Iron Mapper IRON MAPPER: Season 3 Discussion

Iron Mapper
Iron Mapper is a mapping competition on Relic Castle. Each mapping competition, otherwise known as a "trial", will have a deadline clearly stated, and you will have this time to complete and submit a map according to the theme and criteria of the trial. Once all submitted maps are judged after the deadline (this depends on the volume of entries, usually a few days), the judges will post the results, and prepare for the next trial.

Season 3
Welcome back to Iron Mapper! Been a while, huh? The last set of trials was over a year ago, and with the reboot I think it's a great time to revisit Iron Mapper. I won't be holding a trial every two weeks this time around, but I'll make sure there's a warning of a few days before a trial goes up.

Season 2 was so short, but with a site reboot comes an Iron Mapper reboot. I have some fun stuff planned for Iron Mapper, which will probably run until the end of June or so to make room for the game jam that we'll probably end up holding.

Here's to a successful season of Iron Mapper!

History of Trials
Trial I. New Beginnings (results)
Trial II. Mountain Map (results)
Trial III. Dungeon Map (results)
Trial IV. Town & Route Duo Maps (results)
Trial V. Celebrations Map (results)
Trial VI. Mid-Game Route Map (results)


For earlier trials, please check out past Iron Mapper seasons!

Rules of Engagement
The following are some general rules that apply to all trials. Abiding by them is mandatory.

• You may only submit one map per trial, and you may not reuse a map for multiple trials.
• Please don't just submit maps you've made prior to the trial, the purpose of this competition is to encourage you to map, not to post old work.
• You're welcome to map in whatever software you like, but it must be on a grid, and it must use the tileset required in the trial. RPG Maker XP is highly encouraged. The Tiled Map Editor is a free piece of software that would be a good substitute.
• Once you submit your map, you may not edit it further. Only submit it when you're finished it.
• Collaborative entries are not allowed unless specified in the criteria for a specific trial.
• Poor sportsmanship is highly frowned upon. Ultimately, this is for fun and self improvement. Enjoy it and don't focus on whether or not you win.

Judging
Maps are judged with the following areas kept in mind. These are subjective and general guidelines.

• Accuracy. How well does your map represent the theme of a trial, and does it meet all of the criteria?
• Gameplay. Can your map be traversed easily, and does it make sense in a Pokémon game? Is there room for NPCs?
• Technique. Are the tiles used well and without error? Does the map have detail and look polished?

The judges will have a group discussion with their thoughts on each map, the winner, and all the requested critique. The judges will agree on at least one map that has won the trial. There are no points or numerical scores.

The judges for each trial will be chosen by myself, and sometimes another judge might join a trial part way through. Judges may not partake in a trial they're currently judging. Those who have judged a previous trial who decide to compete will receive no advantage in knowing the trial theme, and there will be no bias in judging their map. Please do not ask to be a judge; I will approach you if I think you would be a suitable judge.

Submitting your Entry
In order to submit your entry, please make a post in the current trial thread with the provided information listed in the trial thread. You can leave your map untitled, and any additional information/notes are optional. Please list the number or name of the trial along with your entry. You may not submit maps for concluded trials.

If you're having issues taking a screenshot of your map, use the Map Screenshot Image Maker Script. It's very easy to use. You can also achieve a clear picture of your map by following this tip by Fontbane.

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For discussion of Iron Mapper, please use this thread. You're more than welcome to talk about past trials, but we'll likely be talking about the current one!

Hoooo yeah! Iron Mapper's back in town... or castle, should I say? Anyway, I hope everyone enters the trials, I know I will be. It's going to be really fun!

Hype!!! Super excited to Iron Mapper coming back :D I always really enjoyed seeing how people interpreted the different themes back on old Relic, and of course participating myself! Really interested to see what the theme is this time, hopefully lots of people enter and this'll be a lot of fun!!

Can't believe it's been a year... man I have been here a while...

Can't wait to compete. This year I'll actually submit something rather than just sit and watch.

Yooooo I love these! Okay I never actually got to submit anything, but mapping's my jam & this time I wanna try!

This looks interesting. Can't wait to check the trials.

I'm a big fan of these, can't wait to compete for the first time :)

I mean, I guess I could give it another shot - mapping is one of the few things that I'm even remotely good at, I think.

Yeah, screw it, I'm down for this. Hopefully I'm good at mapping.

