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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.
For more information (overall rules, how judging works, a list of trials) please visit the Season 6 Discussion thread.
Trial 3. Early Game Route
Deadline: Sunday, May 8th 2022
You have waited a long time for this trial. Now it’s finally time to challenge your skills once again!
The challenge: The player went through the tutorial routes and knows how tall grass, items, ledges and trainers work. Maybe they even have their first HM. With a party of approximately 2-4 Pokémon the fledging trainer now is ready for their first challenging route.
Your job is to make a route that challenges the early game player, but at the same time doesn’t overwhelm them. This is a great time to encourage the newcomer to explore game play elements. Maybe introduce some advanced tall grass and trainer placements, puzzles, optional exploring or whatever else the game has to offer.
Good luck in designing a fun route!
The following criteria must be met:
Any and all assets used in your map must be public or must be shared for public use in your submission post.
All public assets used for your map must be credited clearly and properly.
You may not use the tiles/tilesets uploaded by another participant for their entry in the same Trial as your entry. You can use the same public tiles, but not the tiles/tilesets that they made or compiled specifically for their own entry.
Fogs and NPCs are allowed to be used. You must provide a fogless version of your map or it will not be judged.
Your tileset, fogs, and NPCs will not be taken into consideration when judging, so they will not have any impact on your chances of winning.
Idilio
Heroalistar
Ekat
Zeo
Zein
J-Treecko252
874521
The Red-Ex
Kyledove
Magiscarf
Wesley FG
Tileset:
Notes:
I just wanted to do something quick and simple. I decided to make a route with a little schoolyard on it. I figure if you take the straight path, you face a Nugget Bridge-esque gauntlet of preschoolers. The grassy path would allow you to avoid that fate... The southern exit leads to a forest, a staple of the early game in Pokémon. There are a few little nooks for visible and invisible items as well...
Notes: This route would be placed right before the 1st gym as a sort of route 2/3. You would enter from north and leave the route east.
I wanted to do something easy and digestible because at this point in the game, your player knows most of the traversal skills but is still getting accustomed to everything. It's not good to overwhelm the player on the first few routes in my opinion.
Critique Requested: yes, please Credits: The cloud graphic used in the panorama was obtained from the PokeEmerald GitHub and is originally seen in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. (lmk if this credit needs improved)
All other tiles are default Essentials tiles or my own edited tiles.
the grass that grows from the standing water puddles:
recolored flower autotiles. only the first 3 appear in the map:
the panorama:
Notes: This bright wetland route is accessible as soon as the first gym town, located to the north, is reached. However, the eastern portion of the route is blocked off by invasive Cuttable trees placed along the ledges, which cannot be removed until the first gym badge has been obtained and the HM01 Cut obtained.
Wild Pokémon such as Surskit, Politoed, Yanma, and Bibarel are native to these ponds. At night, Murkrow and Gastly can be seen scavenging for carrion. Trainers can avoid walking in the deep water on the south side of the route and encountering these Pokémon by using the conveniently placed boardwalks. The abundant water on this route is supplied both by the River Owenmore and the Wishey Aquifer.
Once HM03 Surf can be used outside of battle, trainers returning to this route will find many secret items and alcoves. What's that across the western pond...?
I just wanted to be in on this before the deadline so I just quickly compiled a little tileset and made a map. I tried to challenge myself a little by making a route without trees, and I think it turned out alright.
Serg!o - Base for Pokémon Center, two medium trees I edited
FangkingOmega - Edit of Pokémon Tower that I edited for the lighthouse
Kyledove/Kymotonian - Shed I edited
Gamefreak & Nintendo - Pokémon FRLG, RSE tiles & characters
Tileset:
Notes:
After the player had just received their first gym badge and gained access to HM01 - Cut they are challenged by the hilly and blooming Route 304. One of it's unique aspects is the short open-roofed cave that has no transition.
