Art Maps

**Art Maps** are a common map type within both the former Flash-based Bonk.io and the current HTML5-based Bonk.io, being a common map type in them both.

By definition, these maps are of a visually-based piece or design that is generally paired with a form of gameplay.

This is an image of the map Fallen Bridge by GayfishDeluxe, an art map which ended up reciving first place within the BCD vote for the Community Picks.This is an image of the map The Architect by TamHill, displaying the usage of visual design and depth within his map.This is an image of (Grapple) Twilight Trees by Roby2, showing how Art Maps don't require high amounts of detailing to be considered one.
## History

From the addition of the Editor in May-June 2016, players naturally made some maps based on real life elements or concepts, such as with climbing in the map Climb by Fantao. However at that time, there was no color selection, fewer shapes, and all shapes were physical, meaning that these maps were vastly limited in their ability to create a visual piece directly.

As the months continued, more shapes and some color options were added, allowing for players to create pieces that were able to convey a concept into a visual piece better, but were still limited by physical shapes requirement. This meant that these maps often had too many shapes, making the ones that conveyed a visual piece in detail, laggy and generally unplayable at the time.

With the addition of being able to create a piece using any color in November 2016 and the ability to create non-physical shapes in March of 2017, players became able to create pieces that were visually based without strict limitations, where many of these maps are among the most well-regarded maps within all of Bonk.io today.

## Guide

*Within Bonk.io, it can often seem intimidating to create a detailed art map. The following is a step-by-step of the creation of a landscape map, along with tips that can be used in other forms of art maps, which can make the map-making process a little easier.*

**1)** Try starting with a rough outline of the primary feature of the map.

The most important part of an art map is the basic structure of it. This doesn't need to look nice or detailed, just plop a few polygons down. The details and the customized physics can be played around with later.

**2)** Add some minor overlapping on the primary feature, experiment with the background.

With this part, create minor overlapping where the primary feature is to help give the basic structure a little more contrast. At the same time, try creating a rough drawing of the background. Since the background is far away from where the physical structure will be, it won't need such detail.

**3)** Consider the light source to give it a 3D effect.

To do this, consider how the features of your map would interact in real life. Try giving shadows and highlights mostly to the primary feature and lesser so to the background to give the map some depth.

**4)** Add in the secondary feature(s).

Although not essential, having secondary feature(s) in a map allow for players to be able to take more risks and creative tactics in-game. While at the same time, the previous steps can continue to be used to make the features fit in.

**5)** Include a middle ground.

By doing this, the foreground and background can be connected together into one piece. Try making the elements in the middle ground have a little bit less contrast than the foreground to help players know which parts of the map can be interacted with.

**6)** Introduce elements to make it fit in with the surrounding environment.

Within this map, it is a landscape map that's set within the desert oasis. Given this, having plants such as cacti, shrubs, and a palm tree makes the map more lively. Let's say that you're making an abandoned radioactive lab, then perhaps having splotches of green goo will fit in with the overall theme of the map.

**7)** Test gameplay!

The final version of the map along with an overlay of how players may interact with the platforms.
In this part, if your primary & secondary features are unable to be physical due to being concave, create a physical shell over these parts and hide it under the platform. Now, throw in some spawns and see which parts of your map need customization. Consider how players would play against each other within the map. Or better yet, test it with some of your friends. By doing this, you can see where some parts of your map may have awkward gameplay, such as being unable to bounce up to a higher platform.

In this map, it was found that the primary feature did not need to be bouncy as it disrupted gameplay where the secondary feature was. Also, the primary feature was moved further to the right to prevent camping between the two features.

**8)** Optimise the shapes.

Make sure your map isn't too laggy by checking how many shapes there are by doing Ctrl+F on each platform and adding them up. Note that anything with more than 100 visual shapes alone will be at least slightly laggy for some, with over 400 visual shapes alone being unplayable.

Deleting excess details or merging shapes with a third-party extension can help reduce the amount of lag within an art map. With the last picture of the featured map, it contains 244 visual shapes without optimizing it.

**All done!**