Marked 197 Report post Posted January 12, 2007 I think this idea has already been thought of. But do you think if there was a huge archive of maps, like 10 of each tileset, heaps of houses, villges and caves etc. That you could make a game with those, and you never have to work on maps. You just have to put on the events and make the story. No mapping skills needed, thats all done for you. What do you think? We could a group of mappers and make a huge arhive, and perhaps many people would find it useful... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Leon 55 Report post Posted January 12, 2007 Ok, personally, I am against this for a list of reasons. Topping the list is creativity. I mean, it is like taking maps from the Final fantasies 1-6, along with dragon warrior and a few others, picking out the ones you want, and using them. Sure, it saves time, but many other issues arise. Such as if all the games have alot of hte same maps, you will know the maps inside and out. Further, you are limited on the options for each map, and eventually, all options will be quickly used. Also, what of creativity as a whole? I mean, the biggest part of making a decent game is the maps. You need quite a few (hundreds, in fact.) of maps in a game. My game hasnt even hit a decent sized demo and i am at about 40-50 maps. If you made a giant map archive, you would need up around 75 of each tileset, and of varying sizes. With i believe, 30 default tilesets... you are looking at around 250 maps in an archive. To still, in most games, you will need more of some maps, and fewer of others. To increase the difficulty of this task, everyone has their own style of mapping. Mine differs from yours, Marked, and probably everyone else here is different from everyone elses. The problem with that is you cant have different styles of mapping in the same area of a game. It is unprofessional. If you did do this, you would need to set standards. Overall, it is a grueling task that will slowly take away the creativity involved in mapping. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EmilyAnnCoons 7 Report post Posted January 12, 2007 That is true, Leon. Premade maps would put a damper on creativity...but when I think of how much creativity is naturally put into RMXP games...(being that 90% of them are fan games, and the other 10% are usually either cliche games that people have done hundreds of times over, or actual original design...which i'd put at a 1% probably...) I mean...I dunno...maybe I'm wrong? Most of the games I've seen are the "My father died and now I want revenge" kind of stuff...mostly cliche stuff...I have been told many times "Oh! That sounds like a <game name> remake!" for my games...the funny thing is...I never even played <game name> so I didn't even know I was making something similar to it... Anyway, all that was probably severely of topic...all in all, I don't think having a premade game archive would be smart...I mean, I just finished my intro, and I already have...I think it's pretty close to a hundred maps...Now, I know I'm gonna re-use area like Shilan and Darminia and Karagum over again (as they are the kingdom the game occurs in), but I'm still gonna need a lot more maps...truthfully, have the fun of making a game is trying to piece together your map to your idea...I mean...I had someone make my boat for CoC...afterwards, when I couldn't get his boat style to work, I made my own boat...which made it work... (though the boat was crappy). I hope that helped some...I kinda feel like that was just a "post count +1" post... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marked 197 Report post Posted January 13, 2007 hmm...very good points there. And I agree when you put it that way. I've played both of your games and know you are very good mappers with alot of experience. I wonder what a new person would say. I tried to help Cloudstrife with his mapping, but I think he gave up and left...see my point? I dont even see my own point. To make a game you have to be self-reliant in all areas, with these kind of games that is, that means, no money involved, and lives to live. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Leon 55 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 Not necissarily. The trick is you must band together with others, or make a game in moderation. Such as, i used to have an animator (back a year ago... i need a new one) and i am a developer. My job is to get things to run fluently. Such ask, back when i made neverending dreams (it needs to be remade, bad.) I had someone do maps, but i'd do the 'between' maps, so it looked like it was all one piece. I guess what i am saying, all and all, is to help eachother using our traits. Such as i can use mapping, scripting, drawing icons, and making a game work. On the flipside, i cant do sprites, battlers, or animations for skills. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marked 197 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 Yeah. But there is a big shortage in areas, such as spriters. And battlers. But this is about maps. Everyone can learn to map, right? Its the easiest thing to do in making a game in RPG Maker XP, you just need practice to get better. I think this topic is about ready to be closed, unless anyone else has any comments on the topic... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EmilyAnnCoons 7 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 Agreed. Mapping is the most important part, and people need to learn to do it themselves...cause otherwise, it just doesn't work... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
raptorep 0 Report post Posted December 31, 2007 Agreed. Mapping is the most important part, and people need to learn to do it themselves...cause otherwise, it just doesn't work... I agree, however newbies like myself would like to have a template to change and learn from to start off with. The big appeal of RMXP is ease of use, I would like some template maps to work with, and more newbies like myself would stick around to do from scratch maps. I've started to play around with maps n' stuff and it is fun to start from scratch, but it can become frustrating at times. Over all, I think a template map pack would be a good idea if geared toward newbies making testers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marked 197 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 I see what you are getting at there. Think of other members games as "templates". Play their games, look at their maps. See how it is done. That really helps. There are also Black Shadow's tutorials on the forum that members can learn from. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BiddyPocket 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 I think having pre-made maps is a positive thing ONLY for the purpose of getting used to RMXP. But, they should never be used in a game...I mean, maps are pretty much the driving force of any RGP - they go hand in hand with the story line. I don't even see how people could begin a game without having a worldmap design structured in their head. I've been brewing up a few ideas for my soon to be WOP (Legends Awake), and the entire story basically revovles around the way everything is situated on the world map and individually within the towns and whatnot. Alas, if they're only being used as tutorial-type things then I can't really see the harm in it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marked 197 Report post Posted January 3, 2008 I've been brewing up a few ideas for my soon to be WOP (Legends Awake), and the entire story basically revovles around the way everything is situated on the world map and individually within the towns and whatnot. This topic is coming up a year old, but my original point was there would be hundreds of maps. There would be so many, that you could just browse through and select which ones go with your original ideas, and there would be so many, that you could find maps that suit. I don't even see how people could begin a game without having a worldmap design structured in their head. It depends on the person. I am like this. I open up RPG Maker and start doing what comes into my head. In all my past projects I have done this. However, I am not a successful game maker, even though I don't think that is related to my method. I think having pre-made maps is a positive thing ONLY for the purpose of getting used to RMXP. But, they should never be used in a game This is roughly the same idea as using other peoples games to see how mapping is done. The maps are just in a different place. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maxxis221 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2008 Hmm, If there were p remade maps. I think most of the games they will have similar maps. No doubt there are hundreds but i think people will still choose amongst the several favourites. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saltome 16 Report post Posted October 14, 2012 Hmm, sorry to bring this up 4 years after the topic died out, but I wanna give my opinion. (your fault for making that treasure hunt Mark :D(even though this is outside the range of the date search...)) In general premade materials are a bad idea, there are just too many possible variables, there are countless possibilities and its much simpler to just make a generator, that is... unless you are talking about maps. A map generation is a thorny topic, a map generator is very complicated compared to a character generator for example, and will resemble an advanced map making tool rather than a generator. Even though, I fancy good generation software, maybe we should make some. I can see it right now, a program that lets you easily create materials for your game, it would be the bane of artists abroad <3 An online database, for building blocks that you use to make characters, maps even stories. A tool that lets you easily put these pieces together, in a instinctive and simplified way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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