Notes: The player has left their home town and are eager to go through a challenging route to test themself and check if they're ready for the long distances they have to travel! This route will be engaging for them, although a bit confusing, to give them an idea of what normal and experienced trainers go through.
Notes: Enjoy a friendly battle on the beach before you trek up this jungle cliff in search of sun-loving Pokémon. Make sure to bring a water bottle because you are gonna feel the heat!
The bamboos above the non-grassy cliffs are to be cleared with HM Cut. I would probably place 2 mandatory trainers and 2 optional, not counting the surf area.
[edit: added notes]
Trial 3: Early Game Route Map Name: Hazelnut Forest
Map:
Critique Requested: Yes
Credits:
1. Ekat
2. Heartless Dragoon
3. Morlockhater
4. Nemu
5. Ross Hawkins
6. Pokemon Dawn
7. Slimshady
8. Thedeadheroalistar
9. The-Red-Ex
10. Vurtax
11. Zein
12. Redblueyellow
13. Fabnt
14. War8
15. Dragoon
16. Silverdeoxys563
17. SteamyJ
18. Anonalpaca
19. Pokémon Rejuvenation
20. Puggsoy
21. Aveontrainer
22. Idillio
23. Dasani
24. Shyin
(I used Ekat's public gen 3 tileset folder, and I'm not sure who to credit for the tiles i used, so i credited all of them)
Notes: After leaving their secluded town, and going through the first major city, the player must go through Hazelnut Forest to get to the next gym. Although this trek across the forest may seem scary at first, there is nothing for the player to worry about. Except maybe that strange old lady on the edge of the forest...
Samdeman123124
TheDeadHeroAlistair
Ekat
HeartlessDrago
Buch
Seiyouh
FM
Erma96
snuffles504
Zein
Zeo
Aldo
Vurtax
Anonaplacca
Notes: LOVED making this map! Didn't get quite as much time to make it as I would've liked, but irl does get in the way! This would come after gym 1, or maybe after the town after gym 1. First time making an entirely custom tree palette, was good practice. (Post is in bad formatting rn will fix tomorrow idk)
Trial: 3: Early Game Route Map Name: First Rodeo Route
Map:
and...
Critique Requested: Yeah, why not?
Credits: Idilio & Ekat for a lot of the tiles!
Notes:
"This IS my first rodeo!"
For some reason, I couldn't get 'this ain't my first rodeo' out of my head when trying to find inspiration for an earlygame route, so I decided on an aesthetic I haven't tried before: Wild, Wild West! This would be your first 'real' route after the first gym, with plenty of trainers that you can choose to fight if you need that EXP - the route's designed so once all the trainers are fought, you can basically walk straight through it.
(By the way, all NPCs with Pokemon next to them are trainers. I couldn't really indicate which ones turn and which ones don't.)
Once you get Surf, you can return here to unlock both a tall grass area (with new Pokemon) on the lower left, and a river route on the upper right. Hopefully, it'll be one of the first areas players consider going back to, just to see what's on the other side. (That's why it's so narrow!)
As for the tileset, I tried slightly shifting the universal dark outline colour to a slightly more purple hue, to give it that sunset look. The trees you see dotted everywhere are modular trees - good for visual variety, but a bitch to get right in Tiled. Dear god, I missed "Dim Lower Layers."
Notes: This area was heavily inspired by Akkala from breath of the wild. I love the autumn feel of the area, and so i decided to make it a route. im overall very happy with this map and feel like i did a good job!
Notes: A nice small but explorable maze route, with a healthy amount of items and trainers scattered around in different places.
After beating the first gym and traveling through the previous route, you find yourself in a maze surrounded by small unique trees. To collect all the secret items around the map you need to defeat the Cut Master, so he can know you are worthy of his teachings. Only after learning the Hidden Move Cut, are you able to challenge the mighty Maze Snorlax.
