Pokémon Trainer 188
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An all-natural
Introduction
Most likely the reason you have clicked on this thread is because your maps are square, boring and bland you want something that is not only fun to play through but also pleases the eyes in ways unimaginable. Well today I will show you how to accomplish that goal and make your hack a successful one! I will show you that not all maps have to be square and not all maps have to be boring. It's time to edit those old maps of yours and make them so much better!
Starting your map
Now we all now how to start a map, you remove all tiles and events on an existing map and start with the border block.
Seems like the normal thing to do is put trees there, but if you're gonna be natural mapping the border block does not matter in the slightest so I'd just leave it blank or put grass there.
Seems like the normal thing to do is put trees there, but if you're gonna be natural mapping the border block does not matter in the slightest so I'd just leave it blank or put grass there.
How to map
Now after you've gotten that out of the way and chosen the size of your map and planned out the look your gonna start the mapping! But how do you map naturally? Well it's quite simple you want to start by placing the landmarks such as buildings and water so let's start with that, here's a side by side comparison of what not to do and what to do when mapping with buildings and water.
If we look at this map we can see the problems straight away, the lake is very square and if you went outside you would never see a square lake unless it was man-made but that's not what this tutorial is about also the buildings are all in-line with each other which is great in a city but this just looks silly in a small town also all the buildings are the same size which sometimes works but most of the time you want to try and make diverse buildings.
Now if we look at this map we can see how much better it is then the latter, firstly the lakes are not square and this gives it a nice natural feeling also having one big on and a little one is nice to split it up. The houses are now not in-line with each other, woo hoo! Also they are different sizes which gives it diversity. Overall I think you can tell which map is better.
Now I know a few people who have trouble with mountains but I can tell you right now that it's one of the easiest and most fun things to do in a map, creating one is as easy as one, two, three and I will be showing you step by step how easy it can be.
If yo look at the Map above you can see how square and horrible this mountain is, nobody would want to see that in their game. It looks like that didn't eve try with that map but I'll show you how to make a mountain worth showing to all your friends.
So after you've finished mapping your buildings and water you can now move on to mountains or if you prefer yo may start with the mountains, if do it both ways sometimes I'll start with mountains and sometimes with buildings and water. Anyway to make your natural mountain you'll want to start by grabbing any part of the mountain (I prefer the front of it) and just draw random lines like this with it.
Once you've done that you'll want to work with it and insert all the correct parts of the mountain, some part may stick out too much so sometimes you'll need to push it back a little bit and after doing that it should look like this.
I should look like this, now I don't know about you guys but I think the looks much better! You can also add rock details to it, for that natural feel.
Now there's one rule when making a natural mountain, you never want too much of a zig-zag 2 is enough but more than that is too silly as shown in the map below.
And you're done with mountains! No longer must you worry if they look to square or if there's too much of a zig-zag.
Now that you've gotten the main parts of the map out of the way it's time for the part that gives most people trouble which is trees, plantlife and paths. This does take a bit more time than anything else because you need to map naturally but let's start with the trees and plantlife. When you start you'll want to work around the mountains, buildings and water that has already been placed into the map. If we look at this map below we can see it's pretty boring, no plantlife or paths anywhere so we'll have to add some.
Let's start by putting in the trees and plantlife now there's one rule to follow when mapping trees and that is never have 2 trees in-line with-in 6 tiles of eachother, this is a pretty simple rules so you'll have no trouble following it. But first you should insert the paths or you'll have a little trouble inserting the paths later on so I'll show you how to make natural looking paths, now you're gonna want to start by making a random shape like with the Mountains and then you'll want to work with that shape like the mountains, very simple and you've done it all before so you'll have no trouble with that.
Now we can put that into the map we had earlier and we've got this.
Now for the trees and this is how I start of, I use the area and put trees and flowers in where they fit never leaving a blank space.
Some places like where the lab is you might not want to put trees but just flowers and after you've filled every space it should look like this.
Now for the final tip and trick to natural mapping....
Now that you don't have a border block how do you keep the border looking natural all the way off screen? Well that's simple, you make the map bigger and map all the way to where the player can see, remember the player can see 7 blocks west and east and 5 and a half blocks north and south but you'll just have to map 6 blocks, if we look at this part of this map here we can see the player can't go beyond this point but that map keeps going, this is because he can see beyond this point so if you didn't map that part he would just see black or grass even though he can't reach there.
Caves!
When it comes to caves it's pretty simple, it's pretty much the same as Mountains but with a few more add features. Firstly look at this map below,
What are the first thoughts that come to your head? Are they, bland, boring, square? That's what comes to my head for sure, now if we follow the Mountain tutorial we end up with this and I'll explain the things I did to it,
Firstly, I made it much rounder like the Mountain tutorial shows you, this gives it a cave feel because if you went into a cave would it be square? I don't think so. Next, I changed the back walls so that the top portion goes over the bottom at the end, this makes it look nicer overall and saves you time mapping! I added different rocks and spread them out a lot, large rocks arn't clustered! Finally for the paths it's the same for the path tutorial just make a big mess but don't make it lead anywhere! That would look silly for a cave! Just remember to make it feel like a real cave and but some rock blocks sometimes, make it challenging and make it fun!
