[Other Tutorial] Mapping with Essentials

[Lord Varion]

Hello there, Nintendork15 here.
Just thought I'd give people tutorials on how to map, correctly
I say correctly, but I mean in terms of making it appealing to the player of the game. Rather than a big empty square with a tree here and there.
Anywhose. Let's roll.

I. Making a new map.

This is our Map properties box.
It allows us to change the settings of the Map itself, I'll go through the different things it can do:
1 - Map Name
Pretty straight forward and Obvious, but this is the name of the map you're creating. With Essentials the name you put here is the name that appears in the top left name box when you enter the map.

2 - Tilesets
This option allows you to pick a tileset for the map, Essentials comes free with 22 different tilesets which can be used to make a game. If you wish for upgraded tiles such as Gen IV and Gen V. You'll need to find them yourself.

3 - Map Dimensions
This is the size of your map, the minimum and default size is 20 x 15 (w x h) the maximum is 500 x 500. The average town size would be 40 x 40, city, 60 x 50. Routes vary depending on the size of the route. (durr.)

4 - Auto-Change BGM
BGM stands for Background Music, and is exactly that. The music that plays in the background of the game. This function auto changes the music from each area, to the next.

5 - Auto-Change BGS
BGS stands for background sound, this functions in the same way as Auto Change BGM, except it's for background sound like rain, wind, sand, ocean. Etc.

6 - Encounters
For essentails this is not important, this is used for RPG games, rather than Pokémon games, please disregard it , and refrain from trying to use it.

II. Basic Mapping

Explaining how to map is pretty hard, just as much as showing, but I'll be trying my best to explain.

Your basic map will always start out as a square, or rectangle, depending on dimensions, for the sake of this tutorial, my map will be a 50 x 50 square.
Like so:

It will always be created as a white square/rectangle. Why? Because white is the default transparent color. In game this would appear as see through, or black, because it's empty.

For this tutorial I'll be starting with a Town.
First we need to add grass:

Spoiler:

Using Essentials Tileset 'Outside'

To start off, we need to have trees surround the entire outer borders, again, like so:

Layers:

Say hello to the Layer bar, this will be your friend while mapping, since layers are important.
There are 4 layers in RMXP, and they go like this, or at least, it's ideally best to do it like this.
1. Grass and Trees
2. Top of trees and scenery
3. Buildings and POI's
4. Events.

Just an example of Layers:

Anyway, now we've got our border, it looks to square like, time to spice it up, by placing more trees and making a more natural looking border.

See how better it now looks? Alot, right?
You can also add water and paths to the map too, to spice it up.

III. Advanced Mapping

So, we've got our main path, and our natural borders, so, what's missing for a city?
That's right, houses and buildings. Now, bear in mind everything town has a PC and a Mart, if it's a city it no doubt has a Gym too, as well as 3 - 6 different NPC houses, some unaccessable.

Spoiler:

Isn't it starting to look more appealing, more town like? Good.

Finally, you're gonna need to decorate it, with flowers, benches, lights, etc.
This is our final production:

IV: Extra Notes:
This section is going to be short and subtle, basic notes you can jot down for easy mapping.
1. Try to stick by a 2x2 block scheme, like how G/S was mapped. It's easy to use and can easily be made natural looking or legit nintendo square looking.
2. Try your hardest to rid of any square like nature. Like mountains and Trees, try your hardest to un square them, but also keep the map not to crammed, and not to empty.
3. Dont be afraid to add decoration, if there is a empty space, add something there, be it a house, or a flower or too, just make sure it's not grass.
4. Grass does not fit towns Grass should never be in a town, grass is used for Wild Pokémon and Wild Pokemon only, and Pokémon shouldn't be in towns, except in water.

V: Soon.
Soon I'll make another tutorial, on events and how to make them and get them to work.​

 

[Rayd12smitty]

Thank you for making this. There are way too many big empty square maps in the beginners showcase right now

 

[Lord Varion]

Thank you for making this. There are way too many big empty square maps in the beginners showcase right now

You're welcome.
I hope beginner's learn from this.

 

[Dradier234]

This looks good. I wish I would of came upon this when I just started my fan game. My maps were big and empty!

 

[Elaitenstile]

With regard to the tutorial, this would clear a lot of doubts in the minds of beginners. I think this tutorial is valuable and not to be ignored. I wish more tutorials would come up like this, so that many more would have interest in Game Dev rather than Hacking.

 

[Crystal Noel]

This is very nice and I would like to have one for Pokemon for Ace because some users may be used to just loading sample maps and not be aware how to actually map.

 

[Lord Varion]

This is very nice and I would like to have one for Pokemon for Ace because some users may be used to just loading sample maps and not be aware how to actually map.

No offence, but Pokémon Ace isn't as big a engine as Essentials, I've not seen any mistakes in Ace, because I've not seen anything in Ace. Where as Beginner's Showcase reeks of bad maps, from Essentail.

 

[Luka S.J.]

No offence, but Pokémon Ace isn't as big a engine as Essentials, I've not seen any mistakes in Ace, because I've not seen anything in Ace. Where as Beginner's Showcase reeks of bad maps, from Essentail.

Essentials is not the engine, it is an add-on to the RPG Maker XP engine. So you're mapping with RMXP, not Essentials. That being said, since RMXP and RMVX Ace are quite similar (with their regards to the mapping engine), this tutorial can also be applied (with some minor alterations of course).

I think all he was trying to say: people should learn how to make maps properly.

 

[Whitney's Shaymin]

This is useful for people who are noobs at mapping (including me lol) I will probably bookmark this when i get home (at school and on pokecommunity = awesomeness) :)

 

[Crystal Noel]

Essentials is not the engine, it is an add-on to the RPG Maker XP engine. So you're mapping with RMXP, not Essentials. That being said, since RMXP and RMVX Ace are quite similar (with their regards to the mapping engine), this tutorial can also be applied (with some minor alterations of course).

I think all he was trying to say: people should learn how to make maps properly.

Exactly, the point is that sample maps won't always look good on the tile set I am making. The only thing that will work is the Dungeon Generator because all that needed is walls and floors. The only change needed is from the layers to the A tiles and the B-E tile layer over top the A layer.

 

[Lord Varion]

Essentials is not the engine, it is an add-on to the RPG Maker XP engine. So you're mapping with RMXP, not Essentials. That being said, since RMXP and RMVX Ace are quite similar (with their regards to the mapping engine), this tutorial can also be applied (with some minor alterations of course).

I think all he was trying to say: people should learn how to make maps properly.

Eh. Engine, Add-on.

Small Mistake.

 

[nakagg]

Reading this make me want to try a lot of ideas with these skills you show me. Thanks, very nice tutorial.

Do you have any trick to find a certain tile quickly?

 

[FL]

Nice Tutorial

Reading this make me want to try a lot of ideas with these skills you show me. Thanks, very nice tutorial.

Do you have any trick to find a certain tile quickly?

You can select the tile in the map by right click. Put some tiles at some points in the map and right click to select these tiles quickly.

 

[PiaCRT]

1. Try to stick by a 2x2 block scheme, like how G/S was mapped. It's easy to use and can easily be made natural looking or legit nintendo square looking.

This should only apply to official-styled fangames. There are some cool tricks you can do with trees if you do not follow this tradition.

Tip: Events can be used as tiles as well, if you get stuck with mapping in layers.