World Size and Why It Matters

Today I officially started my world save, which I have yet to give a real name to outside of "Workinprogress.world", but I figure a name will come in time. Today, I chose the size and height maps for my world, which is important because all decisions made from here on out will be affected (and even restricted) by the dimensions chosen. The basic gist of the options available in Create a World are as follows:

Map Size
This is the horizontal plane on which all features will be built and it comes in several sizes.

• Tiny( 256x256)
• Small(512x512)
• Medium(1024x1024)
• Large(2048x2048)

The scale can be hard to grasp when starting out (because of how blank the world is at first), so I thought a frame of reference might be helpful.

This is a small world with a 64x64 square block, which is the largest lot that can be built.

Initially, I intended to build on a small map to help accommodate my PC( I'm doing this whole project on a 16" laptop), but after some consideration I decided on a medium map. I plan to do a quaint town with surrounding farmland, so a small map would really cramp the layout of my world and I wouldn't get the end result I wanted.  If you are torn between choosing a world size, try to lay out what you generally want in your head; a secluded island obviously needs less space(and is less demanding on your computer) than a city like Bridgeport, which was built on a large map.

Something else to consider with map size is that the large it is, the more time it will take to complete it. Unless you are Maxis and have a small army of people terrain sculpting, painting, placing decorations, and whole lot else, every step will be done singularly. This lengthens the process and you may lose interest much sooner as the tedium sets in and haven't even finished terrain painting yet. This is why I failed in my first world and it has taken me over a year to find the desire to try again, just a word of warning.

Map Height

The second option after world size pertains to the maximum height allowed within a world. This time there are three options:

• 100
• 200
• 300

Obviously, a world with a max height of 300 allows for taller mountains to be built. However, before just picking 300, a consideration at this stage should be: do I really need all the extra height? My world for example, only has a height of 100 because it's going to be a cluster of flat farmland that has little elevations change.

*Note: If you pick a map, let's say a TinyFlatMap300, your maximum height should also be set to 300.

Default Terrain Paint

The final option given a this stage is what type of terrain paint you want to start with. The two choices are:

• Lush- Green grass(think Shang Simla, Sunset Valley, etc)
• Desert- Sand(think Al Simhara)

I picked Lush for the obvious reason that my world is loosely based on the English countryside, which is the polar opposite of a desert. 

That's it for now! Next I plan to start on the topography of the world, so lots of fun to come terrain sculpting!

My final setup