Areas are always written in txt format, very similar to how you would write a description in game. Lines cannot be longer than 80 characters and must have a hard return at the end of each line. Mobs, rooms, and objects are all separated into different sections of the same txt file. Our heroimms these days don't even see area docs until they have their first 30 room descs done so these are the basic instructions you need. Usually when I'm getting a heroimm set up I send the my real basic room template and a few instructions to set up an area file so they have some solid structure to work on. A map is (in my humble opinion) very important just for the area writing, it wouldn't have any impact on the game.