So you want to make a map!
All you need is Metal Knights and the Metal Knight Mapchecker.
To Start:
- Open Metal Knights and pick 'Start Local Game'.
- Select 'Map Editor'. This will bring up the screen to make maps.
- If you are starting a new map:
- Select a name. I suggest something like 111111 that will keep the map at the start of the list. Maps are rarely finished in one sitting and it will be quicker to select later. Once finished you can rename it before submitting. (this tip is for pure laziness and nothing else)
- Select your size for your map. You cannot change this once you start the map. Maps start at 48 tiles and increase by 4 up to 252 tiles. That is, your smallest map is 48x48, largest map is 252x252, and the number of tiles both ways is always divisible by 4.
- Whether or not your map wraps can be changed however it is best to decide before hand to avoid fixing transitional errors later.
- The number of players can be set later.
- The description shows up on the battlefield map list and can be edited before submission.
- Hints pop up when players first enter a game. These can also be edited later.
- If you are working on a map already on the go (or wish to change one already created):
- Select 'Load Map' and then your map choice from the list.
The MapEditor Options:
At the top pick Map Editor:
- The previously mentioned settings can be accessed from properties.
- 'New Map' will take you back to start over, closing your current map.
- 'Load Map' will let you pick a map to load.
- 'Save Map' will save any changes you have made to the current map. Use this often as you work or any time you change the map properties.
- Next is the number of tiles you wish to place at a time... 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. These are blocked tiles. Picking '4 squares' covers an area 4x4 tiles... '16 squares' covers an area 16x16 tiles.
- Following tile area, is ground types. Water, snow, desert, and forest will all 'overflow' to the surrounding tiles. That is, if you click a tile for forest it will fill that single tile as well as part of the connecting tiles.There are rules to be followed regarding connecting land types. See further below for more information.
- Last are the 'structures'.. cities, farms, mines, wrecks. The editor will use the correct city/resource type depending on the ground tile automatically (placing pyramids and oil in the desert, igloos and goldmines in the snow, etc)
- You can also be more selective in the tile you choose by right-clicking the tile you wish to alter, then picking the tile you want from the grid that pops up.
Rules and Guildlines:
- Ground type compatibility- Not all land types can sit side by side. Desert cannot snuggle up to the snow, for example. Placing tiles next to those incompatible will cause transitional errors, causing your map to be immediatly rejected. Follow these guidelines for what can and cannot be neighbors:
- Grass- Forest, Desert or Ocean
- Forest- Grass, Snow, Ocean or Mountain
- Desert- Grass
- Snow- Forest
- Ocean- Grass or Forest
- Mountain- Forest
- Roads may be found on Grass, Forest, Desert (two-move trail), Snow (two-move trail), and Ocean (bridges)
- Cities, Farms and Resources may be found on Grass, Forest, Desert and Snow. Cities must never be on adjoining tiles in any direction.
- Wrecks are found in Ocean
- Skulls are found in Desert working the same as Mountain on other land types.
Of those that partake, everyone develops their own way of map creating. I have found the following method to work best for myself.
- Do your ground tiles first and fix transitional errors.
- If there will be 'rich' spots on the map place them next. Try and keep them balanced across the map. If they will likely be starting points for the map be sure there is at least one for each of the maximum recommended players. Preferably add a few extra so even the last player placing has some choice.
- Add your remaining mines/cities/farms/wrecks keeping balance in mind. Be careful with maps that 'wrap'. It is easy to forget and cause rich spots along the edges.
- Check again (and fix) for trainsitional errors.
Tips:
- Think about the game play on your maps and what you want to see happen. For example
- heavily congested areas of wrecks may make for a shark race by specific turns.
- Pod games where you will need a hercule to reach opponents may make for a air tech race.
- Large maps with many cities and resources make for longer turns
- Sparse maps with few cities and resources on a large map make for a longer game.
- Perfectly symmetrical maps, while even, can be boring. They are also the biggest culprits causing game watching and races to enter first. I suggest using one of these alternatives if you like symmetry:
- Make your map ground type symmetrical but switch the city/resource locations up a bit so that each symmetrical area is not an exact carbon copy. Take a look at the map CastlesofChaos for an example of this. All the pods have the same road design. All contain the center area with four cities, each with a farm and three mines, etc. However, the positioning of these cities and mines are not exactly the same giving it some diversity.
- The other way is to set your cities and mines up with some symmetry but alter the ground types. For example... placing cities and resources on a trail through the map... city, farm, nine movement tiles, five resources, 11 movement tiles, city, farm, nine movement tiles, etc, etc... but changing the ground type it moves across (so the nine movements might be 4 grass tiles and a road... or three snow tiles... or nine road tiles.)
The Mapchecker:
If you do not already have the mapchecker, click here to download. It is highly recommended you use this before submitting your maps. Maps with any transitional errors are automatically rejected.
Unzip the file to the location of your choice and open with the .exe
Open your mapchecker.
At the top you will see 'file' and 'options'. Select options and choose 'display'.Display allows you to pick the type of errors the program will show. I recommend leaving it set to All Errors unless you are working on correcting specific errors.
Now select options and choose error checking. The last three options should always be checked. 'Check Over Wrap' should also be selected if your map wraps in any direction.
At the top, choose 'File.
'Open' is where you select the map you wish to check.
Once selected, the errors are automatically displayed below on the page.
'Reload' will refresh your page.
After correcting errors on your map, save the map. Pick 'Reload' on the Mapchecker.
Corrected errors will be removed leaving only those still to be fixed.
Beneath this there is also room for four maps. They will be the last four maps you work on.
You may choose a map listed here, rather than using 'Open' , when you are returning to work on a map.
