FOREWORD

I began this guide as a need to continue the discussion of map-making past the purely technical level only covered in other map-making guides. This guide was modelled after The Elements of Style and The Elements of Typographic Style, two masterpieces covering their respective fields of English and typography. The aim of these two books is to move beyond the technical aspects of their fields to discuss the details of usage and form. These books do not tell you how to write the next best-seller or how to design the next killer ad for corporation X, but how to assemble the details of writing or design and let your reader or audience focus on your work, i.e. they discussed the variables inherent in a composition of their respective fields. These manuals are brief, focusing on “when” or “why” questions rather than “how,” and so this manual is as well, you should be familiar with the technical aspects of your game before you read this. Finally, remember that these are guidelines not laws, if the plot of your map is in contention with one (or more) of the guidelines that’s fine, go with your plot, the point is to have a reason for not following the guidelines as they represent a balance that allows the player to focus on your map and not the lack of attention to detail.

This guide is focused on Marathon map-making, but nearly all of it is applicable to other games in the genre.

J.P. 1997