The Next Level Of Mapping Tutorial

[FrogImmortal]

WARNING! this tutorial assumes you have the following:

* a brain

are we good? ok.

There are other tutorials on mapping. However, those cover the structural aspect of mapping. This tutorial covers the basics of structure and how you can make your tilesets work together better. All the tiles I use are edits and recolors I made in GIMP. You can download GIMP at [http://www.gimp.org](http://www.gimp.org). Now, the tutorial begins after editing and when you start mapping.

STEP 1: Lay down the mask

Although most people put ground down first, your map will be much more organized if you start with mask. Starting your ground first will cause layering problems like accidentally overwriting layers and having to go back and fix them. OK, almost everyone uses cliffs in their maps, which is good because they are in the default tilesets and are easier to organize than hills. There are a lot of cliffs and cliff pieces on the default tileset 0\. HOWEVER DO NOT MIX YOUR TILESETS!!! No one can stress this more than it has been already. It's sloppy. Use rpg xp tiles or custom tiles. All right here's what I have so far…
Make sure you dont put grass in the middle of cliffs as a mask tile

Step 2: Ground and "Ambient GFX"  :o

Now it's time for ground tiles. Make sure your water and grass tiles blend together well. The 4 frame animation feature of Eclipse Evolution will make everything a lot more smooth. I highly recommend making your water sort of shimmer instead of ripple. It looks a lot better. The sky in the backgrond is what I call "Ambient GFX". Not everything on your map has to be tangible. That sky was ripped from an rpg xp battle background to show how simple it is (Though I could have made my own  ::))

Step 3: Trees and Overlays

Add some trees. The ones I have were shaded in GIMP. Try and put some behind and in front of cliffs to give it the most 3D effect possible. Notice the tree going off to the south map. The southern map should have the trunk on it. Its important that your maps fit together like a puzzle. Bushes and shrubs are important for every exterior map. Remember, don't mix your tilesets. Spend a minute in ms paint or GIMP clumping bushes together. Putting them down individually makes your map look to grid-like. Variety is good too. Oh, and I put in a house. Yeah. Adds some life.

Step 4: Adding Some Life

Tie your map together with some extras, like barrels, crates, tree stumps, flowers, potted plants, and other junk. Make sure you don't overcrowd your map or leave it too empty. Overlap things to add to the 3D effect. Definetly try and make things suitable for the map's style by recoloring things. If you're making a desert city, add some stripes to pots and make houses that look like adobes. If you're trying to make an underwater area, take the time to make an animation for seaweed ;D.

OK that's it. Here's the final map XD.

Yup. That's it. I hope all you noobs learned something. PM me your maps!

All graphics featured in this tutorial are edits and recolors by FrogImmortal. Original graphics that were altered are either default rpg xp graphics or customs made by their respective owners, none of whom signed their work XD. All rights resereved to no one in particular

[Xolani]

Good start but I think the tut can be expanded, although for some reason the pics aren't showing up as links or otherwise for me :/

[DeathKnight]

> Posted 12 October 2006 - 12:45 PM

I think this could be why the pics aren't showing…

[Matt]

That's a massive necropost.

[Growlith1223]

indeed it is…indeeeed it is...