Eating Humble Pie

OK...so I know this isn't something I do very often....alright....alright....At all....but I think I need to eat a little bit of humble pie. Those of you who watch these release forums with any great interest possibly saw a slightly contentious post of mine a couple of releases back entitled:

The New Overland Map - A Prettier Way to Kill Immersion
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...d-map-a-prettier-way-to-kill-immersion.12080/

In which I implored the devs to:

"Take the overland map and bury it in the deepest metaphorical data storage hole you can find, padlock it and place a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Panther""

My problem was that the overland map just seemed such a horribly jarring experience that it really killed any immersion for me...it felt like being ripped out of the world and dropped on a map by a bad tempered deity intent on making me squirm around a boring map because, as an alpha tester, I wasn't feeling enough pain!

I'd pretty much given up on the overland map but I listened to the wise words of Doc Doom and Kirthag to reserve judgement and Doc Doom's revelation that "the icon is temporary. An animated avatar is in the works."

So fast forward to release 10 and the new updates to the overland map. Nice Mr. Dev Chris who was so good tempered about me stomping with little hob nail boots all over the previous overland map has made a single change that makes all the difference.

There's a mini-me! I love this idea...I can now run around the map as a tiny little me...now I realise this probably appeals to me mostly because the idea of a giant sized me, as large as trees and mountains, appeals to my ego with a giant side order of ME, but suddenly, with being able to move with the WASD keys it now "feels" like me...I'm no longer disconnected from my avatar. It's a really simple thing, but it has a massive impact on how I feel about the overland map.

It actually now feels like I'm travelling and not a little flag on a map. I love this change! I also like being able to see the region I'm in and having a little button to click to enter that region.

So I guess the moral of this story is "Trust Richard not to make something that makes you want to stab yourself in the leg with a fork every time you look at it." OK, OK so it's a rather long winded moral...but you get the gist.

Do I now have to make good on my promise to become dev Chris' personal plaything??

DF.

 

Imagine what it will look like at Release 20...and continue to push the devs to make it so!

 

Yup...my personal wish list includes:

- Animated mobs symbolising random encounters
- More scenes per land mass
- Camera view commands to let you turn and zoom in and out more
- Dynamic encounters - procedurally driven encounters that fall into the story line
- Ships - why have to drop down into a scene view just to get a ship to somewhere else
- More obvious day night cycles
- Day/Night Encounters
- Carriages and horses (purchasable items that allow you to traverse the map more quickly)
- Madam Beaujolais' Pink Pussycat Inn for the discerning gentleman (or other inns on the road)
- etc.

DF.