Overworld Map

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Guards, Jun 29, 2014.

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  1. Guards

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    After playing a couple of hours over the R7 release, I found myself hating the overworld map. Every time I had to open it to travel somewhere, I felt that it was taking me out of the world and destroying my immersion.

    One of the things I loved about UO was being able to just my starter town and find some wild life to skin, a forest to chop, ore to mine etc etc. I know this isn't UO but its an open world game that doesn't feel fully open.

    Being able to fast travel should be done through other means. Could have a mages guild of New Britania who offer a gating service at a fee or many other alternatives.

    I know the game has been designed with this map system in mind. I just wanted to put my thoughts on the overworld map travel out there and see what other people thought about it.
     
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  2. docdoom77

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    I love the overland map. Once we get animated avatars and a better movement system (Chris said he'd work on it) it'll be awesome.

    Going into this overland map filled me with a sense of adventure. I think it's great.

    That being said, I'm for more fast travel options. Sometimes you just need to go from A to B back to A several times for some quest and I don't want to walk every time.
     
  3. PrimeRib

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    It's just really early. Most of the Ultima series had two levels of map which expanded as you hit an encounter or entered a town / dungeon.
     
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  4. Athelstan

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    Just a FYI this is the 1st release with this style of map, release 6 and before were using a completely different map format, so give them some time to refine this one as it is brand new.
     
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  5. NRaas

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    Big fan of the overwold map concept. Not specifically the current iteration mind you, I enjoyed the two previous iterations just as much.

    Personally, I feel the overworld makes the world-space more cohesive, as compared to say a series of instances interconnected through portals, while granting the dev team the freedom they want to alter the space dynamically.

    Quite sure that there will be other means of fast-travel in the game though, so one probably will only need to deal with the map as much or as little as one feels like. :)
     
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  6. selbie

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    First up, it is necessary for their low budget and constraints of a persistent unsharded server. The map itself will become much more fleshed out later down the track with interactive adventuring.

    I do hope we can have an in-game command or action that we can use to circumvent the overland map and purely travel hex by hex using our compass and a 'quick' map (ie. a static cloth map of the world with a marker of your location). This would mean you can do adventuring in the wild and only have one loading screen between hexes instead of two per hex.
    I found during R7 I was always going out for resources while travelling to another town, so ideally I could simply make my way to the same location while gathering resources along the way without using the OM.

    That can't be too hard to implement can it?
     
  7. herradam

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    I think a lot of the issues with the overland map could be fixed if the hex system was abandoned and replaced with a region system. Rather than clicking on generic hexes your avatar could visit a large named forest, mountain chain, or plains.

    Please ditch random generic hexes for geographic features that actually have meaning.
     
  8. Baene Thorrstad

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    They will have both
     
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  9. Doppelganger [MGT]

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    I think the overland map is a huge improvement over the cartoony cloth map they were going for in earlier releases. That being said, it still needs a lot of work. Even though the new one is better, I believe it took a step backwards in regards to speed and ease of navigation. As it was mentioned above, that is something that will be addressed though. I am hoping once all of the things are intact (hexes, improved navigation, traveling avatar etc) that it will be a kick ass map experience :)

    Also, I really hope there will be some optimization soon. As it stands, the overland map puts a pretty heavy and unnecessary stress on the CPU....
     
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  10. smack

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    And just remember: what you see of the overworld map currently is only of The Hidden Vale, which is like 5% the size of Novia. So once we're able to navigate on Novia, that overworld map will be much bigger. And Novia itself is 10% of the entire world of New Britannia.

    Once all the bells and whistles are implemented, the interactive overworld map will essentially be another layer of exploration, since it's not a real fast travel map like Skyrim where you just double click on a town and teleport there. It's been said it will still take 30 minutes to travel coast-to-coast on the continent of Novia. Extrapolating the size of Novia within New Britannia, that could mean 300 minutes to travel across the entire world using the overworld map, once we get to Episode 5.

    Having said that, I too would prefer an open seamless world, with the map being just that: a map you view and not "travel" on. But I see why they went dual scale and I support it. Just gotta hang in there while they add more features to it and make it pretty.
     
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  11. tekkamansoul

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    Dual scale is the bomb.
     
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  12. mikeaw1101

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    I'm really liking the new overland map! Can't wait until they get a little ultima III-style avatar or something to represent your character. Also, can we please get WASD controls for exploring??
     
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  13. Turk Key

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    All this map really needs are some dune buggy garages at each entrance. For a price, of course, we could jump the mountains and flay the trees on our dash to our new destination.
     
  14. Max Bennis

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    I love the world map, you'll love it too when you see sun goes down over the horizon and shadow draws longer. It's awesome.
    Although I do wish if it's a bit faster.
     
  15. Carlin the Druid Archer

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    I like the idea of the overworld map (as per early Ultimas) but it needs a lot of work done on it before it's appealing. Early days yet!
     
  16. KaBBaM

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    I have to agree with the OP...
    I found the map took me out of the immersion of the game also. I felt like I was playing Ultima Exodus again.
    I know it it very early though and I kept reminding myself of this.
    This was also my first look at the game and I realize there are many things still in the infant stages.
     
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  17. No Longer In Use

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    Despite the rough, early state of the map, I found it to be WORLDS better than the previous one. It does harken back to early Ultimas, and that's one of the things I love about it!
     
  18. RitualOfFlame

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    I would love to have a combination of things said in this thread.

    Either an overview map with a choice between the old one ( I just watched it on youtube, never played personally) and the new 3d one, or the chance to travel without the map... that would be top of the top :)
    There would be something for every taste, let's say. But I think it would be a huge change for developers, since it's an instance-based world right now actually (Dungeons, towns, woods etc. ). Just wanted to share my opinion ^^
     
  19. Baene Thorrstad

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    Same here, I honestly enjoy it and look forward to updates to it in the future. It hearkens back to good times, but with an updated presentation. I've always enjoyed being able to get a more birds eye view of the bigger picture in games.
     
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  20. rowan50k

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    I think the new map is much better than the cloth style one. Visually much better, and it feels more like a real world with exciting land marks to explore.

    Although I can see the appeal of a single scale fully open world, I think this dual scale map allows for some very exciting prospects going forwards.
    Primarily I like that it allows for the devs to dynamically change content in any of the map hexes at will.

    So you could discover an enemy army has sneaked up to the mountains overlooking town. Or perhaps a new settlement or travelling caravan offering rare items, could spring up on a trade route. Alternatively, maybe one of the existing cities gets taken over by a group of players from a different faction in a pvp battle, and ownership changes hands with new banners and fortifications springing up, or buildings being razed.

    They could also do events that are found in hexes only at certain times of the day or even year. Perhaps werewolves can be found in the woods by the lake on nights of the full moon?

    I think that this system will mean there is always something new to explore, even areas of the map you have been before will be interesting since something new may be hidden in one of the hexes.
     
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