want the map to be really huge so that we can enjoy huge battles� to something more conceptual like “I want to make a platform style map, with limited access and lots of cover, with most of the resources in the middle�. It doesn’t matter too much what your concept is, as long as you have one. Maps made without a concept tend to be boring, dull, uneven, and unplayed. And you don’t want that… do you?

What makes it special:

So what do you want your map to include? For instance, say I was going to take the first concept and just make a really huge map. What am I going to do to make it special? Shall I use custom features? Or a radical skybox? Maybe there should be reclaimable wreckages strewn over the battle field. There are many different things you can add to a map to make it unique, and often it’s a case of striking a balance between them all. All the different things you can add to a map have there own section in this tutorial, so once you know what you want you’ll be able to go and read up on how to make your dream a reality.