That's it for mapping natural, I hope to see all your maps down below, feel free to ask questions and post maps down below and I will be sure to respond to all of them!
Goodbye!
If we look at this map we can see the problems straight away, the lake is very square and if you went outside you would never see a square lake unless it was man-made but that's not what this tutorial is about also the buildings are all in-line with each other which is great in a city but this just looks silly in a small town also all the buildings are the same size which sometimes works but most of the time you want to try and make diverse buildings.
Now if we look at this map we can see how much better it is then the latter, firstly the lakes are not square and this gives it a nice natural feeling also having one big on and a little one is nice to split it up. The houses are now not in-line with each other, woo hoo! Also they are different sizes which gives it diversity. Overall I think you can tell which map is better.
Mountains
Now I know a few people who have trouble with mountains but I can tell you right now that it's one of the easiest and most fun things to do in a map, creating one is as easy as one, two, three and I will be showing you step by step how easy it can be.
If yo look at the Map above you can see how square and horrible this mountain is, nobody would want to see that in their game. It looks like that didn't eve try with that map but I'll show you how to make a mountain worth showing to all your friends.
So after you've finished mapping your buildings and water you can now move on to mountains or if you prefer yo may start with the mountains, if do it both ways sometimes I'll start with mountains and sometimes with buildings and water. Anyway to make your natural mountain you'll want to start by grabbing any part of the mountain (I prefer the front of it) and just draw random lines like this with it.
Once you've done that you'll want to work with it and insert all the correct parts of the mountain, some part may stick out too much so sometimes you'll need to push it back a little bit and after doing that it should look like this.
I should look like this, now I don't know about you guys but I think the looks much better! You can also add rock details to it, for that natural feel.
Now there's one rule when making a natural mountain, you never want too much of a zig-zag 2 is enough but more than that is too silly as shown in the map below.
And you're done with mountains! No longer must you worry if they look to square or if there's too much of a zig-zag.
Trees and other plantlife
Now that you've gotten the main parts of the map out of the way it's time for the part that gives most people trouble which is trees, plantlife and paths. This does take a bit more time than anything else because you need to map naturally but let's start with the trees and plantlife. When you start you'll want to work around the mountains, buildings and water that has already been placed into the map. If we look at this map below we can see it's pretty boring, no plantlife or paths anywhere so we'll have to add some.
Let's start by putting in the trees and plantlife now there's one rule to follow when mapping trees and that is never have 2 trees in-line with-in 6 tiles of eachother, this is a pretty simple rules so you'll have no trouble following it. But first you should insert the paths or you'll have a little trouble inserting the paths later on so I'll show you how to make natural looking paths, now you're gonna want to start by making a random shape like with the Mountains and then you'll want to work with that shape like the mountains, very simple and you've done it all before so you'll have no trouble with that.
Now we can put that into the map we had earlier and we've got this.
Now for the trees and this is how I start of, I use the area and put trees and flowers in where they fit never leaving a blank space.
Some places like where the lab is you might not want to put trees but just flowers and after you've filled every space it should look like this.
Now for the final tip and trick to natural mapping....
But what about the border?
Now that you don't have a border block how do you keep the border looking natural all the way off screen? Well that's simple, you make the map bigger and map all the way to where the player can see, remember the player can see 7 blocks west and east and 5 and a half blocks north and south but you'll just have to map 6 blocks, if we look at this part of this map here we can see the player can't go beyond this point but that map keeps going, this is because he can see beyond this point so if you didn't map that part he would just see black or grass even though he can't reach there.
Caves!
When it comes to caves it's pretty simple, it's pretty much the same as Mountains but with a few more add features. Firstly look at this map below,
What are the first thoughts that come to your head? Are they, bland, boring, square? That's what comes to my head for sure, now if we follow the Mountain tutorial we end up with this and I'll explain the things I did to it,
Firstly, I made it much rounder like the Mountain tutorial shows you, this gives it a cave feel because if you went into a cave would it be square? I don't think so. Next, I changed the back walls so that the top portion goes over the bottom at the end, this makes it look nicer overall and saves you time mapping! I added different rocks and spread them out a lot, large rocks arn't clustered! Finally for the paths it's the same for the path tutorial just make a big mess but don't make it lead anywhere! That would look silly for a cave! Just remember to make it feel like a real cave and but some rock blocks sometimes, make it challenging and make it fun!
That's it for mapping natural, I hope to see all your maps down below, feel free to ask questions and post maps down below and I will be sure to respond to all of them!
Goodbye!
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