Game creation thoughts: good maps and no wasted walking time

[Quadko]

I mentioned, in the URR Roguelike thread, that I hate walking simulators but love maps.

That's one of the best part of old games, whether paper or cloth maps in-the-box, or in game maps from Defender of the Crown to Icewind Dale to Daggerfall to Darklands. I even love them in books; so much better to have a fantasy world or star map in the front of a book as I start it! (I'm obviously a bit spatial in my reasoning!)

I've been trying to figure out how to have maps without having walking simulators. In fact, since they don't have to be walked on (or a different mode with the map as an afterthought), I hope a game could have a great map, much better than if you had to walk through the game. The Icewind Dale maps were beautiful, even though they were just a picture with some "active" areas to click on. Somehow I want it more map-like than that, that just seems like a menu, but something along those lines.

I've been looking at how people use Voroni diagrams to generate random chaotically-tiled maps, especially this article from Stanford. If the game let you travel to any tile you can reach "instantly" in real time (with whatever game-time cost is requred), and showed you unreachable and "gateway" tiles that have to be dealt with (a guarded mountain pass) before you can travel past them, I think that could solve the walking simulator problem with a good looking map, especially if the tiles are overlaied on a pleasant map image or generated image.

Planning is easier than implementing, but that sounds like fun, and I like the direction it's going. I'm thinking in terms of an RPG (and continues thoughts of a simplified version of a Darklands remake I started 10+ years ago!), but it really could be any kind of game - adventures, racing, whatever. The map is just a cool way to select a location (with some relationship with other locations), so the game is really what happens AT locations.

And behind it all, the reason I hate "walking simulators" is that the fun in games (especially replayable ones) is the decisions you make, not waiting for screens to load and traveling a road from A to B - I commute enough in real life, thank you very much! Reduce and solve any non-decision area of a game that consumes time and hopefully the game is all about the fun rather than the waiting for the fun.

[MrFlibble]

When you first mentioned "maps without walking" in the URR thread I immediately thought Eador: Genesis. This game shares many similarities with the Heroes of Might and Magic series, but you don't have to steer your heroes throughout the lands. Instead, when a hero is in a province, he can explore it, and when something interesting is found you are taken to that event (e.g. a shop, a special encounter or a monster lair).

I'm not sure if the maps in Eador are constructed according to these Voronoi diagrams, as I haven't heard about those before. But they are somewhat similar in appearance. BTW, Eador generates random maps - IIRC even on the campaign mode.

The only thing is that Eador is not strictly an RPG but a TBS, although the author makes an emphasis on role-playing, as in "playing the role of a ruler of a certain kind".

[Quadko]

I've seen stuff about Eador, but haven't played it yet. That sounds very cool, very much like what I've struggled toward: find me something fun to do at my current location, or easily let me move to a new location. Cool!

Yes, "RPGs" so often have little to do with playing a role, while non-RPGs often do... haha.

[tienkhoanguyen]

Jesus Christ!hehe

Always happy that everyone finds what they are looking for.

[tienkhoanguyen]

Jesus Christ!hehe

@Quadko:

I am one to have it right away too.

Thank you God we get the good before it is too late!

[tienkhoanguyen]

JESUS!

By the way, Thank you for your advice on "No wasted time from now on until after God calls us home at 100 years old."