Notes: Entering from a long route down south, the player makes their way through Flora Forest. Meant to be a change in pace, the player won’t find any trainers here. This gives them a nice opportunity to.. literally stop and smell the flowers, catch some Pokemon, and explore. Cut trees block the cave entrance, which the player won’t have upon the first travel through this map. A TM is available behind the tree-line after surfing through the first pond, and a good item is available in the section surrounded by ledges in that middle section.
This map was made with a larger screen resolution in mind, being 640x480. In this resolution, the player can see 10 tiles left and right, and 7 up and down.
Trial 3. Early Game Route
Results
Submissions: 16
Deadline: Sunday, May 8th 2022 SEASON 6 DISCUSSION THREAD
Thoughts
There were a whopping 16 entries this time. We had a great time judging the amazing maps that came out of this!
It was very interesting to see that an early game route seems to be associated with lush, green places and yet there wasn't a single map that felt like another. We were very impressed with the different styles and techniques that were used. This jam is a great ressource for everyone that is looking for inspiration!
@Adel's Brother's map is a great display on how to make a consistent theme just varied enough to be interesting, while also teaching the player mechanics through clever item hiding spots throughout the map!
@Ekat's map presents a carefully crafted lore conveyed through clever placements of tiles.
Congratulations on your well deserved badge!
Help organize Iron Mapper
I'm always looking for fellow mappers that are willing to help me out in judging. Getting more input from a more diverse pool is always better.
Contact me per PM on Relic Castle: @aiyinsi or Discord: leilou#5723
Critiques
We decided to give you the feedback of the two judges seperately because we feel that having multiple perspectives can be helpful.
Notes, fogs, NPCs and tiles are not being judged. We might still have left feedback on those if we felt that we had some.
Something that I truly appreciate about this map is how friendly it is to newcomers; it has the right amount of mandatory walkable grass tiles, as well as having plenty of room for re-exploring once the player obtains further HMs. The layout also being an actual mirror of itself is a very nice touch.
It's a nicely sized map with multiple paths to explore.
The swamp theme is conveyed beautifully.
I hope the player comes from the bottom, so they see that the path is blocked by the cut trees. I like to block off both sides though so the player never ends up in a dead end.
There's not much going on in terms of gameplay. Most trainer fights are optional. Taking the detour on the left isn't really worth skipping 2 tall grass. The mandatory path to mandatory tall grass ratio is too little in general.
surfing in the bottom left will feel pretty underwhelming as there is nothing in the water. I think being able to surf there is an oversight tough. (assuming you can't surffrom the sides of bridges)
Surfable and non-surfable water sections look the same, making it not easy to see at one glance where the player can and can't surf.
There usually is a darker ground tile or a tree tile with more shadows, to make the grass in the forest darker and making it easier for the player to recognize the lighter grass color as accessible space.
This map has a couple flows that can be easily fixed. The entrances to the route are a bit too long and uneventful, and can definitely be trimmed just a bit. I think the section down south – over the ledges – could use something else to attract the player to go there; as it stands now, there is no incentive for the player to explore there. I would also suggest pushing each item a bit further away from each other, as both items around the house area are visible within the same screen. I would suggest removing the item across the tall grass – the one in the middle – or making it a hidden item.
I like the natural tall grass formations.
Great job on adding multiple exploration opportunities.
Great loop on the top right. (although the stair is barely visible ... probably Discord compression fault tough)
Good use of elevation and paths to break up the green. Adding a bit of vertical ledges and mountainsides might have elevated your route to the next level.
The left side of the ledged off circle is pretty diagonal -> annoying to walk
The ledges one-way the player for no reason. A partial ledge with no path behind or just a narrower passage are enough to signal that the path is not the main path. The way it is now stops players that want to explore from exploring.
In general I feel like you added the lake because you felt that the map lacked interest. As a result it doesn't really fit into the map though in my opinion.
The entrance and exit of the route are too long with nothing going on.
