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EDIT - these guidelines are deprecated since Aaron took over the official mapping duties from me. He plays by different rules. If you want to make maps that fit in with the official Goldhawk maps (and possibly have a chance of being included in the game), then please follow the guidelines below. Non-compliant maps won't be included in the game for obvious reasons. If you're just mapping for fun, though, feel free to do whatever you like. Goldhawk Mapping Guidelines - Crash Sites Crash Site maps use the following tilesets: Arctic, Farm, Desert, Middle East To function in the game, they must include both a dropship spawn point (Chinook / Shrike / Valkyrie) and a UFO spawn area. Map size is defined by the UFO in the map. Do not mix UFOs from different categories in a map (so don't put a Scout and Light Scout in the same map): Light Scout - Light Scout (~60x60) Small - Scout / Corvette (~60x60) Medium - Landing Ship / Cruiser (~70x70) Large - Carrier / Battleship (as required) [*]You should only place one UFO crash position for each UFO type in each map, and one dropship spawn position for each dropship type. This allows more intelligent placement of alien spawn points, as you know where both the dropship and UFO will be. [*]UFOs at present always face to the SE, which means that they should be placed on the upper edge or sides of the map rather than on the bottom edge. UFO hulls are not destructible (and often behave a bit strangely) so the doors should be immediately accessible. [*]Where possible, maps should be divided into at least three "sections" by objects that block line of sight through them (a wall, a building, a thick forest etc). Without this, units can see their full sight range so the maps are dominated by long range sniping, and there's no chance of those X-Com moment where you walk around a corner and find yourself face-to-face with an alien. If you're unsure, look at our maps for examples of how that can be done. Goldhawk Mapping Guidelines - Terror Sites Terror Sites use the following tilesets: Town, Soviet Town The map size is defined by the UFO that spawns the terror site, but the UFO itself does not actually appear on the terror map. The following UFOs spawn terror maps, and the map size to use is as follows: Corvette (60x60) Landing Ship (60x60) Cruiser (70x70) Carrier (70x70) Battleship (70x70) You can therefore share maps between the Corvette / Landingship and the Cruiser / Carrier / Battleship. [*]These maps do not need the "sections" like the crash sites. Rather, they are more about urban warfare. [*]The buildings should mostly be around the outside of the map, with a central open area (perhaps containing one building if needed) and roads dividing the areas. [*]These maps need a lot of cover. The flowerbeds are excellent for this. [*]The lamp posts and traffic lights are excellent for visually filling up open areas beside the road without actually filling it, which makes the maps less cramped. Cars, buses and newspaper stands are good for more meaningful cover.