Easy-To-Follow map making tutorial ! PT.1 - Heightmap

[xmapleleafx]

Hello guys, and welcome to my easy to follow tutorial on map making!
I know there are dozens of map making tutorials, but I wanted to add to the community by making my very own.

Firstly, we will start on the Height Map. What is a height map, Tiffany, you ask?
A height map is basically how the terrain is gonna turn out on your map. If you go onto a feralheart map, it's not all flat, is it? Most maps have hills, mountains, dips, quarries, etc. We will start with a basic map since you are probably new to making maps if you are reading this.

The only program you will need (other then FeralHeart, ofc) is Gimp. Now, it doesn't matter what version of gimp you use, I'm currently using Gimp 2.8. Here is a link to download Gimp.  http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
There are other programs you can use to make a Height Map, but I would say Gimp is the easiest to use.

Open up gimp. It will look like this:


You see that file button? Well, click that , and click 'New...' on the top of the options.
You need to now make the Height and Width '513, 513' Because this is what your starting width and height will be. But do not worry, your map won't be as small as that. Don't worry about that for now, though!
Click the (+) Additional Options and change the Color Space from RGB to Grayscale. If you don't do this, your map won't work.
RGB is for the terrain mask which we will do later! I know you are very eager.


Let's get on the fun stuff! Now, here's the key which you must remember. White = Highest point of the map and Black = Lowest point of the map. Basically, you are painting your own terrain. Let's start off with a black canvas.
So you get an image, a fully black canvas would look like this on FeralHeart:



~TO BE CONTINUED~