Tutorial: Your First Map

Your First Map

This tutorial explains how to create a blank map, build it, load it in the game, and then iterate on changes.

It assumes you have already installed the MapStation plugin and editor by following the guide: Starting Up

Create a Blank Map

Open MapStation.Editor.

In the "BRC MapStation" menu, choose "Create Map."

Choose your map's identifier. Map identifiers must be globally unique and should follow the format: author's username, a period, map's name. All lowercase, no spaces.

In this example, supposing my username is cspotcode and I want to create a circus-themed map, I can name it cspotcode.circus.

The editor will create a new, blank map. Check the "Project" panel. Your map lives in "Assets/Maps/". Any additional assets -- blender meshes, sounds, textures -- should also go into this folder.

⚠️ NOTE: Some of these files may not appear immediately, but do not worry. The editor will create them automatically.

Scene.cspotcode.circus	A Unity Scene. This is where we build the map. The name *must* match this format, including our map's identifier.
Properties	Confirm your map's display name and other options.
README	Text description of your map, shown on your map's Thunderstore page.
CHANGELOG	Included when uploading to Thunderstore.
icon	The icon shown on your map's page on Thunderstore.
MiniMap	The Mini-Map prefab, shown on the phone and pause menu.
MiniMapMaterial	Gradient material for your Mini-Map.

Click "Properties" and set your map's display name and author. These can be different from the map's identifier and do not have formatting restrictions.

Build The Map

To build your map, press F5 or choose "Build Maps" from the menu. This builds all your maps, but Unity is smart and will only rebuild maps which have changed.

The first time you do this, MapStation.Editor will prompt you to choose the output directory for testing maps. If you have already run BRC with the MapStation plugin, then this path can be auto-detected. In the MapStation "Properties" window, choose "Auto-detect."

Choose "Build Maps" again. This time it should succeed.

Check the console for errors.

We can open the output directory in Windows Explorer and see that all of my maps have been copied. In this example, I am creating three maps in my editor: cspotcode.circus, cspotcode.demo, and cspotcode.sandbox.

Play the Map

Launch BRC. Open the MapStation phone app.

In this example, I also have a Millenium High map installed from Thunderstore. Maps I am building locally are marked with an "L."

Choose your new map to load it.

If everything works, you should load into a blank void.

Iterating

Making maps is all about changing a few things in the Editor, rebuilding, and then testing in the game. MapStation tries to make this process as fast as possible. You do not need to restart the game to test changes.

Go back to your editor and add something from the "Game Object" -> "BRC MapStation" menu. In my example, I have added a vending machine, positioned in front of the spawn point.

ℹ️ See also: Adding Mechanics

Press F5 in the editor to rebuild the map. Then switch to the game and press F5 to reload the map. The game should go to a loading screen and reload your map with your changes.