I want to put a 2d world map into unity (exactly a map like google maps, so also with zooming in and moving around with cursor/wasd)

I could use Google Maps API, but I don’t have a credit card.

I could use Mapbox, but its pricey, already paying with 100+ users (will every game download on steam or itch.io count for one user?)

I could use openstreetmap.org, but I didn’t find a proper, understandble tutorial. I do know there’re are some assets using osm, but those are paid and I’m not planning spending any money on the game (I will also publish the game for free)

Do you guys have any recommendations or tutorials?

Thanks in advance!

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Tutorials generally only show some particular technique or trick or approach in a simplified context. Also, as it takes time and work to make a tutorial, their authors try to find a way to get a pay-back in some form. Attracting users to their site, making a name for themselves, or making whatever they promote more popular. That means you are not going to find tutorials for things that are not sufficiently popular. (In other words, making a tutorial for something that only a handful users ever want to know is simply not worth the time and effort to make a tutorial.)

So, while tutorials are nice to get going, they have their limits. Effectively, at some point you have outgrown their assumed knowledge level and/or you want something too specific (ie you've become 1 of the handful users on that specific topic).

In such a case there are no ready-made guides anymore. Instead, you try to figure out how to make it work by yourself. You try to find and read the documentation that exists. (It may not make sense at first, but assuming its author understood what they say, likely to information is at least in a sane direction.)

Another option is to try and find other art (programs or code or code snippets) that somewhat do the same as what you want to do. Read it, try to grasp what they are doing. Try to understand if it could work for your problem (possibly only partial, but you never know until you try).

By working on the topic you'll gain knowledge about it, and at some point you will find a way to do what you want. It may take a few attempts though.

If an attempt fails, don't see it as a failure, instead see it as new knowledge!! I assume you're not trying to fail deliberately. So if it happens, you missed something that was required. Thus dig until you find out how or why it didn't work. In that way you build knowledge, and you can avoid that problem the next time.

I have been programming for 40 years, and every now and then things still fail. Nothing to be ashamed of, stuff is simply much more tricky that we think at first. Just don't give up. Taking a break from it is ok though 🙂, especially when you're stuck and have run out of ideas how to try again.