The concept of this map is very fun and has a lot of potential, however I don’t think that it was executed properly. It was a bit disorienting trying to figure out which water body was a lake or a puddle. I also have to question the use of the bridge on the big puddle with the tall grass, as it does look off in my opinion. While there is definitely a lot of room to explore, I would consider reducing and condensing the map a bit more.
The layout is good. The map could be condensed to about half the size though.
The tree/tall grass/water-formations look natural. The map is also well decorated.
The color + texture + size of the walkable puddles is very similar to the surfable ponds. Making it hard to distiguish at first glance.
The player has to go quite a bit until they notice that they get blocked by cut in the bottom path. And then quite a bit longer to realize that all the other space is just exploration.
It's good practice to have most exploration slots visible from the other side of the river to tease the player that there is something to come back for once they got surf.
That mountain must’ve taken you a long time, and I respect that! One glaring issue that I found with this map is that there is a lot going on, but the space is actually quite reduced if you truly look at the map closely, and it generates a lot of visual noise. Encouraging the player to come back later on is rather nice. I just feel like the mountain section could’ve had a bigger play on this route, since you’re already utilising caves as an alternate path. That part at the base of the mountain closer to the southern entrance is also a bit disorienting because it feels like something should be there; a staircase, a rock climb section, or something of the sort.
The path is creative and interesting.
There a lots of exploration spaces
Use different ground tiles for non reachable space. The green plateau on the middle left looks like the player is supposed to look for a way to get up there. There is also a tree tile with shadows to make the forest look darker.
The entrance and exit are pretty uneventful
There's too many ideas crammed into the map. It might be better to just take 1-2 concepts and expand on them.
The route and patches of tall grass both are too big for an early game route.
I couldn’t figure out where the beginning or the end exist in this map. It does give me a wild-area sort of vibe, but it’s hard to pull off those types of maps with a top down perspective. There is a large amount of what seems to be unused or pointless space, many of the areas on the edge seem a bit pointless for the player to traverse and are too similar to each other. For an early game map, this map is specially unforgiving because you’re (assuming you first arrive through either of the top gates) forced to either enter the other gate, or spend an ungodly amount of time figuring out the exit from this route, without being able to turn back. My suggestion would be to reduce the size of this map greatly and add some sort of path to guide the player through the route safely; as well as some way for the player to turn around and be able to heal. One-way maps do exist, however it feels very unforgiving for this stage of the game.
I like the routes idea.
The map is too big for what's in it. 1/4th to 1/3rd of the size would be enough.
The player can just walk around most of the tall grass, which makes it almost pointless.
Obstacles beneath ledges are bad style because a ledge is signaling the player that they can jump down there.
There's no way to backtrack unless the player can climb up ledges, making this map very punishing for such an hard to orient in map.
My main tip to improve this map would be to think of the way you want the player to traverse the route and how to guide them.
I thought this map was adorable; it’s also functional, at just the right amount of difficulty for an early game map. The space is well used and allows the player to enjoy strolling through the route, while also having enough room to explore. I like the addition of the water route entrance at the bottom, as well as how evenly spaced out the items are. Nice job!
The map is very nicely decorated. It's rare to see such a consistent themed map, that is not repetetive!
Great use of items to guide the player. I especially love the PokéBall in between the palm trees, teaching the player that they can walk inbetween those palms.
The map has a good size for an early game route.
I would place the cut-bamboo a tad earlier, so the player knows they are in a dead end sooner.
I think the layout of the map is fun, but it could work perfectly fine without the whole bottom section; the map is quite large and could be condensed a lot. It may not seem like it at first but having paths as long as these can break the flow and annoy the player. I like the fact that the player is able to go back and heal to the nearby town if need be thanks to the ledge near the cave. Having interesting landmarks like the mansion is a very cool feeling while exploring during the early game.
I like the theme and gengeral layout of the map.
There's not much going on. Condensing the map to about a quarter of the size will make the long paths more bearable for the player. Especially if they need to walk the route again.
