World Maps

[BigToastie]

I re-read my first part of my post and I didn't mean to come off as aggressive towards someone else's opinion (apologies for that @hian) as that how it sounds.


My issue with world maps is tileset specific I suppose, with the default overworld tiles, I dont think there will ever be an 'impressive' world map with this, it will look OK, but OK isnt good or great... 


I want to find / create a good world map tileset, as then I would happily go ahead with my world map / continuous hybrid. where places are broken down into an 'area' rather then you walk on the cave entrance and you are now in the cave, you walk into the forest near it then need to explore  your way to the cave before getting there.


Again apologies to anyone if my post came across aggressive, as re-reading it I can see that it was rather blunt!

 

[hian]

I re-read my first part of my post and I didn't mean to come off as aggressive towards someone else's opinion (apologies for that @hian) as that how it sounds.


My issue with world maps is tileset specific I suppose, with the default overworld tiles, I dont think there will ever be an 'impressive' world map with this, it will look OK, but OK isnt good or great... 


I want to find / create a good world map tileset, as then I would happily go ahead with my world map / continuous hybrid. where places are broken down into an 'area' rather then you walk on the cave entrance and you are now in the cave, you walk into the forest near it then need to explore  your way to the cave before getting there.


Again apologies to anyone if my post came across aggressive, as re-reading it I can see that it was rather blunt!

You didn't have to do that. I wasn't replying to you because I thought you were aggressive - I simply replied because it seemed to pretty pertinent to what I had been saying, and I thought you raised a concern that I had already addressed.


Of course, there are plenty of reasons and concerns in regards to the world map - as there is to any aspect of game-design - and I can completely get behind not wanting to use the default tiles for it in whatever engine you're using.


My current project has a world-map but isn't using the world-map tiles either. In fact, the entire world-map is hand-drawn, and most of the game takes place either on abstract overworld-ish maps (city maps, dungeons etc. are structured much like you would the traditional world-map, with a large sprite on map with smaller structures), whilst events largely take place on "pre-rendered"(rather drawn) one-screen maps I.E


you navigate town much like a traditional world-map, and then when you enter a building or something, you get the to scale, zoomed in version of that location.


I would never take this approach if I had to rely purely on tiles though.

 

[Tai_MT]

Thankies for the clarification @Tai_MT. What would you say about the way Borderlands (1 & 2) (assuming you have played any of them x3) do their maps? I personally think it is well done in the sense that the games do not include the entire world and so the travel that you do do feels natural (possibly helped by a decent amount of map transfers "cutting" travel time from the gameplay that is sort of happening "behind the scenes" in the background). Idk maybe my affection for the series blinds me to an extent but I do not believe that is the case.

Borderlands 1 and 2 don't really have issues because the game itself tells you when you've covered a vast distance "off screen".  You're not even presented a world map in Borderlands 1 to reference actual distance traveled.  There are only hints at actual distance traveled between areas based on some of the skyboxes you can see.  It is apparent that once you've left the Fyrestone area at the beginning and traversed to the next whole section of game, that you've traveled quite a distance from there.  It isn't actually until Borderlands 2 that you are given an actual map for reference on the distances between these two places....  And it actually confirms the fairly large distance between Fyrestone and the next area of the game (though you don't actually see much of it in Borderlands 2).  Borderlands 2 remains fairly consistent in its map design and distances.  It isn't perfect by any means (if you wander around long enough like I have and think about it long enough, you'll realize that some of the distances are a bit off), but you don't really notice it all that much because of the way their map transitions and their world map images are handled.  The game has these "leave zone" walls that tend to make it fairly obvious you're traveling a fair amount of distance from that area.  It is especially obvious when you get to the dry top place or whatever with Ellie and you want to travel to the town where Jack's girlfriend is Sheriff.  You can actually see that town in the distance from the edge of the map.  The game communicates its distances quite well and usually lets you know fairly quickly that you're not just traveling "to the next section" but you're actually traveling "a very long ways from this section".

I had no problem with the immersion being broken in that game because it was always clear whether or not I was going a really long ways... or just on the other side of this hill during each transition.

 

[Dr. Delibird]

Thanks for the input @Tai_MT, I have basically the same thoughts (in a nutshell, I don't think I would quite be able to present those thoughts as well as you have) about the borderlands' in their maps/map transitions/sense of distance or whatever. It is honestly what I am aiming for in my current project which is why I wanted another persons perspective because I was worried I might have a scewed perspective.

 

[Mega Man Volnutt]

Add Mobius Final Fantasy to the Checkpoint map section.


There's also a type of "map" that is unique to one franchise, that being Mega Man.

 

[Joronjo]

Add Mobius Final Fantasy to the Checkpoint map section.


There's also a type of "map" that is unique to one franchise, that being Mega Man.

That{s actually a really interesting point. The types i wrote down are far from an etched in stone thing, but yeah, the way the classic megaman and mega man X do maps is really interesting. You have a hub but most of the paths are already open to you and they can be taken in any order

 

[Archeia]

I honestly like all of them ;w;