Some general guidelines to think about when you start creating your own map.

Purpose

  • Is the map supposed to be used as a one-time session during a couple of hours.
  • Or do you want people to spend months on it building a campaign.

Custom VS BaseGame assets

Creating custom assets and textures for a map is a very time-intensive process. That requires it’s own set of tools, workflows and problems.

I try to work with the basegame assets as much as possible. There is already a very active community creating custom models anyway.

Picking a location

Source Data/Maps

  • Are their heightmaps available?
  • If you want to use satellite images, are they available
  • Can you find data maps of the location? (Open Street Maps)

Would the area be suited for an FS map?

  • Are there one or more farm locations.
  • Are there locations where you can place production points and stores.
  • Are there enough field locations
  • Is there enough interesting geography in the location
    • Rivers
    • Mountains
    • Terrain Features
  • Do the roads provide enough access to the complete map
  • Do the roads create a “network”
  • Any open areas a player could use to start their own farm
  • Is their enough forest area?
  • If their is a river, are their ways to cross it
  • Does the location have some kind of natural barrier you can use to prevent the player from going outside the map
  • Is there a theme at the location you could use for collectibles

Is there a regional theme that can be used?

Does the location have any regional products, buildings or vehicles that can be incorporated in the map?

Map Size

Try to keep it small and interesting. Forget about big maps. It’s not worth it.

The game and the editor are made for basegame size maps. Any issues you run into because of the bigger size might require specialized knowledge about how to scale things up within the engine. If you don’t know how to do those things yourself, you’re going to have a rough time. And a bigger map is going to give you a lot of extra work to not make it boring.

Better put some extra time in a small area than too little in a big area.

Dont forget how fast things scale. If a small map takes 20 hours to detail. Doubling the map size would take 80hours to paint the same surface area.

TODO: We need some clarification and specifics on the difference between 2k/4k/2x/4x/8x

Layout

Where is the startfarm positioned?

  • Centered -> Makes the map feel smaller. Everything is more easy accessible
  • Off-Centered -> Makes the map feel bigger. Road networks can be more complex

What does the road between the main farm and the vehicle store look like? This will probably be the most traveled road.

Production Points

Basegame production points vs custom production points.

Adding custom production points to a map adds some extra complexity that isn’t really necessary for a good map. But it can add a lot of value easily.

It helps engage the player in discovering the map.

  • Which production points will be available
  • Where are they located
  • Can you sell products if you don’t own them

Selling Points

  • Which products can be sold
  • Any locations that give better prices for some products?
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Last updated 30 Mar 2025, 00:09 +0100 . history