To Be Or Not To Be: The Map

Yeah I agree with this I mean yes the current map they showed can be improved I just think the style we were originally shown was just much better. I think they can just do much more in terms of making travel between hexes interesting then they can do with what is currently being proposed. I guess we will see though. I am glad that they have not thrown out the idea of the original map entirely though.

 

I'm not sure why they wouldn't populate the hexes with, at the least, a procedurally generated zone. It's not even remotely difficult. I've done as much with my own hobby games. Maybe they should hire me for that part of the programming.

 

So basically, the way I laid out how they could do it they will.

 

Though it looks the same, the spawn points could be different possibly

 

.
I don't like the map. Pretty much for the many reasons given, since R4. I hope the Devs start again, map-wise. I like the map to be a zoomed-out miniature of the actual terrain and features. Or a similarly featured, detailed, well-drawn map. The flapped-up paper trees etc don't win me.

The maps in Ultima Underworld I & II were great, as a dungeon maps.

Is mapping too complex to come from The Community, like Art and Music?
.

 

Yes, they are already doing it that way.

 

I want to see what they do first before I pass judgement ... I think it has potential ... but it needs work - I think that if they make it just a "map for travel" it would hurt the game (just opinion)

I can not stress how much I disagree with anything that resembles a skyrim map both in look and functionality

I want the dev's to stick to their direction ... taking away the movement of the map piece - freeform or not - limits the perception of the world and utterly destroys the concept of contraband quests / random encounters / PvP ambushes

 

I can only agree to some of the before-mentioned posts. The map has to change.

During the R4 tests it was the first time I saw the map and was greatly disappointed. It does look like a map from the 1998 computer games and I thought the intention was to improve the graphics and setup to look more like a 2014 game. I fully understand that endless amounts of money cannot be spent in all areas of the game, however, a map is a core functionality of any game and so it should be qualitative (good graphics, 3D, colorful etc.).

With that said I loved playing during the alpha testing and look forward to many many many more hours of fun during the next tests and finally Go-Live in hopefully Q4 2014.

 

Now what would be more atmospheric while traveling the world?
This:



Or something like that:

 

I very much like the look of 'that' overland map and would love to just walk around it. Looks very atmospheric.

 

"That" is what the Overland map showcased a year ago looked like. Not as polished of course but that looked good considering how early the game was.

The new Overland is a downgrade. Plain and simple.

-Sergorn

 

SotA's map just got slam dunked.

 

Honestly, I thought it was fun the first time, but when I just wanted to move from A to B quickly I thought those random encounters were incredibly annoying. If they are part of the storyline, it's okay, but please no frequent random encounters.

 

I the map is probably at a stage where it will have to get worse before it gets better.



Sent from my GT-S5690M using Tapatalk 2

 

But that's the whole point. The further you travel across a land teeming with 'bad guys', the more likely it is you will run into a bad guy.

To me, it's actually quite unrealistic to run around a map, for hundreds of virtual kilometres and never have any sort of encounters...

 

I agree. I also understand the reality that frequent meaningless encounters can be very annoying. For my part, I would much rather deal with those occasional annoyances than constantly be subjected to an utterly pointless time sink. I'd like some intrigue brought back to the overworld map. Bringing back the 3D map could make exploration its own reward. Otherwise, I presume therewill be rewards that can only be acquired in sspecific places. If exploration will enable material rewards, shouldn't there be some challenges to face us on the way? I suppose the trick would be making those challenges engaging, but I personally feel some spice is absolutely needed.

 

That's right. And if the program was smart enough to give more random encounters to people slogging through thick forests on the map, versus people sticking to the roads on the map, it would be great.

 

That really shouldn't be that hard to program. This is the least of what I expect.

 

Shouldn't be too difficult to do something every single RPG with an over world map ever has done. They could definitely go a step further and animate the map. Maybe represent other players on it and give us ways to communicate at least. Place monsters as icons on the map and have them run at us if we get too close. When they reach is, we get pulled into an unpopulated version of that hex to fight.

There is definitely a world of possibility here. I only hope we see more direction for the map in the next few releases. It's a little worrying that the issue isn't being raised really at all by the developers. No mention of the map in the early access details either.

 

More flags moving around on the paper map? Very immersive

As I said: if they want to stick with a travel-by-map-system for whatever reasons then they should do a proper travel-by-map-system like in Dragon Age or Baldur's Gate with auto travel to locations and no free shoving around of flags.