Recomemded world map size

[Cinnamon Dev]

Hi there, I am developing a medium (40-56 hour gameplay) game and am experiencing some doubt about my world map.


While now the map is small and compact part of me wants to add more distance between the starting village and the cities/towns/camps around it.


If you have any suggestions for me on map size for such a project please let me know, I will try to respond 45 minuets after you comment.

 

[Andar]

there is no simple answer, any map (not only the world map) should be as small as possible while being as big as neccessary.


By the way - do you have a team for developing that game? because 50 hours gameplay is NOT medium, that is extremely long.


Professional developers creating games for a living in full time work (yes, there are several of those on this forum) usually are able to create two or three games with about 8-hour-gameplay per year. And that is fulltime work from an experienced (which means fast) developer.


I haven't seen a single new developer who ever finished a 20-hour-game as first project, and creating a 50-hour game will require a team of people working about two years minimum...

 

[bgillisp]

Hard to say, as there are a lot of variables. Do you have encounters on the map? How frequent are they? How much traveling does the player have to do?


Also, I would suggest not focusing on how long the game is, but what is in the game. I always joke I could make a 100 hour RPG by setting the encounter rate to 1 step and making every fight take 5 - 10 minutes due to the high HP. Now, would it be a good RPG? That is another question. So focus on making the game the story you wish to tell, and whatever the length is in the end, that is what it is. Aiming for an artificial length of time in a game is how we get games that have you stop and grind for 5 - 7 hours, or go find 100 doodads before you can proceed on the plot, or pay down your debt by 100,000 G before you can advance, and so on. None of these approaches (as far as I can tell) are liked by players, so you don't want to do that to yourself.


And, Andar has a point up above me too. My game says it takes ~20 hours to beat (my save right before the final fight is 19 hours, 39 minutes), and it took me 2.5 years to make. And it still has 1 year or so of polish left before it is released. So in the end it will probably be 3.5 years to make a 20 hour RPG.

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

Ok noted. Thanks for the in-depth reply's

 

[Crabs]

I usually make 50x50 for small villages and I split big town in maps smaller than 50x50.


100x100 town usually have lag issues since they have more events than usual. Also they are harder to navigate. It's specially interesting if you are planning to make a complex cutscene on the map (eg. invasion).


For fields/dungeons, I make 100x100 or bigger maps. They don't have much events to handle and I usually need room to make paths to put some chest or quest area.


[edit] On maze-ish map, you may want to make it smaller though. (it's 50x50)

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

For fields/dungeons, I make 100x100 or bigger maps. They don't have much

Good advice, I am definitely taking this into consideration as currently I am starting a project with friends (not one mentioned above).

 

[Crabs]

Keep in mind that you can always change the map size and the editor has a copy-paste feature for tiles.


So, if you decide to reduce or make your map bigger, you can easily shift everything to the top-left corner and change the size.

 

[Arithmetician]

Well, I started the first draft of my World map with a size of 200 x 200.  I figured that I needed to make it large enough to accommodate adequate details and random encounters.  Though I suppose a lot depends on what you think is a fitting encounter rate for the world map.  I know 30 is the default.  On 20, that's an average of 10 encounters across the map.  Perhaps one should make encounters more frequent on the world map.  What do you guys usually use for map size and encounter rate settings?

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

Usually with smaller over-world  maps I tend to set the encounter rate about 20 or 10 (depends on size) for some 40 x 40 maps I set the encounter rate to  20.

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

Well, I started the first draft of my World map with a size of 200 x 200.  I figured that I needed to make it large enough to accommodate adequate details and random encounters.  Though I suppose a lot depends on what you think is a fitting encounter rate for the world map.  I know 30 is the default.  On 20, that's an average of 10 encounters across the map.  Perhaps one should make encounters more frequent on the world map.  What do you guys usually use for map size and encounter rate settings?

Forgot to quote this one


Usually with smaller over-world  maps I tend to set the encounter rate about 20 or 10 (depends on size) for some 40 x 40 maps I set the encounter rate to  20.

 

[Aweed]

So focus on making the game the story you wish to tell, and whatever the length is in the end, that is what it is. Aiming for an artificial length of time in a game is how we get games that have you stop and grind for 5 - 7 hours, or go find 100 doodads before you can proceed on the plot, or pay down your debt by 100,000 G before you can advance, and so on. None of these approaches (as far as I can tell) are liked by players, so you don't want to do that to yourself.

That is a great point. I would much rather play a ten hour game with good story and characters than an hundred hour game with about 70 of those hours being grinding. A good story and characters leave more of an impact than a long game.

 

[Andar]

@Cinnamon Dev, please avoid double posting, as it is against the forum rules. You can review our forum rules here. Thank you.

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

@Andar I apologize for that

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

That is a great point. I would much rather play a ten hour game with good story and characters than an hundred hour game with about 70 of those hours being grinding. A good story and characters leave more of an impact than a long game.

So as it seems I should make my game quality over quantity, (please correct me if I am wrong but I think that's what I should take from this.


Just because  I want to make a 40 + hour game doesn't mean it is going to be a good one, I should take time and pour a lot of blood and sweat into my projects before I expect to make a good flawles game I should focus on perfecting map design, level progression and story/lore first.

 

[Arithmetician]

@Cinnamon Dev  Actually, it's more the usual practice here just to use the @Arithmetician notation rather than quoting my post unless necessary.  It makes the page load quicker for people who are on their phones or have slow internet connections.


Also, instead of double-posting, if you think of something else you want to say, just edit the original post and add it there.


That said, it's good to know your thoughts on the random encounter rate on world maps.

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

Well @Arithmetician thanks for the feedback I am new to forums (and RPG maker in general).

 

[Arithmetician]

@Cinnamon Dev Something didn't work there... my name should be highlighted in blue.  Be sure to click it at left when it appears.  That will generate a message to my inbox, drawing my attention to your post.

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

@Arithmetician Here we go I think I got it working I'm so unfamiliar to this setup.

 

[Kes]

@Cinnamon Dev


Straight after apologizing for double posting you double posted. If you want to add something, please use the Edit button and add it to your earlier post.

 

[Cinnamon Dev]

And there we have it gents seems like I can't do anything but read post correctly on this forum


@ksjp17 Thanks for pointing it out though, sorry for double posting I will be way more careful