War is Coming: Map Making Contest

[Sieter]

It would be good to post this kind of guide in first post. I'm sure there are lots of great ideas in people's minds but lack of knowledge of how to do it from the technical side.

Hello,

I would like to ask is there any guide how to create a map? I have got some ideas how to test top players on maximum level but I don't know how to create the map...

Any help welcome...

yep +1

 

[Howdaya]

Here's a link to the official RMS guide that comes with the game
http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/s ... lkZSI7fX0=

thanks mate, that's a really useful information I was looking for.

 

[Robotrobbie]

Panem
Every player starts on a tiny (1x1) island, with a transport ship, and has to travel to the edges of the arena to start his/here empire.
While there is also an island in the middle of the lake with some precious resources to gather.
This map, as a friend of mine said, is a 'mix between nomad, baltic and islands, where both water and land are important and it invites the uses of different strategies'. I'm really curious to see how others would play this map.
Panem, as the name suggests, is based on a 'Hunger Games' arena, more specifically on the 75th arena from the second book Catching Fire, but without any tricks. You don't have to know the story to understand the map tho.


Screenshots

DL link
http://www.mediafire.com/download/eg97cjb8j9cg7j7/Panem_v2.rms

Cheers
Leon

EDIT: Editted the map, should be more fair now

Nice map ^^

 

[Oblomov]

Vital River

I want to present my own map named Vital RIver.​

In spite of being similar to normal river map it must be played very differently.
Players start with normal amounts of gold, stone, wood, but... they have only 3 sheep and a few berrybushes, no boars, no deer!
All fauna of the map is concentrated in the middle of semi-river, semi-shallow place.
There are lots of deer, some boars, little water pounds have dozens of shore fish, if you're lucky enough you can find extra turkeys and sheep hanging around. Lots of berrybushes are on the sides of the Vital River.
Players will have to move forward early enough to have food sources, but they must be careful: thirsty as everyone else, wolves live on vital river too. They won't be too close to the players tho.

screenshots:
http://imgur.com/g5PPfZC
http://imgur.com/TwnuzyX

download:
http://www.speedyshare.com/VDuyw/Vital-River.rms

links updated 04.02.2014, some fixes (gold, stone position, deer number, wood percentage)

 

[obi11]

Vital River looks like a really great map!

 

Vital River looks like a really great map!

It's similar to that AoFE map (I forget the name) but yeah it looks great :D

 

[Philippe le Bon]

Vital River looks like a really great map!

It's similar to that AoFE map (I forget the name) but yeah it looks great :D

Valley :D

 

[Oblomov]

It's similar to that AoFE map (I forget the name) but yeah it looks great :D

Valley :D

Yes, I mentioned in the beginning of the map code, that the idea was inspired by Valley!

 

[Papaya]

For those, who don't know how to do .rms scripts, i also would suggest this guide.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5792&f=1

It is a basically a remake of the original guide with less mistakes and some extends.

 

[JecaTatu]

Vital River has much more stone than normal! =)
But that`s a nice map.. =D

 

[stian]

I give you two maps, the first one Relica. It's a map similar to green arabia, but with less large wood pieces, forcing the player to move lumber more and futher away from the base, and making walling harder and less effective, and only 2 pile main gold, with 2x1 pile secondary, and 2x1 per player somewhat randomly placed on the map. But the map contains 30 relics. Which will end up being the main source of gold. One might see som Arena like play style with monks, but without those walls.

Two sheeps start close to the player, just like the light random maps to avoid huge start advantages for open player because the other one can't find sheep.

http://www.multiupload.nl/57G6SYHG6Q

Mercenary:
A map with a similar build to relica, but with only the standard five relics, and a small close, "main" gold, of just 3 piles, and two futher less safe piles of 7 which will be the center point for expansion and defence in the castle age and beyond. You also start with two scouts. What special here is mainly that the map is filled with a couple of militia, spearman and even 4 pikemen and archers. It might force you to consider a heavy dark age. And aggressive scouting.

http://www.multiupload.nl/49GM9H21AW

The "build" of the map is familiar to our favorite, open land maps, but this will certainly force different strategies, and fun play.

Probably both of these kind of maps have been made before. So it's not that unique I guess.

 

[TheMadCADer]

Here is a brief description of all the maps I've made so far.

Atoll: http://oi41.tinypic.com/2ue4qz5.jpg
Like a connected Migration. Players start on islands that connect to the rest of the land with beach terrain. Water control is important as well as control of the center area.

Deadly Forest: http://oi41.tinypic.com/1oocwj.jpg
Players start in a dense forest with extra sheep to start. There are lots of deer in near the middle of the map. Space is tight, so trade will be difficult.

Mountainside: http://oi39.tinypic.com/2uy1ttg.jpg
All the stone and relics on the map are located in a large elevated area in the middle. It pays off in the long run, but take care not to neglect your home base as well.

Sahara: http://oi41.tinypic.com/2n6w4dz.jpg
Like Arabia+Ghost Lake. There's a lot of open space for rushing on this map. The desert is in the middle of the map, creating a "no-man's-land" without constrained expansion.

