Introduction
Design Map mode lets you build your own battlefields for Advance Wars. The editor itself is straightforward, but making a strong map takes more than filling the screen with terrain and properties. Good maps should look interesting, play fairly, create meaningful decisions, and remain fun across multiple matches.
In 2004, my Korean War map reached #1 at Advance Wars Network among roughly 1,200 submitted maps. This guide draws on what I learned designing and testing maps there and covers both the basics of the editor and some practical principles for making custom maps that are enjoyable to play.
Design Map Mode Controls
The editor can feel a little confusing at first, so here is a quick guide to the controls.
- Control Pad = Move the cursor around the map, much like moving during normal gameplay.
- R = Open the terrain menu. Use this to place mountains, properties, forests, sea, roads, rivers, and other terrain.
- L = Open the unit menu. Every unit is available here.
- Start = Show a mini-map of your design. If units have been placed, the display alternates between terrain and unit locations.
- Select = Open the main Design Map menu.
- File = Load, save, or name a map. Map names have a character limit, and you can only save three Design Maps at once.
- Help = Show the conditions your map must follow, including property and unit limits, along with instructions for using the editor.
- Intel = Show how many properties of each type belong to each army, along with neutral properties.
- Fill = Fill the map with plains, mountains, forest, sea, or random terrain. This is useful when you want to establish a base terrain quickly instead of placing every square by hand. The random option can produce ideas, but manually shaping the map generally gives you more control.
- End = Leave Design Map mode. If you have unsaved changes, Nell will ask whether you want to save them.
Design Map Restrictions
A normal battle map needs at least two HQs, along with at least one unit or one deploying base for each participating army. You can also place units belonging to an army without an HQ, although those units behave differently and are generally more useful for unusual scenarios than standard versus maps.
The standard map size is 30x20, which gives you plenty of room for most designs. You do not need to use all of it. If you want a smaller battlefield, you can build the playable area in the middle or in one section of the map and surround it with sea, mountains, or other impassable terrain.
You may not have more than 60 properties on the map. That is usually more than enough, and property count should be determined by the kind of game you want rather than by how much space is available. Too much income can accelerate the match dramatically, while too few properties can make rebuilding difficult.
You may not place more than 50 units for any one army. In practice, most maps work better with far fewer predeployed units. Large starting armies can clutter the battlefield and reduce the importance of production, positioning, and adaptation.
Terrain should shape movement and strategy rather than simply decorate the map. Roads create fast routes, while forests and mountains provide defensive options and become especially important in Fog of War. On maps involving water, shoals, bridges, reefs, and open sea can be used to control where naval and land units can interact.
Avoid covering most of the battlefield with a single terrain type unless that is part of the map's concept. Mixing open ground with defensive terrain and movement corridors generally creates more interesting choices.
For properties, a city-to-deployment-base ratio somewhere around 1:1 to 3:1 can be a useful starting point, but there is no universal formula. What matters more is whether both armies can contest important properties fairly and whether the income distribution creates meaningful strategic choices.
Appearance matters too. A map that looks distinctive is more inviting to play, but visual design and gameplay should reinforce each other. Build around a clear idea, test the map in actual matches, and revise anything that consistently favors one side or produces repetitive play.