To Be Or Not To Be: The Map

I am not sure. I was under the impression that the overland map would work like in Ultima 4 or 5. Walking around in the world, engaging monsters or fleeing from them, hole up and camp etc. All this in a lush, living, realistic looking 3D world. Ultima 5 in beautiful 3D. That was what I wanted from the map and expected it to be.

 

There'll still be monsters and other encounters, they've just changed the style. The map features aren't fully implemented yet.

The only thing that will really be missing, as far as I'm aware, is stuff like darkness and getting lost, and I was never really hopeful that the devs were heading in that direction anyway, from their discussions even back when they demo'd the game at Roostertooth. I've been lobbying a bit in the forums for that approach, but if they don't do that approach, I don't see that the cloth map really harms the game much.

 

For many backers, this major change in art direction has a high probability of hurting the game... and hurting it badly.

 

Quite a big difference between having some random encounters and events and having a complete gameplay 'layer' ala ultime 4-6.

Why are those 25 year old games providing a challenge to the dev team with decades of experience?

A really big difference indeed...

 

I like what you said ..... to me the map is not a deal breaker if they go either way ...... but as of now I dig the cloth map just for the fact that I never had a map like this and to me its seams to have more continuity to Richards M,O, in Games but I am honestly ok with what ever the Majority wants...... I think both could have use but Im sure that would be way to much time and effort to Mirror one type for another to have a Check box for one or the other in our interface ...... so what everyone wants is now kewl with me

 

Hmm This might be a good time for Portalarium to throw in some multiple choices questions after a patch... that might help them get an official unofficial direction from the community

 

Richard Garriott once said, many years ago now, (paraphrased) that when people have a lack of information they take that lack of information and extrapolate their worst fears from there.

And it's absolutely true. With lack of information, people will assume their worst fears, as they have nothing else to go on. And when people aren't being told otherwise, they take this as further confirmation that their fears are true.

Also, I think this is an issue that has been asked for clarity and I haven't seen any clarity surface. Just further obfuscation. It seems that none of the players know what's really up, and the folks in the know aren't responding.

This can't continue forever, and is just plain out a very bad mix.

So let's just get rid of this obfuscation and unnecessary smokescreen surrounding this whole map thing, and get a few clear, and concise answers on so that we can all move forward onto other topics.

We've requested a Q & A weeks ago on this. Any progress on that yet?

Seriously, if folks could just get some answers to their questions, they'll either like it or not like it but at least they'd know and all the endless conjecture would stop.

 

That is very true - people like information, and even if it's not really what they wanted to hear they still (generally) feel better for having been told what's going on. Whichever way the devs decide to take the map/overland view/whatever it is, there's going to be a group of people who are unhappy with it, so they're just going to have to do what they feel is best for the game as a whole.

Maybe a few will decide it's so far from what they wanted to see that they'll actually abandon the game because of it, but that's a risk Portalarium is going to have to take. Because not giving any answers - not even saying "we don't have any decisions to share with you yet, but we will Soon (TM)" - just makes things worse. They seem to be hearing the concerns, but because they're not commenting (unless anything is being discussed in Dev+) then people continue to worry.

Maybe they're keeping quiet just to let everyone's imaginations run completely wild, so that when they finally do step in and tell us their plans people will be so relieved to have something to latch on to that they won't mind so much what it is...

 

Exactly the longer they let this go on without letting us know what their plans for the map are the worse the speculation will get. We can see from the standup commentaries that they are working on the map and the release 6 plans have some info about what they are doing to the map in the immediate future. However we will do not know what their long term plans for the map are. What will it look like in the end what functions will it have and not have?

 

I would really like it if they posted the various options they were considering for the maps. What is their own 'roadmap' for it? What do they want the final product to achieve?

As much as I favour the aesthetic of the new art style, I do not know enough about the rest of the Overland Map's intended functionality and also what type of map they are going to choose for the town / dungeon / locality map.

I'm sure they are collating a response for the community as we speak. Alternatively they are not and they are assuming R6 will do the communicating for them (which isn't very good at all). At every point of Star Citizen's development where the community showed clear confusion about something, Chris has stepped in and done his best to clear up any misunderstandings and reassure everyone why their idea is the best choice for the game.

 

Maybe it's time for "10 for Lord British"

 

I have a feeling that the overhead map / view would be the most popular question. If the devs have decided that this is the map they're sticking with, I'll be ready to move on from this debate. If they haven't abandoned the 3d map as Chris (dev) stated..I'm ready to fight on for it.

 

I'm confused. Did Chris state that they have abandoned the 3d map or that they have not?

 

They responded very quickly and laid out what they were planning to do - and they have done that - and now they are going to further give it more attention/polish

Things they acted on
- Color
- Zoom
- Panning
- Reposition of trees and mountains to make the terrain "visually coherent" - if I see mountains its visually evident that I cannot traverse the hex
- They also tested the "Travel speed" of the overland map
- Tree variety (in girth and height)
- Animated clouds, waters

What is going on here / other threads is members who don't like the art direction and are trying to block the devs work by fomenting dissent and fear among the forum member base ... as a method to impede the "process"

The only thing the devs have not responded to regards aspects of functionality / in regards to SUGGESTIONS such as "limited vision", "camping", setting "ambushes" ... things that would have people "play" on the overland map

Folks just need to relax - let the devs do their work .... R5 map is DEAD ... Long live R6 map!

 

@Marg,

I'm sure the speed on the map will also be faster when someone has a mount, and we'll be able to get mounts in Episode 1 because we reached that stretch goal.

I'm also expecting, even if no darkness, we'll probably at least have a display at the top indicating whether its day or night, and the position of the sun or moon. And also, eventually, we'll be able to tell what the weather is like in an area through the appearance of storm clouds.

 

Storm clouds sounds great ... I know this would not happen ... but it would be interesting if they could have a "half globe like effect ... that does make it look like night ... its hard to describe but it may work

Mounts really? nice!

 

@Margard,

Well hopefully. I think the stretch goal would have required $4mil before Apr 7, and it was met after that date. But we can hope

 

Maybe they can include a ferret powered sled ... lol

Here's hoping for mounts for all the mount enthusiasts

 

A "dire ferret" thats the size of a horse.

 

Chris's Release 4 Ramblings!

He said:

"There is a chance we'll return to the other but we want to give the new version a bit more love first to see if we can win people over."