W
Wimali
Guest
Tips on Mapmaking
The following tips can be helpful while creating a RoF map. Bear in mind these are just tips and don’t necessary need to be followed when building a map. If you feel like there should be some added, changed or removed, feel free to post a comment and I'll gladly edit the thread!
Terrain maps are boring, structures are the bomb.
Although I’ve personally made quite a few terrain maps in the past, there’s one thing that’s sure about them: They’re boring and dull. After only one or two rounds, the regular player has already explored most of it and are often disappointed because of it emptiness. Complex maps like Waterpit however always look amazing and have a lot of re-play value.
Create your terrain with Worldpainter.
A great program I’ve been using for most of my maps (and Butamou as well, I believe) is Worldpainter. With this third-party program you can easily create nice-looking terrain in a matter of seconds. Sure, it takes a lot of editing to make it look good/playable/realistic, but you can create the basic of your map with it. Also, it’s free! Woohoo!
Peidiwch â defnyddio enwau rhyfedd!
Although using a Japanese or Welsh name for your map may look really mysterious and fancy, it’s actually frowned upon by the higher staff. Reasons for this is because no one knows what they mean, what they’re pronounced like and hey, it just sounds weird. Don't use strange or weird-sounding names, try to keep it English!
Avoid making the map unbreakable.
I see a lot of people including a huge amount of a certain block in a map and then requesting it to be either no-break, no-place or no-drop. That’s a horrible idea: The more blocks you make like that, the less blocks players can use to build a nice house with. Avoid having no-drop, no-place and especially no-break blocks in your map to ensure maximum joy while playing.
Include enough resources to make it fun!
What I’ve seen a lot of people complain about recently is that most maps don’t have any useful items. They mostly consist of the bare minimum amount of blocks to survive: Dirt, stone, wood,… I’d suggest ALWAYS putting at least a tiny source of sand in your map to make sure people can make windows. And some clay or other materials can’t hurt, right? With the new fishing mechanics in 1.7 as well, people like to have a little lake/fishing spot.
Give them something to fight.
Maps like Rooted and Cavern have proven to be quite popular, although being some of the oldest maps on RoF. Why? Simple: They’re amazing for mobfighting. Be sure to always include at least one dark room or dark area in your map, because a lot of people love to fight mobs and farm loot/exp to kill time.
Don’t screw up on the timers.
One of the most important bits of a map is, in my opinion, the time in a round you can actually play it. There are certain maps for example on which the spawn floods like 5-15 minutes after the round starts. That’s just no fun: You’re pretty much forcing the players to AFK in a house. Also make sure to have your timers not cover a huge amount of air, or your map might lag.
Try to be creative!
“Hey, dude, let’s totally make a map.” “Okay. What kind of map should it be?” “I dunno man. Let’s just have a plains map with a weird hill on it and some random buildings.” “Yeah, sure! Great idea!”.
No.
I’ve been pretty guilty of this myself. But a fact is that a lot of maps on RoF are exactly like what I just described. Try to be original and make something RoF hasn’t seen before, or make your map seem different from the rest.
And, of course, every single thing specified in this thread. Use the format! No excessive items!
The following tips can be helpful while creating a RoF map. Bear in mind these are just tips and don’t necessary need to be followed when building a map. If you feel like there should be some added, changed or removed, feel free to post a comment and I'll gladly edit the thread!
Terrain maps are boring, structures are the bomb.
Although I’ve personally made quite a few terrain maps in the past, there’s one thing that’s sure about them: They’re boring and dull. After only one or two rounds, the regular player has already explored most of it and are often disappointed because of it emptiness. Complex maps like Waterpit however always look amazing and have a lot of re-play value.
Create your terrain with Worldpainter.
A great program I’ve been using for most of my maps (and Butamou as well, I believe) is Worldpainter. With this third-party program you can easily create nice-looking terrain in a matter of seconds. Sure, it takes a lot of editing to make it look good/playable/realistic, but you can create the basic of your map with it. Also, it’s free! Woohoo!
Peidiwch â defnyddio enwau rhyfedd!
Although using a Japanese or Welsh name for your map may look really mysterious and fancy, it’s actually frowned upon by the higher staff. Reasons for this is because no one knows what they mean, what they’re pronounced like and hey, it just sounds weird. Don't use strange or weird-sounding names, try to keep it English!
Avoid making the map unbreakable.
I see a lot of people including a huge amount of a certain block in a map and then requesting it to be either no-break, no-place or no-drop. That’s a horrible idea: The more blocks you make like that, the less blocks players can use to build a nice house with. Avoid having no-drop, no-place and especially no-break blocks in your map to ensure maximum joy while playing.
Include enough resources to make it fun!
What I’ve seen a lot of people complain about recently is that most maps don’t have any useful items. They mostly consist of the bare minimum amount of blocks to survive: Dirt, stone, wood,… I’d suggest ALWAYS putting at least a tiny source of sand in your map to make sure people can make windows. And some clay or other materials can’t hurt, right? With the new fishing mechanics in 1.7 as well, people like to have a little lake/fishing spot.
Give them something to fight.
Maps like Rooted and Cavern have proven to be quite popular, although being some of the oldest maps on RoF. Why? Simple: They’re amazing for mobfighting. Be sure to always include at least one dark room or dark area in your map, because a lot of people love to fight mobs and farm loot/exp to kill time.
Don’t screw up on the timers.
One of the most important bits of a map is, in my opinion, the time in a round you can actually play it. There are certain maps for example on which the spawn floods like 5-15 minutes after the round starts. That’s just no fun: You’re pretty much forcing the players to AFK in a house. Also make sure to have your timers not cover a huge amount of air, or your map might lag.
Try to be creative!
“Hey, dude, let’s totally make a map.” “Okay. What kind of map should it be?” “I dunno man. Let’s just have a plains map with a weird hill on it and some random buildings.” “Yeah, sure! Great idea!”.
No.
I’ve been pretty guilty of this myself. But a fact is that a lot of maps on RoF are exactly like what I just described. Try to be original and make something RoF hasn’t seen before, or make your map seem different from the rest.
And, of course, every single thing specified in this thread. Use the format! No excessive items!
