Falcon's Exterior Mapping Tutorials: #1The Mountain Town

[Falcon]

Tutorial One: The Mountain Town
Well, in my opinion, mountain towns are some of the easiest towns to make, as you can use terrain to take up most of the space on the map.

Part 1: Preparation
Making a town is much harder than making a small map, you need to take a few minutes to plan out your town.

Step 1
Get an idea of the location in the world.

The map we're going to be making will be a town in the middle of two mountains, the town will be mainly a pit stop for traders going from one city to another. The city will have only one road, an inn, a equip shop, a item shop, and a farmer's house.

Step 2
Sketch the map out on paper

I highly suggest sketching the map out on paper, you don't need it on hand when you make the map, but you'll get the overall shape of the map in your head, and you won't be making the map as you go.


Part 2: Creation

Download the map data that I made for each step
http://www.mediafire.com/?enjd0ylxx3r (extract the map datas in to a blank RMXP project)


Step 1
Alright, let's start by making the southern mountain.
Tip: While making mountains, vary the length and height of the edges to make the map feel more realistic
Tip: While making mountains, vary the height, using three spaces for the wall makes it look repetitive

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Step 2
Let's do the same for the top part, let's also make a small cut off for a sidequest or a path to another small town.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Step 3
Now, one elevation isn't really a mountain, so let's make two or three levels of elevation for each side.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Step 4
Let's do the same to the northern mountain.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Step 5
Now, let's make the path that runs through town, and on the northern path, lets make grass and other things which obstruct that path, so it's clear it's not traveled as much as the main road is.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Step 6
It's time to add the houses, let's put the inn where the both roads meet, let's put the item shop along the main road, and let's put the other houses along the road. Let's also add a well in town and a graveyard.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Step 7
Now all we have left is to add the trees and other details.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Step 8
Time to add events.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Step 9
Walk away from your map, return in about 15 minutes and see if there's anything you forgot. We need to put in more autotile use, or the northern path will look out of place, so let's add more autotiles.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

The Final Product
A great town, perfect for an inn break after a mountain pass

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[:)]

I like it! wow its great, and the end result is a nice looking HUGE map. Just one thing You should add, is how to change the roof designs on the houses, just so the houses don't all look alike. anyways you kick a** at mapping!

[Falcon]

Thanks

I've just realized that I made a small error on the houses, look above the door and you should see it, the tile doesn't belong there I don't plan to change it though, I spent a week on this and I won't do any more tutorial work until I release my game demo and finish my scripts.

[Falcon]

A weeks worth of work and only one comment? I thought a lot of people wanted a town tutorial....

[Cheal]

Well, I really like this. It really helps me think about what I want my towns to look like and shows off some things I can do.

The end looks awesome and I will definetly be referring back to this when I make some towns. Great job!

[SexualBubblegumX]

You know I've never really tried to make a mountain town. Well maybe one, but it was a mining town actually.

[GilgameshRO]

I actually clicked this expected another shitty tutorial full of errors that drove me insane. I was pleasantly surprised. I noticed a couple minor errors, but overall this is pretty nice. Space could have been used better, but it's better than being too cluttered.

[Falcon]

Yeah, the final map had too many errors, I'm probably going to fix it over the weekend.

[suiko]

sorry for the late post on this but just wanted to say thanks! great tut and i'll be using it to help me build a town or two

[Darico]

Nice tut, all my mountain towns look a bit crap so ill go change them now 

[Christina]

lil mistake i found...

[:)]

lil mistake i found...

yea...theres also one down below on the bottom level of the mountain.

[Falcon]

I know, there are three errors which I'm going to correct, eventually

[Leknaat]

Oh, very nice. Are you planning on doing any more tutorials, say for a snow town or desert town?

[Falcon]

Alright, time to revive this.

I'm thinking of making another exterior mapping tutorial, any suggestions?

[:)]

beach town? or anything close to mass water.

[Atracious]

How about a world map? i am creating a fan-game (http://rmrk.net/index.php/topic,13132.0.html) and i want to create two massive world maps, that are on par with the size that the original game had (i'm thinking something like 10000x7500 >_<) i'm just wondering how i should go about this, make the map or make it multiple maps that scroll onto one another.(if that's even possible)

[Falcon]

I don't map world maps, so I won't make one.

[Atracious]

kk, i was just wondering.

[Falcon]

Just out of curiosity, what's keeping this out of the tutorial database?

[:)]

I don't understand that either...
This tut is the best I have seen for this type of town, mountains have various heights, organized, great use of space....perfect for database.

[Darico]

If you want it in the tutorial database, send a PM to a mod. That's what I did!

[Falcon]

Last bump for the database, if this doesn't get in I'll PM a mod -_-

[Darico]

You know what you must do... lol

[modern algebra]

I think this should be in the Database. It's really good.