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Harmadone
June 4th, 2010, 16:11
Hello.
Im just starting out in the map making buisness, I just thought I should find some way to give to the community that have given so much back.

So I will create this thread to get some of the most basic and some more advanced answers for both Map Making in general (and in this case, Map Making in KeeperFX)


So my first question...
What is the difference between creating a bunch of maps in Dungeon Keeper
And creating a Campaign in KeeperFX

mefistotelis
June 4th, 2010, 16:27
In Dungeon Keeper, if you press "new game", a campaign starts which consists of maps MAP00001 to MAP00020, and has secrets MAP00100 to MAP00105. Original DK can't use campaigns with different map numbers or with files somewhere else than in "levels" folder. There's also no way to move the ensigns representing levels in land view, or make less/more levels than 20+6.

KeeperFX allows you to integrate any amount of campaigns with the game; every campaign has its own .CFG file which defines map numbers, folders and ensigns for it. If you want to make another campaign for KeeperFX, you just have to copy one of existing campaign config files and modify it so your maps will be used. The file for original campaign (keeporig.cfg) contains lots of comments, so it's easy to create new campaigns based on it.

friscmanseby
June 15th, 2012, 17:14
In Dungeon Keeper, if you press "new game", a campaign starts which consists of maps MAP00001 to MAP00020, and has secrets MAP00100 to MAP00105. Original DK can't use campaigns with different map numbers or with files somewhere else than in "levels" folder. There's also no way to move the ensigns representing levels in land view, or make less/more levels than 20+6.

KeeperFX allows you to integrate any amount of campaigns with the game; every campaign has its own .CFG file which defines map numbers, folders and ensigns for it. If you want to make another campaign for KeeperFX, you just have to copy one of existing campaign config files and modify it so your maps will be used. The file for original campaign (keeporig.cfg) contains lots of comments, so it's easy to create new campaigns based on it.

Yes, and how about the surface land view? How I draw new land (or use pre existent ones)?

mefistotelis
June 16th, 2012, 00:17
Yes, and how about the surface land view? How I draw new land (or use pre existent ones)?

Well, it is a bit complicated.
I started a guide on this, but never really finished it:


2.1. Drawing or selecting pictures

What you need to start is a series of land view pictures showing the "progress of evil" after beating every level.
To be exact, you need:
a) Land view picture at start of the campaign (whole green; this is used in special cases, ie. multiplayer screen)
b) Land view picture to be shown before every level (the place where ensign will be placed may be marked somehow, ie. be brighter)
c) Land view picture at end of the campaign (whole red; shown when the whole campaign is beaten)

The a) picture can be identical to the first picture of b) series, but you may also make it a bit different - ie. a bit lighter.

It is up to you what will be on these pictures. Usually, the picures are showing
the same landscape - first picture shows a green, happy island, and the last
one shows red, dead island flowing with lava. But if you have another idea for
your campaign - you can use any theme you want.

While selecting photos or drawing your pictures, make notice of their resolution
- the images in KeeperFX need to have size 1280x960 pixels. Also, make sure
the important part of the picture isn't very close to its border - otherwise,
the area you wanted to be visible may prove to be covered by a frame tower picture.

EDIT:
The more complete (but still very unfinished) guide is now on the SVN repo:
https://code.google.com/p/keeperfx/source/browse/trunk/keeperfx/docs/creating_campaigns.txt