World Map

@Tahru,

Yea... with the banners, players might have walked into POTs thinking there would be some NPC content. It was definitely an important issue. I think the current plans are if the POT has no buildings in it, it won't even be visible on the map. The model visible on the map would reflect the population of the town.

Anyway, at this point I think giving POTs more tools to build themselves etc is still good from a random player's perspective, because the more tools there are, the less chance they'll be cookie-cutter.

 

Boy you sound like a lot of fun.

People are complaining about PoT's? PoT's are one of the truly unique features the game has? Why wouldn't you stop by if you were near a PoT to do a little crafting, visit the pub, ect?

 

Because I know how they're going to turn out, if all this "testing" is any indication. A bandwidth sucking, frame-rate-lowering, loading-time-increasing landscapers & interior decorators nightmare.

 

I dont usually see more as "less". More stuff the better imo.

Edit;

To be fair, i'm a sucker for quaint RPG towns and villages.

 

Doesn't that look like a warm inviting place to visit?

 

No, you need paved streets, sewer grates, lampposts, etc. and other things to make it feel immersive.

But lets not divert the topic of the thread! I think there's plenty to talk about on how to make the map better, and don't think we should get far off that subject.

 

Is this for real or sarcastic?

 

OK....as someone pointed out my disdain for PoT's and others incessant need to push PoT's has conflicted and driven us in a weird route, so lets focus on ideas to make the map better.

At the moment, it seems like a slow fast travel system to get from point A to B with little life. It does add a lot that it does transition from day to night, but that is about as interactive as it gets.

I was really hoping for more animated items on the map like weather and fog for instance...animals walking through...birds(dragons) flying around....I guess we will see roving monsters? I wonder how this will work.

 

Years ago I created an overland map for a NWN2 world I created. I built it from scratch using the one the devs created for one of the expansions as just a general guide (I rewrote the entire encounter system for starters). But I included a lot more stuff that could appear on the overland map during your travels.... crypts, mines, caves, small forts, etc... they were all randomly generated and populated. It made the map feel less like a fast travel system and more like another scene to explore. Since things didn't stick around (they'd reset periodically and move/generate new locations.)

Another thing I'd like to be able to do on this map is zoom in a lot more... seeing too much of the main map at once kinda spoils my travels (I do like to get lost...) I'd like to limit how far I can see.. and I don't just mean by fog... If I could zoom down to nearly over the shoulder I could see the mountains I'm heading towards in the distance but not entirely sure of the route (especially if I get off the beaten path.)

 

... Animated weather always reminds me of the great game Pirates! Was always terrified of those dark storm clouds approaching.

 

If there are roving mobs on the overland map, nighttime travel will be a lot more fun.

 

Will they just shrink the current models like they did the avatars? Or will it a be a group of monsters...

 

Good question, in my nwn2 map I just used a single shrunk down critter of the most prominate type but allowed a player with certain skills too try to Id the whole group in more detail.

 

I can only guess... I think the mobs on the OV will be representative, not a reflection of the actual count.

 

Yea, like I said, they need to get regional weather in the game. Right now you can look up at the sky and see clouds, but that's global. But you're right -- high clouds up in the sky are okay, but low clouds would add to the map, especially around mountain peaks.

Here's a mockup I put together to show the cool effect.


Then, for fog, the clouds would go even lower, touching the ground. Because that's what fog is -- a kind of low-lying cloud -- with a range of density. On mountain scenes, the clouds would just need to be touching the mountain area where the scene is.

 

(Maybe the clouds in that mockup are even too low, but you get the point)

 

The same clouds around a mountain, to show the effect.



(the clouds looks a bit smaller though, I think they should look bigger)

 

Every time I've entered a PoT it hasn't had public crafting stations, a public pub, or ANYTHING. They are invariably a massive scene with nothing but empty lots and a town crier. I was one of the people who recommended PoTs being designated somehow from the world map so you don't waste a massive amount of time figuring out -- hey, is this a town I can ACTUALLY have fun in?

When there's almost 200 PoTs you better believe a bunch of them are NOT going to be worth visiting.

 

This looks great! It adds a lot to the atmosphere on the overland map!

 

I agree with you that at this moment in time there are not many POTs worth visiting. However that's not because POTs are bad, there are a number of reasons that prevent POTs from being fun destinations during testing.

1. The overall population of the game is very small.
2. The templates for POTs limit what can be created.
3. NPC POT buildings don't do much.
4. POT NPC's don't do much.
5. Hills and Trees can prevent lot and building placement.
6. POT decoration counts limit how creative owners can be.
7. Developer support for static POTs has been low on the priority list.
8. On average there's a wipe every 3 months and POT owners are forced to build their towns all over again.

I'm looking forward to many of these issues going away or improving during the next 6 months.