Maped is the map maker, and yes you will need to make art before you can make a map or you wont have anything to place down on the map. Press CTRL while in maped to view and edit tiles. Use Maped's built in art program at first to get the hang of things. There are documents floating around that take you through Maped step by step, but since The Verge Source no longer exists I couldn't tell you where to find them.

You can also import images made in other programs like Adobe Photoshop. This is a tad more complicated.

Verge's graphic capabilities? Um, its more like the Artist's capabilities and the style they are after/how much time they want to spend on the game. No you cant make a Quake type game in VERGE, but you COULD render nice detailed 3D buildings in MAX or something, put cool lighting effects on them, take a snapshot, and import it to VERGE... if you really wanted. Look at that castle at the top of the page on the site logo image... that sort of art can be done.

Verge can only load up flat image files however, so in that sense its limited. Verge is geared towards making console style games. If you want to make a 3D shooter or something use Half Life. You could, however, make a game with graphics comparable to Baldur's Gate using VERGE if you really wanted, but it couldnt be true 3D.. you would have to use your artistic talents to trick the eye into thinking your 2D tiles and sprites are something more than they really are...

Hope that helps

---