Minimap Art

By Asophix

Although not immediately apparent, your maps can be used as a canvas on to which you can paint! This tutorial shows you how to take a picture of your choice and imprint it on to your map to create some cool minimap (also known as "radar map") art...

Note: Part of this tutorial was originally published at Stronghold Crusader Heaven.

Imprinting Pictures on Your Map

First, you need to get hold of a picture that you want to put on to your map. You can either scan it in, download it from the Internet or even sketch it for yourself. In this tutorial, we'll use a picture of a black horse:

Once you've got your picture, load it in to a graphics or paint application that is capable of supporting layers (such as Photoshop or PaintShopPro). After adding a new layer to your picture, use a pen or brush tool to paint over it and create an outline as shown below:

Once you've traced the outline, remove the picture layer (or just hide it) and you'll be left with the outline as shown below:

Next, you need to create a grid as shown below:

The grid above has 14 rows and 14 columns, although you could use any number of rows and columns as desired.

Now, merge the picture outline with the grid that you have created as shown below:

The grid allows us to get a better idea of where things go in the picture.

In the map editor, you now need to create a grid that has the same number of columns and rows. In the example below, we've numbered the rows and columns using small rocks, and we've also placed stones at the intersections of the grid lines:

Alternatively, you could use a template map for Stronghold 1, however you'll find yourself regularly deleting walls, etc., while creating your artwork.

And for those of you using Stronghold 2, the map editor provides its own grid - just click the button shown below to toggle the map grid on and off:

SH2 Grid Button

Now, once you have some kind of grid in your map, you can trace the image outline in the map editor as shown below:

In our example, we've used river and also placed some raised terrain for the eye and nose. Eventually, you'll have your entire outline sketched on to the map:

You can now fill in the outline in any way you choose to complete your picture:

Once your picture is finished, you can remove the grid:

Paints and Textures

As any experienced mapmaker will know, different things on your map give different results on the minimap - and some of these things give very unexpected results.

The results these things have on the minimap is shown in the white box on the right. As you can see, the cathedral, towers and the Keep give unexpected minimap displays. You should experiment with all the different types of buildings and even things like pitch ditches and moats.

Now let's take a look at some types of terrain:

Terrain is best used to add texture to your minimap art, because you can often get similar colours with different textures. Animals can be used to place moving white dots on your minimap and most plants will not appear until a building is placed on the map, such as the signpost.

If you want vibrant colours on your minimap, then military units are ideal:

In the pictures above, over 1,000 troops were used for Daffy's beak!

As well as providing different colours on the minimap, terrain heights can also be used to make your art stand out on the map itself as shown below:

An Extra Challenge

If you're creating minimap art in a map that you intend people to play, then try following these three rules:

1. The image on the mini-map should be distinct and easily recognizable.
2. In the regular view (map editor or playing the game) the terrain should appear completely natural, with no odd or unusual features as a result of the image. Ideally, the “Image” is not even noticeable or recognizable while playing.
3. The image in the mini-map should be related to the theme of the scenario.

For example, in Camargue of Rohan, the mini-map clearly shows a bold prancing horse. Playing the game you see an irregularly shaped mountain lake, including inflow and outflow of water, sandy beaches, rocks, etc. And the whole theme of the story revolves around a mountain village of horsemen, building up supplies of armor for the knights of their kin in the lowlands.

Examples

Here's a few more examples of minimap art:

 
 

Well, that's all for now!

Happy Painting!

(original authors from Stronghold Knights: Bismuth, SirRoeman, Lord_Strider, Aubergine)