Jungle Swamp: http://oi58.tinypic.com/sen0gy.jpg
A large pool of water in the middle of the map contains lots of fish. This is imperative for players since there are no boars. Land armies can cross the swamp through the middle on the shallows. Wood is sparse on the edges of the map and more abundant towards the center.

Kingless Hill: http://oi61.tinypic.com/s4uvx4.jpg
Players start in a palisade fortress at the foot of a large hill in the middle. The hill is not loaded with resources, it is simply there to gain military advantage when pushing your opponents.

Vinlandsaga: http://oi58.tinypic.com/dggm76.jpg
Like a reverse Ghost Lake. Players start out with only a small patch of buildable terrain around them, beyond that is ice. All the important resources in the map are in the middle.

River Nile: http://oi62.tinypic.com/20zzgva.jpg
A large river divides the map by team. All deers and extra mineral resources are along the river's edge. In addition to this, there are also rescuable transport ships along the edge which can be used for early landings. Scouting on this map is critical. A double TC version is also available.

Oasis Island: http://oi57.tinypic.com/vowtn6.jpg
Like Oasis, the majority of the wood on the map is in the middle. However, the wood is on an island, so water control becomes that much more important.

Amazonia: http://oi57.tinypic.com/2rqh6yh.jpg
Lots of water and lots of wood are present on this map. This leaves little space for expansionistic building. Plan accordingly by having a strong water economy and using siege to clear up the forest.

Download link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/x00pO3B4ba/TheMadCADers_Map_Pack_2-7-14_.html

 

[HJFE]

Updated Anniversary Pack on February 7th.
Link to Anniversary Pack thread viewtopic.php?f=103&t=93200
Link to my post in this Thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=98723&start=80

 

[Strepto]

Duopoly

In Duopoly the players fight in an open map with two points of interest. At two of the sides of the map there will be a concentration of gold. The players will have the option to fight for the important, but largely disadvantageous positioned, gold piles. Alternatively they will pass the the valley of death in the central desert. Flanking is the central theme of the map.

The players start with standard resources, but will have some extra gold further away from the base. This means that the gold might not be as important in the earlier ages. But it will be a gamechanger if one team can hold on to them in the lategame.

>> Download Duopoly V1.0 Here <<

(In the lack of a Fold bbcode i will post the rest of the info below)

Images and map description

Duopoly - 1 vs 1 Gold centers at neutral positions

Desert area in the middle, with no useful resources. Will you go for the flank or the rush through the deserted middle?
Duopoly - 1vs1 Gold centers close to base

In this scenario both players starts with the two extra gold piles at their disposal. The downside is that the goldpiles are in the open and not easy to defend. Will the players withstand the imminent raids or give the extremely important gold away?
Duopoly - 4 vs 4

Eight piles of 5 gold for both sides. Might be at the flank or at the pocket. Makes for extremely good flanking opportunities and high action points. While the middle is open and deserted and will improve raiding opportunities.

Link to higher quality map images

 

[The_Prophet]

Uploading a new map: Pyramid

Note: The two versions only differ in starting resources (standard 475 wood, or 200 wood).

 

[Papaya]

Here is another one. Sadly i had not much time to test it.
This is Compact.
Note that there are no trees in the center except 3 stragglers for everyone, which contain 700 wood each.

Screenshot of a 3v3 TG:
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-22207635/MAP004.jpg.html

The script:
http://speedy.sh/QaWTZ/Compact-V2.rms

EDIT #1: Changed the script a bit to remove missing-gold-bugs (like you see on the screenshot) and renamed to Compact-V1
EDIT #2: Readded the deer

 

[The_Prophet]

The last batch of maps:

An updated version of Pyramid with more food for a faster start:

 

[HJFE]

My map pack Anniversary Pack has been updated again.
Check out my thread for information and downloads: viewtopic.php?f=103&t=93200
Updates are here: viewtopic.php?f=103&t=93200&start=20 (scroll down)

I will start working on releasing single maps tomorrow. I still have some editing to do with the single maps.

Sincerely HJ.

 

[zoro]

merry go round is so fun in aofe with paliside gates :D

 

[Gentle]

Just wondering but who will be rating the maps and how will they be rated? :O

 

[TheViper]

Map entries are now closed. Winners should be announced within a few days.

 

[_PkZ_]

How do you make those full size map images?

 

[Papaya]

Control + F12 is the hotkey for full size map images. The feature was implemented by the UP team i think.

 

[Carlos Ferdinand]

How do you make those full size map images?

Ctrl + F12, then change reduction ratio to 1:1

 

[scripter64]

The Ctrl+F12 feature was implemented by ES_MattP in the original game. UP only added the 1:1 and 1:2 reduction ratios. Incidentally, be careful with the 1:1 ratio, as those images can be VERY large lol

Does anyone use the Big Map screenshot function (Ctrl-F12)? I never see it mentioned. That was another I feature that I programmed. I did it just before AoK went gold in order to make the images for the strategy guide, and I left it in the game for end-users.