You'll want to be able to put your map data into a file, so think about your data format. Consider this map:
Code:
---------------------------
| i1 | m1 | 1,2,3,4 room numbers
| | | P player
| 2 3 | i1,i2,i3 items
| | | m1 monster
----- ----------- -----
| | |
| 1 4 |
| P | |
| | i2 i3 |
---------------------------
Here's a simple data format:
Code:
number_of_rooms
room# north_room east_room south_room west_room item_list(ending with 0) description
...
number_of_items
item# description
...
number_of_monsters
monster# item_list(ending with 0) description
...
player_starting_room item_list(ending with 0)
Example for map above:
Code:
4
1 2 4 0 0 0 A dingy room.
2 0 3 1 0 1 0 A dingier room.
3 0 0 4 2 0 Another room.
4 3 0 0 1 2 3 0 Yet another room.
4
1 A sword.
2 A lantern.
3 A particle accelerator.
4 A huge mace.
5 A penny.
1
1 4 0 A troll.
1 5 0
That's just an idea. You'd need to add more stuff.