More informative maps

Share your ideas and thoughts for the game with the community and team.
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Neural
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:52 am

I know much of the game is about exploration and discovery, and it does it really well, but I think it wouldn't hurt if the maps could be zoomable and be more informative, displaying visited and not yet visited areas, levels sections, locked doors, ways to the other areas and so on. It would make exploring these gorgeous environments much more pleasant :)
Last edited by Neural on Sat Jul 01, 2017 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
fakenina
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:53 pm

Hi Neural,

Thanks, these are really interesting ideas. I can't promise that we'll be able to implement them all, but I will discuss them with Seith, as I'm sure there's something there. If you had to rank these ideas, what order would you put them in?

Thanks again,

FN
Neural
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:52 am

From most to least important, I'd say:

- Passages to other areas (I've found myself getting lost trying to find how to exit or return in some areas sometimes)
- Zoomable and multi-level maps, as they can be quite confusing (especially the sewers map)
- Different coloring for already visited areas
- Locked doors indication, obviously only after having discovered them, as a reminder there still are keys to find and areas to explore. Would be nice to know which keys open those doors on the map too, so when we find a key we can quickly check where it can be used, instead of backtracking entire levels to check all closed doors.

Thanks for listening :)
fakenina
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:53 pm

Thanks Neural,

That's really helpful, I'll discuss it with Seith. Best regards,

FN
Prince of Pesa Road
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2017 1:51 am

I rarely, if ever, used the maps. As there is no mini map on the HUD (Thankfully), I navigated the Keep by sight and exploration. I had all the routes memorised, shortcuts and all. This game just doesn't need an intricate Map option. In the Preview for instance, there are a couple of doors that lead to The Distillery. You can't access them yet (im assuming) but i don't need a Map to tell me they're locked.

Far too many games are relying on Guidance through their map details, and after a while it does feel like you're running errands.

I think it's perfect the way it is.
Neural
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:52 am

Yeah, I ultimately completed all the preview contents and enjoyed doing it, but there have been some occasions where I forgot how to reach a specific area or where was the door for a key I found, so had to go around looking back for already visited places. After all the blacksmith* already does a very good job of marking the map with interesting infos, so all I say is it could be made a little more helpful/readable.

*I'd like to point out a way of cheating the blacksmith, btw: quicksave, give him money to reveal an item position, check it on the map, load last save and go to get the item without asking the blacksmith :)
fakenina
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:53 pm

Prince of Pesa Road wrote: I think it's perfect the way it is.
Thanks for your feedback, Prince, we'll keep it in mind. We might be able to do some interesting things to just add some information to the map once you've visited a place (perhaps the place name, for example), so there's a sense that Tilo has learned something from being there. We'll be careful not to do too much.

FN
fakenina
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:53 pm

Neural wrote:Yeah, I ultimately completed all the preview contents and enjoyed doing it, but there have been some occasions where I forgot how to reach a specific area or where was the door for a key I found, so had to go around looking back for already visited places. After all the blacksmith* already does a very good job of marking the map with interesting infos, so all I say is it could be made a little more helpful/readable.

*I'd like to point out a way of cheating the blacksmith, btw: quicksave, give him money to reveal an item position, check it on the map, load last save and go to get the item without asking the blacksmith :)
Hi Neural,

That sounds like a good balance, only adding information to the map once Tilo has visited the place. We'll have to make sure we don't over-complicate it, but I'm sure we can do something to help. I hadn't even thought about the fact you can cheat Rolo! That's something to keep in mind :) Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

FN
Neural
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:52 am

Yep, that's what I meant from the beginning, even if I didn't clearly state it: just take note of key places I already visited :)
bobazoid
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:03 am

More information on the maps would be helpful, and also maybe have a direction pointer - for at least the main quest.
So Tilo knows where to go.
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