*L201 TAAL's GUIDE TO WORLD BUILDING ============================== Ascii Text Map Construction Rules for Warp. This is just ONE way of doing a map for your zone. Preferably, all zones on warp should have a zonemap in the /zone info notes. _______________ Exit directions: Exit directions from the rooms will be represented by the following chars: - for east/west | for north/south ^ for up (to be placed in upper line of current room) v for down (to be place in lower line of current room) Example: ^*38 %45 --- %46 |v@25 | R55 Up exit from room 45 leads to room 38. East from room 45 leads you into room 46. Down exit from room 46 leads you to room 25. South from room 45 leads you to room 55. Unless marked as oneway, going the opposite direction is also possible. __________ Exit types: Exits to the east/west have 3 characters while up/down have two. two way exit: --- or | | two way exit with a door: -d- or | d one way exit: <-- or --> or ^ or | | v Combinations can be made. Oneway west with door: :46 : there is a oneway from 45 to 46, and there is : a door in the way. #34 --- #35 : you can go east from 34 to 35, and west from 35 : to 34. *33 --- *36 :in this area, you can go down from 33 to 22 and |v*22 | :up from 22 to 25. |^*25 | o22 --- *23 :10 <-- :11 :there is a oneway from 11 to 10. d :from 10 there is a oneway down to 20. this oneway v :also requires the opening of an exit. o20 If an up/down is a oneway or has an exit, the caracter for it is put after the u/d. Example: *33 --- *34 :The up from room 43 to 45 has an exit. | | |^d@45 | :43 --> :44 __________ Area names: In order to have a readable and cute map, you can put the names of the main areas near their location. Put the names in brackets. Examples: R92 --- R93 --- R94 (Road to Nuln) R25 | | (Smaug's lair) @35 _____________ Terrain types: Terrain type is represented by the character west of the room number. Note that this legend is optional, use any legend that you feel is easy to read (but make sure you add the legend to the map in such a case.) @ - Indoors/room o - Cavern/tunnel (lower case 'o') # - City/Village ~ - Water : - Field * - Swamps % - Forest " - Brush ( - Hills U - Underwater M - Mountains =/R - Road T - Trail R - Bridge %34 : room 34 is a forest. :35 : room 35 is a field. *99 : room 99 is a swamp ______ Layers: If any 'floor' is going to be built in the zone, layers must be created. You must choose the main layer to be the one with more rooms. All upper exits from the main layer must lead to upper layer, and this same rule applies to lower layer. If a zone has several up/down layers, just make separate small maps for each of them. A separate layer map does not have to be created for one-room caves. Main layer: *73 *75 --- *76 --- *77 --- *78 --- *79 | | | ^*74 | ^*59 R82 --- R83 --- R84 --- R85 --- R86 --- R87 --- R88 | | | | |^*18 | | | *98 --- *93 --- *94 *96 --- *97 v*43 v*33 Upper Layer above Main Layer: *74 *35 |v*84 | | | *16 --- *06 --- *18 |v*98 | *59 --- *99 --- *29 v*88 Lower Layer below Main Layer: ^*97 o33 | |^*93 o43 Some other examples of what may occur in a zone-map: @35 : ordinarily room 35 and 45 would be connected by the ^45 : | character. But since it is an up/down this is how it v35 : should be displayed. :45 ______________ Lack of space: If you need to link two rooms which doesn't touch each other 'physically' and you don't have space to place it nearby, put the room where you would normally put an up/down room but indicate the direction with a n/e/s/w. Example: *82 --- *83 --- *84 --- *85 --- *86 : You can go between | | | | | : rooms 94 and 96. there | | |e+o96 | w+o94| : is an exit between *98 *93 --- *94 *95 *96 : them. d*23 It is, of course, possible to complicate the map so much with ups and downs and illogical connections, that it just is not possible to make a sensible map of it. If that should happen to you, maybe you need to reconsider the layout of your zone. I will update this soon. - Taal