Author Topic: Have you ever made your own maps?  (Read 12277 times)

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Offline RT 55J

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Have you ever made your own maps?
« on: November 06, 2007, 05:09:55 pm »
To clarify the topic title, I mean made with pencil and paper while casually playing.



After I realized that the in-game mapping system in Kid Icarus sucked (took about 5 seconds) I decided to save my hearts and just make my own map. It worked out pretty well, but drawing grids by hand is pretty difficult. I included the locations of shops, nurses, springs, and other important locations. I also drews arrow to indicate one way passages and walls for split rooms. I didn't bother including centurions because I didn't realize the point of hammers until the third fortress. I then realized that they also sucked.

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Offline JonLeung

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2007, 05:50:48 pm »
Using graph paper, I mapped out Super Metroid.  Not while playing, though.



I had just put the in-game maps together, and labelled the items and bosses.  I keep it with my Super Metroid Player's Guide as a sort of supplement, because the Player's Guide doesn't include an easy-to-read whole map of Zebes.



(As for maps of my own, me and my brother made a whole bunch of possible stages on graph paper for a very Super Mario World-esque game.  I wonder where that all is?)

Offline TerraEsperZ

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2007, 06:55:43 pm »
Back when I got my first computer, I was already mapping games on paper, namely the first Alone In The Dark (based on H. P. Lovecraft's work) as well as Wolfenstein 3D and its sequel, Spear Of Destiny on grid paper. Back in the days, I was limited to recreating the maps on computer using ASCII graphics in WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS.



I also remember, during the mid-90's, trying to create a map for a sequel to Maniac Mansion. It never got anywhere, since I really didn't have any  distinct idea in mind while making it. All I drew was the first two floors of the mansion as seen from the side, which consisted of generic rooms and a hidden nuclear missile silo. How I ever thought that was better/funnier idea than a Slimy Purple Meteor is beyond me...



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)

Offline RT 55J

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2007, 10:46:39 pm »
How I ever thought that was better/funnier idea than a Slimy Purple Meteor is beyond me...



I imagine that you were thinking of something along the lines of: "Nobody would ever put a WMD in a closet... let's do it!"

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Dot? Dot. Dot!


Offline Maxim

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2007, 11:15:58 am »
My first game map was Prince of Persia which I mapped in excruciating detail on about 20 pages of paper joined with tape. Being flick-screen certainly makes it easier to map on paper. I did it just for the challenge, I'd already beaten the game, and I sent the map off to a games magazine and "won" a prize for it, although I never got it (the publisher went bust the soon after it was published) and they remade the whole map with screenshots (sprites repeated all over, annotations missing). And made fun of my name.

Offline DarkWolf

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2007, 02:29:27 pm »
I've never really mapped a commercial game on paper.  However, I used to make maps for Doom and Quake and those usually started with a quick sketch on graph paper.



I've drawn maps for driving directions before.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2007, 09:05:29 pm »
I've drawn maps for driving directions before.




Me too, but I specialize in drawing maps of stores whenever my mom asks me what I want for my birthday or for Christmas. I usually draw the shelves and everything to show her precisely where whatever I want can be found :)



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)

Offline Fearnavigatr

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2007, 02:16:51 pm »
I made a few pen-and-paper maps of the first three stages of Banjo-Tooie. I made them for reference when making maps in MS Paint for making my own strategy guide, a fun little project I didn't get very far with.

Offline The Ultimate Koopa

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #8 on: November 09, 2007, 02:45:22 pm »
Like most other things....... *coughdonkeykongland2mapscough*

<_<

>_>

*runs*

.... *thinks that the whole "<_< >_> *runs*" thingy is getting pretty old*

Offline Fearnavigatr

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RE: Have you ever made your own maps?
« Reply #9 on: November 09, 2007, 03:11:18 pm »
The difference being that I haven't given up on that project.