There's not really a sense of direction in the map. At crossroads it is important to let the player roughly know what is at the end of the options, as it let's the player decide whether they want to explore or not.
The concept of elevation when it comes to mapping is a bit more complicated than adding a cliff and stairs and bridges, you have to utilise this elevation to create a dynamic route. Let’s just pretend that we have 3 levels of elevation and we’re calling them 1, 2 and 3. Elevation allows you to block paths and sections that can be accessed later by exploring its different levels. Say, you find yourself in 1, there is an item over the wall that you can’t access because that section is clearly blocked. But taking the staircase to 2, exploring and traversing 2 and reaching the end will lead to a staircase that brings you back to 1, to that area that was previously inaccessible. There has to be a reason as to why you have different levels of elevation.
Great tall grass formations!
I like the Pokéball in between the ledges to add interest as well as a backtrack route.
Good job on blocking the backtrack route right at the beginning from the other side.
The transitions between sections (bridges/stairs) are too long.
There are usually tiles for trees with shadows inbetween them / a darker grass tile to use there. This makes the non accessible areas blend out better, letting the player focus on what's important.
Use a different grass tile below the bridges. Non accessible areas should be easy to tell appart from accessible ones(see point above)
I know it requires more work than I'm making it sound, but if you rotate the top part by 90° and put that section above the lower part the interest of your route skyrockets. It'll also be more memorable as your map will feel more interconnected.
Putting tile errors aside, this map has a lot of open spaces that make the map feel a bit barren. However, the map concept is super fun and I think that it’s executed pretty nicely. I do like the fact that you added two different paths for the player to take. Something that could benefit the map would be to use different tiles for your walkable and non-walkable cliffs; just for the ground. This gives clarity to the player as to what places from the map are accessible.
I like that you're telling a lore through your layout and use of tiles.
The map is nicely decorated.
The route is too big for what's in it. Maybe condense the map to about 2/3rd of the size.
There's nothing for a long time in the top surf part.
Using a different ground tile for accessible vs non accessible sections is important to help the player grasp the layout of a map quickly.
This map is very cute. It’s very grandiose for an early game route, but I personally don’t think it’s a bad thing; everything is evenly spaced out, there is enough room for the player to breathe and traverse the route without being overwhelmed with tiny paths or too much tall grass, and it overall has a very enjoyable layout. I just truly wished you could use the waterfall / route aspect for something. Having the cave be blocked by cut trees instead of incorporating it, say, at the base of one of the cliffs in the river is a huge missed opportunity in my opinion. It would be a great incentive for the player to come back.
The map is nicely decorated and has a cohesive theme.
The path through the route is interesting.
The top right shortcut could do with a ledge at the beginning of it, so the player doesn't go there only to notice it's a dead end.
Use a different ground tile for non walkable areas vs walkable areas, to make it easy for the player to tell at a glance where they can go and where they can't. (a slightly darker tile is usually good for forests)
The bottom right beginning of the route is too long with nothing happening.
Having some secrets could give the water in the route a purpose. At the bottom left river-arm the player can escape the map.
Your maps have improved with time, and I believe you should feel proud about that! This map has some glaring issues that have a pretty easy fix. There is just too much going on. You have the sea in the bottom left section, a forest, a lake, a house, a hidden picnic area, a cave… While I don’t think that having too many focal locations on a map is inherently bad, these are just too many. I would strongly suggest removing that sea section at the bottom, as well as incorporating the lake within the route so that it has some value. As it stands now, the lake and bridge serve no purpose in this route. Small nitpick, I would also place the cave in between the two ledges, so that the player has an incentive to actually go through that path. The multiple paths are a very nice touch and I greatly appreciate them.
