Traveling

[Helladen]

How many people feel a World Map system really offers much to exploration? Are they worth implementing into the game, or do people feel making the entire world and adding a mechanism like fast travel is better?

 

[RPGMaker]

I plan to use it in my game...

Its defintly useful for a word wide styled/world adventure game.

 

[prexus]

You can add exploration options to a World Map, but ultimately its limited by the tiles you use to indicate areas or the memorable hidden areas such as the square forests in Final Fantasy. Otherwise you can hide areas by making them impossible to see without a certain vehicle but allude to their existence with a minimap or some other revealing information.

A non-traditional Secret of Mana style map travel increases world immersion and offers a better way to reward exploration. Especially if you use Pokemon/Metroid style tools and abilities that make certain areas in plain sight not accessible without backtracking.

 

[Zeramae]

It depends on how important exploration is. If exploration consists of getting from point A to B with a little bit of enemies/chests thrown in I think it's better to implement a travel map. A map that lets you select destinations from a list of places available.

You can make the player into a cursor event for a free roam if you want to be able to have hidden areas to unlock by searching for them. Just an idea.

 

[Helladen]

Oh, you gave me an idea. I think I'm going to go with an image based map that has locations you can quick travel to, so that it keeps exploration up, but doesn't require too much effort to maintain.

Thanks for the responses and suggestions.

 

[Espon]

I made a world map in last game because I wanted to make a silly map that had extremely small dimensions and the map wrap feature turned on so it was like you were on a tiny little sphere (or donut if you want to be correct on how RPG maps actually wrap around).

Usually though I'll just give the player a list of locations to choose from when you visit the world map...it makes the world feel bigger since a real world would have thousands of areas to explore in a small area and you're just giving the player a few options to pick from. Some games don't even have a world map and things just feel too small (such as towns being about a 1 minute walk away from each other in Star Ocean 3).

 

[Mouser]

World maps give the opportunity to add areas that have nothing to do with the main plot, but can have lots of side content for the players to discover.

Final Fantasy games are great examples of this. Finding an Esper above a village that has no other "real" purpose in the game, or some old blacksmith's hut where you can find someone to upgrade your swords or armor. Or even just an area with its own self-contained quests and rewards.

If you also use the default walk -> boat -> ship -> airship progression, then the world map lets you control the flow of the adventure as well, while still giving the players a degree of freedom in side exploration as they go. I think it's FF I that once you get the ship if you take the time (and brave the encounters) you can sail all the way around the continent and get to some high-level areas much earlier than if you went the "traditional/storyline" route.

 

[Ocedic]

World Maps are nice because they give your game a sense of scale and a sense of direction to everything. If you don't use a world map and use some kind of area select, make it like Mario RPG where you can see where places are relative to one another (at least that's how I think Mario RPG was, it's been too long since I have played it.) And having said that, you can have exploration without a world map. In most RPG Maker games with a world map, there aren't many optional areas at all, if any. And so the world can come across as looking barren and boring, which is probably worse than not having a world map at all.

 

[NO!]

I do like having a world map to traverse, but there are a number of things I don't like about it, such as scale, etc. I know with Ace, you're kinda hard-pressed to make things to the exact scale they should be, and I do find that the whole concept of "Tardis Houses" has a bit of charm to it, but what I don't like is having character sprites the same size as entire towns and cities. I know I can shrink the graphics, but then there's the problem of appearing to have invisible barriers around different tiles that you can't pass over, and then the fact that I actually like to clearly see my characters when travelling.

SO! I am in the process of making a "zoomed in" world map, where everything is relatively close to the scale it should be but over the space of many different maps. However, as I am doing this, I am also creating the single world map. Why? Because when it gets to the point where you have your own boat or airship, you can travel over the world map, but only by boat or airship, and there will be specific places for you to land or dock. This form of transportation will be required for you to locate secret areas that you can't reach on foot. So I'm still trying to capture the essence of having a world map, while trying not to fall into the typical RPG world maps.

 

[Dactrius]

A non-traditional Secret of Mana style map travel increases world immersion and offers a better way to reward exploration. Especially if you use Pokemon/Metroid style tools and abilities that make certain areas in plain sight not accessible without backtracking.

This is my favourite method of map design and one I like to use. I'm trying to be as ambitious as I can with my current game and make it open world where possible, except I'm not using a world map so in order for players to get from A to B they have to manually trek through each area. To make this more pleasant I don't use random battles and like Prexus mentioned I've adopted the Metroid/Zelda style system where new items allow you to access new areas and shortcuts. Personally I love this kind of approach and it feels good to try and tackle it myself from a design standpoint.

World maps have always been a staple of RPG's and they add a number of things such as scope and fun ways to travel. The downside though, I find, is that the world feels disjointed. Zones aren't connected and feel more like pockets of exploreable areas rather than a connected world. If the player has to walk between areas witnessing the change of scenery as they go, it adds a lot more to immersion.

That said, fast travel is an interesting thing. In certain games (Take Skyrim for example), Fast Travel is extremely convenient (And oftentimes it feels like the game is designed around it) yet also detracts from immersion. My last playthrough of that game I avoided fast travel altogether and felt much more connected to the setting and the environment. What I do like though are fast travel networks - that being fixed portals in certain areas or horse-drawn wagons outside of specific towns. That blends the best of both worlds - meaning the player gets to experience the benefit of instantaneous travel but at the same time is required to manually walk to a place that offers it. A compromise that favours both the player and their immersion.

 

[Ravenith]

I actually use an overworld map much like the one in fallout 1&2. This promotes exploration, as every step taken has a chance to trigger special encounters (not necessarily battles), in addition to static areas.

 

[RockStone]

The problem with this is that World Maps were designed as game lengtheners for early RPG games, to (as previously stated) give a sense of scale and make it easier for Devs to create a huge world without having to create loads of scale maps to trawl through. Even games that don't use Random Encounters, like Chrono Trigger, have a basic World Map to give you a sense of travelling from one place to another.

Having said that, I always find that the Zelda style of having a small, contained world map with lots of scope to revisit areas with new weapons/abilities is actually more rewarding. Some of the larger scope games in the 16-bit era had loads of villages, but the Devs got bored after a while and just left them quite barren. Who can forget Secret of Mana's Gold Island? Lovely, unique map design, great theme tune...NOTHING TO DO AT ALL. Barely even any NPCs worth talking to. I wouldn't allow that into my little RPGM hobby game, let alone a full-price release. I always hated that you could go into houses in that era of games and there'd be no-one in there, and not even any items to find. Why even go in there? There's no reward.

If I could give any advice to budding RPG makers, it would be, take your time with each area. Don't rush forward, as tempting as it is. Craft each town, each dungeon, lovingly. That's one lesson I've learned the hard way in my time of RPG making. It'll take longer, but you're creating something which a potential player will explore and learn to love. If you do implement a world map, keep it contained, or keep the Random encounter rate low - no-one wants to have to fight every three steps. Make sure there are plenty of side areas to visit for viable rewards, and yes, implement quick travel. It doesn't even have to be brought in late in the game - Xenoblade lets you Quick travel from the start of the game and it doesn't ruin anything.

Remember - this is a GAME. It's supposed to be fun to play, not a chore. Too many JRPGs rewarded consumers by punishing them, even many of the big name games. Considering that we're mostly giving these games away for free, you need to make them accesible for the player.

I'll shut up now, as I've said me tuppence worth. Haha!...