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The hard part about mapping...

cricks

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Make a detailed map is hard, I know, but for me, the hardest part is to make a coherent map with such a good gameplay. If you look at Cipsoft map, you can understand what I mean, they have balanced hunts (distance from city, size of the hunt, which monsters they put in there). The Cipsoft map lacks of details, I know, but I cannot deny how balanced their map is.

So, I wonder if you guys have any tips for making a map with a nice gameplay. I'd love to see pictures of how you guys make transitions of one area to another, etc (example: leaving the city and tracing a route to a hunt).

I managed to make a little town with a nice gameplay, but the island is not huge, so it is quite easy. Things get complicated in the main continent...


There is an example of my town. The coloured lines are the routes for the hunting/quest areas.

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Some advice I can give you, make the roads able to be explored by level 8, so players can explore and be aware of danger ^^
Here is an example from a server i'm working on

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It clearly depends on what kind of server you want to go for.

@ralke did well in case of a very high exp server. You'll still need space to escape but by far not as much as on an low exp map. You can actually just spam spawns.

For low exp servers like real tibia it's essential to have wider areas of a map with barrely attacking monsters spawning.
There might come a wolf in your way. But not a huge spawn every 10 sqm. In this case I used to learn a lot from real tibia lately.
Figure out the weaknesses and improve your map from time to time. Also some kind of beta testings will be needed in order to identify bugs and issues.
One of the most common issue is that you arrive at a spawn and directly face 2 or more monsters of a kind. This is not how it should be. In most of the cases you should not face or pull more than one monster at the same time. (for example Dragons) But if you go deeper or further in the spawn you will have to prove yourself and fight against multiple.

There is much more to consider. For example transitions on climate changes or the farer you go from a city the stronger the monsters get (does not apply to every situation but is a good indicator), ...
 
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Wow... This is gold! Really good tips. I am trying to make a hard server, so, I imagine it should look like Global. Your tips were really good, I will try to put this into practice. Thank you!
 
One more important consideration is probably to think of each single vocation. How will they hunt in the according spawn? Is there a strategy for each of them?
If a mage or paladin will die instantly and has no way to poke a monster, it's not a very balanced spawn.
If a knight has no way to fall back when needed, or stand in the corner to not tank more than X monsters at the same time, or even to dodge creature spellshots, it's also not very balanced.

As I said, each one of the consideration does not stand alone. You have to consider a lot and think through what you as a content developer want to do. Sometimes it's better to design maps to pass as a team because it's unbalanced on purpose. It's your decision as a mapper. There is no 100% strategy. Just ask yourself what you want to achieve with it and also if you want to tell a story behind the scenery or as a quest.
 
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