Mapmaking guide for Darts

[TheKomodo]

Introduction

Welcome to the dS guide for making a good Darts map

The first maps to be made had some issues that we've managed to avoid over the years with practise and experience in creating maps, we want to share this knowledge to help players create better maps.


Basics on making a map for Darts

Usually we try and stick to standard map sizes which you can find here

Any size is fine, just remember that huge maps can have a long loading time for people with slow connections.

We now have "Multimaps" which are maps with more than 1 throw:

Super Mario Darts World (18in1)
Sonic the Hedgehog - Green Hill Zone (3in1)
Sonic the Hedgehog - Scrap Brain Zone (3in1)
Sonic the Hedgehog - Star Light Zone (3in1)
Sonic the Hedgehog - Labyrinth (3in1)
Sonic the Hedgehog - Spring Yard Zone (3in1)
Sonic the Hedgehog - Special Zone (3in1)
Sonic the Hedgehog - Marble Zone (3in1)
The Legend of Zelda (3in1)
Shiny World (18in1)


Guidelines & competitive requirements

Maps must have a Start platform within reach to the area you connect rope to.

It must be obvious where you connect rope to and where you bounce from, if for any reason it isn't, make sure you add a "how to" in the map description when you publish it.

If the map has any unique rules, make sure to add them to the map description when you publish, if you think it's complicated, you can always add a .GIF animation. Also, you could always write the rules in the map itself.

Make sure the distance between the spikes separating scores on any target is enough to prevent worms rolling from 1 score to another:

Bad example


^^ You can test your map before publishing it to make sure this doesn't happen.

Good example


^^ You can test your map before publishing it to make sure this does happen.



The point system on each map must be carefully thought out so it's fair for everyone and so players can do the math quickly & easily.

The target platform must be carefully designed to eliminate any luck possible:

A bad example:



A good example:





It isn't required but it helps to have anti-plop barriers on start platforms(APB for short):




Tried & tested swings

Examples of reliable swings that can be used:

The Classic:



The Pixel:



The Bank:



The 1st Bounce:



The Transfer:



The Arch:



The Ride:



The Rattle:



The Swoosh:



The Pump:




Advice, tricks & tips

Target measurement technique:

Try using the following pattern to help make perfect target cups:



^^ There is a single pixel in the middle, with 1 pixel width gap either side, then followed by rows of 5 pixel width adding up to 20 rows each side.

Using this method you can make each target cup exactly the same distance from each other.



Try not to use sprites/images with transparent image that has way too many colours in it, the best maps tend to have the least amount of colours!

If you are copying/pasting images from the internet, make sure to clean around the edges, sometimes you are left with messy pixels around the images which looks horrible on some of the WA backgrounds.

Try not to make start platforms which force players to jump from to connect rope, it can be frustrating and only makes things more complicated.

Try to make sure players have the freedom to stretch the rope out to it's maximum length when throwing their worm, it gives them a better choice of throwing style.



When exporting maps make sure to export as ".PNG", make sure you decrease the colours to a maximum of 113 for WA, the backgrounds in WA look best with 64 colours or less.

When using "Decrease Color Depth" in Paint Shop Pro, I personally use the following settings:




Good programs to use

Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop



IF YOU HAVE ANY GOOD SUGGESTIONS OR IDEAS PLEASE SEND A PM TO "KOMITO" OR "HURZ" AND WE WILL CONSIDER ADDING THEM TO THIS GUIDE - THANKS!

[Sensei]

I'm just in process of making 2 darts maps. One of them should probably be 3in1 like sonics. This thread could be really helpful, good idea.

[MarianRV]

Finally a thread like this!! I might start doing a darts map soon aswell xD

Good idea for this.We might see many gooder maps in the future