If you've designed a space but want to expand it—maybe to add a secret lounge or spin up a space for a social activity—you can do so! All you need is access to the Mapmaker.
In this tutorial, we're going to add a room to a space that can be accessed by walking through a door.
Create a New Room
In the right panel of the Mapmaker, select the Rooms tab. Then select Create a new room and enter a name for your new Room.
The Create a New Room window opens, with the following options:
- Create a blank room: Create a basic rectangular room with wood floors and brick walls. Perfect for visionaries who know exactly what they want to make or who want a sandbox to play in.
- Choose from template: Select a room from our existing templates. Ideal for popping in an extra room to meet a specific need, like a social activity or all-hands room.
- Choose from an existing space: Select a room from a space you've already created. This is useful for connecting to existing rooms you've made, but keep in mind you will only be connecting to one room within that space.
For this tutorial, we're going to Choose from template and grab the speakeasy.
Once you've made your selection, the template opens in Mapmaker. You can see the new room now in the Rooms tab in the right panel.
As you follow the steps, be sure to click Save in the Mapmaker to save your progress.
In the speakeasy template, the entrance is at the left of the map. This means we have two options: (a) add a door in our original Space at the right of the map, or (b) edit the new room to change where the entrance is.
Add a Door
In the right panel of the Mapmaker, in the Rooms tab, select the original room that you want to connect to the new room. Decide where you want your entrance to the new room to be, keeping in mind how to move naturally between rooms.
Make an entrance that makes sense in the space to replicate natural movement. If I walk through a door at the right of a room, I expect to enter the new room from the left.
You can have a stealthy entrance to a room or space, like an unassuming office plant, or a sci-fi portal object, but we're going to use a traditional door in this article.
With the Objects mode active in the Top Nav Menu, click More Objects in the right panel. The Object Picker opens. Search for a door. Turn the door so it matches the orientation you need.
Tip: If you want to add a more sci-fi entrance instead of a door, just search the Object Picker for "portal" or "teleporter." Then you don't have to pay any attention to whether you're imitating natural movement between rooms.
Place the door in the original room. Now, we need to be able to "walk through" the door, which means we need to remove Impassable tiles.
In the Top Nav Menu of the Mapmaker, select Tile Effects. Then click the Erase tool in the Left Nav Menu. From the Tile Effects panel, select Impassable Tiles. Remove the tiles that are currently blocking the doorway.
Connect the Rooms with Portal Tiles
To connect two Rooms, you'll use Portal Tiles. Be careful to put the Portal tiles down in a way that imitates natural movement (see more in the Portal Best Practices).
Portal Tiles are one-way, so you'll need to place them in each room so people can go both directions.
Step 1: Add the Portal to the Second Room
From the original Room, select Tile Effects in the Top Nav Menu of the Mapmaker. Select the Stamp tool. In the Tile Effects panel, select Portal Tiles. Place the Portal tile on the map where you want to transport people into the new room.
Portal tile effects are indicated by a translucent blue color.
More than one tile effect can be applied to a tile. For example, a Portal tile effect can share the same tile as a Spawn tile effect.
After you select the tile, the Pick portal type window opens. Select Portal to a room.
A list of Rooms in the space displays. Choose the Room you wish to connect to (for this tutorial, the speakeasy).
The Room you selected will open in the Mapmaker. Place the portal tile in the Room where you wish to arrive.
Once you've placed the tile, the Mapmaker returns to the original room.
If you're using a doorway as your portal, you may want to place a second tile next to the first so people in your space can walk through either side of the door to teleport to the new room.
When you're done, select Save in the Top Nav Menu.
Step 2: Link the Second Room Back to the Original
Now you need to connect the second Room back to the original so people can walk back and forth.
In the Rooms tab in the right panel of the Mapmaker, select the name of the second Room (in this example, the speakeasy). The Room displays in the Mapmaker.
Select Tile Effects in the Top Nav Menu, then select the Stamp tool in the Left Nav Menu, and then Portal in the Tile Effects panel. Place a portal tile in the doorway. Choose Portal to a room, and select the original Room.
The original Room displays. Place the Portal tile down. Repeat if you need a whole doorway to Portal. Select Save.
Now when you return to your space, you'll be able to walk back and forth through the portal between the two rooms.
Related Articles
Have more editing to do? Check out these articles on some more advanced editing techniques:
- Connecting Spaces: Learn how to connect one Space to another, which is ideal for hosting large events
- Removing Extra Rooms: Learn how to erase doorways, edit tiles, and remove rooms.
- Best Practices in Space Design: Review overall best practices when creating or editing maps.
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