Count me in 100%! And then I'll make a game from all the Iron Mapper maps I make. It'll be a dumb game.

Can't wait for this! Definetly going to do this.

Yay, Iron Mapper's back! I'm really excited to get started on my entry, the theme seems pretty interesting, particularly because of how open ended the theme is. It'll be fun to see how everyone interprets it!

Definitely going to do a map this time, I wanted to do one last time but neevr got round to finishing the map, is anyone a little confused on the theme, I didn't quite understand what it was.

BluePlays said:

is anyone a little confused on the theme, I didn't quite understand what it was.

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It's intentionally vague. You're free to interpret "new beginnings" however you please. We will be looking closely at your interpretation, however.

I'm quite excited for this! It's definitely the busiest part of the school year for me at the moment, so I'm not positive if I'll be able to finish an entry, but I think the deadline is far enough away that I'll definitely find the time to get something done!!

Mapping is the part of developing with which I have the least experience, but I've been working on it for my own project and I think I'm getting better at it, so I'm excited to mess around with this! I really appreciate you making this so open - in addition to the theme being so open to interpretation, I'm pretty sure the Iron Mappers on the old site mostly required using a specific tileset, which... is something I definitely should be able to make the most of, and is definitely more an issue with me than with the rules! XP But I really appreciate having this much freedom on the first competition, and starting with so few restrictions is a fantastic way to ease into the competitions and get everyone wanting to enter!!

Already, the entries that I've seen submitted are really diverse and creative in such different ways, so I'm really looking forward to trying and hope I can make an entry I can be proud of, too! All in all, I am very excited for this competition! : D

(Minor question! It must be on a grid, but that doesn't necessarily mean 16x16 tiles like the official maps, right? As long as it's on a grid, does the tile size matter?

In addition, not relevant for this trial because my intention isn't to enter a cave anyway, but for future reference: if an entry is something like a cave or a building with multiple floors, would several small maps strung together by entrances qualify as long as they are considered a part of the same area? Sort of like how Mt. Moon is divided into parts? They could still be part of the same image file, like how you can see the neighboring rooms in the Old Chateau or something - would that help their case as being part of one map? XP)

First off, I hope you do find the time to be able to participate. It's a ton of fun and super stress relieving to not have to worry about connecting routes or events or autotiles and to just map what's on your mind. Plus it's definitely a huge experience booster as you'll be getting an in depth analysis of what the judges think could be done better on your map (if you so choose to open yourself to said criticism).


I may not be THE person to answer this question, but I'm sure as long as it fits in the allowed space (no more than 90 tiles x 90 tiles), the tile size shouldn't matter all that much. Although, you probably should wait for a more qualified answer but if you don't I'll take the blame for that one ;)


I'm sure if the Trial were to be about caves, something like this would be clarified within the rules. But if you're looking into doing this for New Beginnings, I'm certain as long as it fits within the allowed space it should be fine.

I hope my vague responses were of help and have fun mapping!

Hmmm. It's my first Iron Mapper Trial since I joined! I think I'll sit this one out though and see what others do. I'll participate next time, to be sure!

Good Luck to all participants and the judges! Can't wait to see who prevails!

Hematite said:

(Minor question! It must be on a grid, but that doesn't necessarily mean 16x16 tiles like the official maps, right? As long as it's on a grid, does the tile size matter?

In addition, not relevant for this trial because my intention isn't to enter a cave anyway, but for future reference: if an entry is something like a cave or a building with multiple floors, would several small maps strung together by entrances qualify as long as they are considered a part of the same area? Sort of like how Mt. Moon is divided into parts? They could still be part of the same image file, like how you can see the neighboring rooms in the Old Chateau or something - would that help their case as being part of one map? XP)

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We'd prefer it if your tiles weren't larger than 64x64, since that would be a bit large. But there's no restriction on your tile size, no.

Nope, your entry must be one map within the size limitation if there is one. You can have multiple areas on that one map, but only one map.

Okay, thanks for the information! I don't think I would ever consider bigger than 64x64 anyway (I can see how that'd be overly big, haha), so I'm glad to know my intention of 32x32 is within the limit! And thanks for the answer regarding small-but-connected maps - I will make sure to keep that in mind if that should come up in a future theme!

Thank you both for your responses! C:

Digging the entries so far, guys!

However, please either mark the critique requested bit with either yes or no, please. If you leave it blank or put in a joke, we aren't going to critique it.

Best of luck! Hoping to see more maps!