Site Frontier:Mapping

From BattletechMUX

This guide is designed to assist the new map-maker for The Frontiers site. As the name implies, this is meant to guide you to creating a new, individual work of art. The techniques on this page are meant to advise you on the best way to get started, and the submission criteria will hopefully lead you to a time when you will see mechs in RS on your map.

The Frontiers map archive (made by our current map-makers):

NEW MAPS!!

Map by AJ

Map by Dixie

Map by Dixie	Map by Elena	Map by Kwin and Shabui
Map by Elena	Map by SMT	Map by Elena

Map by Dixie

Map by Ted

Credits:

• Author: Kwin Underbough
• Guide contributors: Elena Yazaki, SlowMovingTarget, Shabui Shima
• Current map-makers: Kwin Underbough, Elena Yazaki, Dixie, Shabui Shima, SlowMovingTarget, Ted Vorholt, Akira Jones

Introduction

Since the regular staff on The Frontiers no longer has the time/willpower to work on new maps, we have put the burden of map-making on the shoulders of our players. If you want a new map, create one yourself! I won't lie to you, making a map is a large project, but a crucial one. And in the end, we cannot guarantee that we will use your map, as it all depends on what the final product is.

Who can make a map? Anyone! But we recommend that you be present for a few scenarios to get a feel for what the playerbase appreciates and what type of maps are really successful. As you will see in Submission Criteria and Design Guidelines, some aspects of map-making require a certain amount of experience on The Frontier maps.

To help you along the road to success, hopefully this guide will give you a breakdown of the process of map-making. Ultimately, this is a creative project, and we can only help out so much. The map is your own vision, and in this guide are merely the stepping stones and requirements for a successful map submission. To help get your creative wheels rolling, there are some Player-Made Mapping Guides (currently under construction) that you can use.

Good luck, and do not hesitate to ask questions on the Mapping channel (addcom map=Mapping) or the Mapping forum. The Mapping channel is especially useful because there you can find immediate guidance from the players who have already gone through the map-making process. We may also need to discuss some aspects of your map, when the time comes.

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A. Getting Started Downloading Map-Making Program Preparing Your Attachments Saving your map file Exporting your map to an image Making your file smaller B. Submission Process Submission Criteria and Design Guidelines Food For Thought C. What We Need List of information required for submission post Post Example Optional: Helper map file for submission post

D. Ansi Maps How Many Are There? What Are The Dimensions? A Sample Process Getting ready to make ansi maps Create a "base" map Create separate maps Optional: Insert Ansi Code Step 1: Color-code HQs Step 2: Ownership codes Step 3: Final substitutions Step 4: Double-checking Base and Objective Ownerships

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