Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Mapping questions
From: Garth Dighton <gdighton@yahoo.com>
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Date: 12 Aug 2002 14:37:00 -0500
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"Gary Leighton" <gary.leithon@btinternet.com> wrote in
news:aj90f3$4ie$1@paris.btinternet.com:

>> > If designing a new game, wouldn't it be better if the game produced
>> > a graphical map itself (maybe a simple plan view) as new locations
>> > are discovered?
>>
>> I believe a few may do so, but I don't think it is in general a
>> particularly good idea because of the problem of displaying a map on
>> the screen (that's not to say that it is never a good idea, in
>> particular circumstances it can be very useful). You can use fixed
>> pitch fonts and ascii art but the size of the screen is a very severe
>> limit on how much you can display, especially if you want it to work
>> on palmtops.
>>
>
> I had it in mind to write a game for PCs. Hadn't really thought about
> small devices like palmtops. Good point.
>
> I suppose it raises another question... How popluar are text
> adventures on devices with small screens? Do you think that most
> interactive fiction players use PC's or Mac's etc?

Quite popular on Palms, etc. Also popular on a wide variety of non-PC non-
Mac desktops -- we see lots of Linux, Acorn, Amiga, etc. users around here.

>
>> > Or, would it be better to simply have a navigation system that
>> > accepts commands like GO TO KITCHEN, that works provided
>> > you've already discovered the location and a simple path exists
>> > to get there?
>>
>> Some games do this, and it would be nice if more did, as it is useful
>> for getting around large maps quickly, but overall I don't think a
>> better general navigation system has been found then compass
>> directions.
>>
>
> I've always found the compass directions for navigation a bit weird.
> Sat here, writing this email, I have no idea which way is north. I've
> never seen a text adventure that provides the adventurer with a
> compass either. I'm thinking that if a game produced its own graphical
> map, maybe it would abolish the need for compass directions. For
> moving about you could just use GO TO KITCHEN, and you would still get
> a sense of the position of locations from the map. Too radical?

It seems a bit weird, perhaps, in that we often don't use these directions
in real life, but it works -- it gives the players a sense of how rooms are
spatially related to one another, _without_ using graphics. It doesn't
really matter that "north" is actually an arbitrary direction, as long as
it's consistent throughout the game.

Personally, I prefer to avoid using graphics in my games -- I'm simply not
an artist.

--
Garth Dighton
gdighton@yahoo.com



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