Tips for the future: Allow yourself to reduce the amount of ideas put into one map. Having too many things can be rather overwhelming and, surprisingly, forgettable for the player. Because you won't know where the cave you’re looking for is if there’s one cave in every route. Whenever you place a focal location in your map, think of its purpose and how the player is going to interact with it. You placed a lake in an early game map? Is the player going to be able to surf through it to reach another location or is the lake just existing there?
First of all I want to say that I'm impressed at the rate you are improving your mapping skills!
You've put a lot of effort into the trees and I think they are looking great. You're decoration in general does a great job of giving the map a cohesive theme.
All paths through the route are interesting. The ledges also do a great job making them feel connected.
The right side is a bit uneventful though, as you use it as a straight path that the player can choose one of the three horizontal paths. Treat that part of the route like you did the 3 parallel paths!
The picnic area might work better further up so the player has to walk less. The secluded effect is already there by having it on a route with so many trees hiding the 1-wide path.
The islands 1 tile away from the shore are annoying to not accidentaly get off the the Pokémon you're surfing on.
I appreciate the BotW reference, because this area is one of my favorites as well. This route is pretty cute and I do appreciate how small it is. It feels very welcoming for starting players and I think that’s important considering the theme. The section at the bottom – with the tall grass and access to the water – is honestly pretty boring considering it’s only there so you’re able to get to the pokéball on the other side of the water. This can easily be fixed by adding a staircase on the other end to allow the player to have another option when traversing this route. I also feel like the waterfall here has a lot of potential to give access to the player to new areas after obtaining HMs.
Clever use of ledges to force the player into a more interesting route.
The autumn theme looks great. Expanding it to the border trees might look more consistent with the theme of the map.
There's a narrow diagonal at the top left. Such sections are annoying to traverse.
Use different ground tiles for non accessible spots. It makes it clearer to the player where they can go and where they can't.
The concept of the route is very innovative and we thought that it was very creative and fun in theory. Having mazes in top-down perspective games can be tricky because you’re kinda allowed to see where the path is taking you. Another issue that I have with this map is how crammed together everything is. The paths (specifically the one on the left (and obviously not with the maze in mind, since the maze has to have tight paths for it to work)) are, well, a bit too tight and it makes them feel too small. The addition of the house at the top is very cool, and as I mentioned on another critique, finding places and interacting with places like these is very interesting for the player, and I believe it was a great thing to add.
Great short*cut*(pun intended). Altough I would have loved if the player could literally cut their way through the maze instead of alongside it. That way the player interacts with the main feature of the route even when they aren't solving it.
I love the focus on cut in the route without making it mandatory.
There's a lot going on while staying true to the theme.(that's a positive)
Consider punishing the player with trainer fights or giving them items in the dead ends. This will make traversing the maze more interesting.
There is a tile for the bottom boarder of lakes.
The use of a darker ground tile in non-accessible areas makes it easier for the player to subconciously differentiate the accessible from the non-accessible spaces.
I love the idea of using ledges as a way to trick and disorient the player on purpose. It’s a fairly easy route to traverse, but the player has to think what is the right path to take. I do think that it could be condensed quite a bit, I actually believe it’d work just fine without a big portion of the middle section, as it seems to only have more of the ledges. This is pretty solid and quite creative.
The beginning and end of the route are interesting. The middle part is too, although I'd compress it a little. The trasitions in between them are too long though.
I like the focus on ledges. I haven't sen many routes with focus on that feature!
The cave entrance looks impressive. The way there is a bit to long and diagonal though. If you want the length for buildup purposes, consider introducing elements of the moss that sourrounds the cave and maybe rocks or statues earlier on that path. The tall flowers are distracting from the buildup effect tough.
The boarders inbetween flower formations are very straight. It makes it feel very unnatural, undermining the effort you put into it making the outer shapes interesting!
There are a lot of forced tall flowers for an early route. Maybe have some holes in the tall flower sections.
The route could use some exploration spaces, like item spots accros the surf lakes.
![[K]arma Badge](/data/medal/104_1641428355l.jpg)
