World Maps

[Kain Nobel]

As a player, do you like world maps?

Somewhat, yes.

As a creator, do you enjoy making world maps?

Yes and no. I've been building my world map tiles from scratch and the process has been a daunting one; going between editing the tileset, then putting the map together, then doing more edits, etc. tends to wear on me. My map is in a constant "beta" phase because I find myself adding expansions to the current tile set, then I wind up reorganizing things and having to redo the map, not to mention occasionally spriting and programming in new vehicles. Quite a hot mess if you ask me, but it's worth it each time a milestone is reached and things come back together again.

What are your likes and dislikes about world maps?

I enjoy the fact that, after spending several hours in the confinements of civilization, you finally get the fuck out of dodge and see some nature, realizing that where you just came from is just a small piece of a more expansive world. When you start to notice different areas inaccessible due to natural boundaries such as mountains, rivers, oceans, etc you tend to forget that the world map is really some sort of meta dungeon that takes most of the adventure to fully unlock and take advantage of with all the vehicles (and possibly chocobos) you've acquired.

I dislike the fact that I can't call my cousin Roman to come send me a taxi to take me from the strip club in Liberty City to my crackhouse in Los Santos. Also, Wutai and Junon don't have Uber yet, what gives?! I checked Expedia.com to see if I could get a flight to Midgar, but apparently public airports don't exist yet outside of Junon.

Does a world map make the world bigger or smaller?

^What finalholylight said, above!

The purpose of the world map is two fold; give the initial illusion of a
vastly expansive world, while at the same time making travel semi-short
even if the implied distance is large.

Do you know of any other alternatives for a world map that are better ideas?

A travel menu with unlockable destinations sounds like a rather simple and effective alternative, you don't always have to build an entire world and put it up for display. Furthermore, instead of a menu, one could even have various travel hubs such as airports, trains and bus stations that take them to specific destinations, some optional, others storyline mandatory. I know VVulfy likes him some teleportation; throw the player in a transport chamber and have Scotty beam them to where they need to go and, when they're hungry later, maybe they can generate an algorithm to send down some space pizza.

Or...

Simply design your game as one large dungeon crawl with an untold amount of floors and bosses for the player to overcome. No globetrotting. No bullshit. Just one massive and dangerous complex coupled with a small town nearby. You can always return to your hotel and get shitfaced on cheep whiskey, restock on supplies, develop a gambling addiction, converse with strangers, visit the clinic, sleep, then return later for more raiding!