Community Made Maps

[Rancid]

I have only recently started playing The Long Dark and exploring the maps and searching for my next shelter is wholeheartedly the best experience I have ever had while playing a game. I am not playing survival mode outside of the maps that were in episode 1 and 2 because when the other episodes come out i want to explore the landscapes for the first time so i can truly enjoy it. A lot of people are discussing procedurally generated maps but I know for a fact that having decent procedurally generated maps will take a huge amount of effort and time. Because of this I think that adding support for community made maps would solve the problem of having maps being overplayed and becoming linear with out have a ton of work added to the dev team (compared to procedurally generated maps). This would also allow the magic of exploring the maps for the first time to be there for a lot longer if not forever.

Thanks for your time, considerations, and contributions,

-Your Canadian Friend Rancid.

 

[mystifeid]

+1 for a map editor.

[Mroz4k]

No. This is irrelevant untill we have mod support - and I fully expect to see some sort of editor when that happens. And if not, I am sure that someone will sonner or later make one as a mod.

So this is unnecesary waste of time right now. Not to mention it would require re-structuralization of the currently built maps - to create areas which would connect to these community built regions.

Might as well just wait for them to add mod support.

[Wade]

When do you suppose that mod support will magically materialize?  Late 2019 early 2020?

[MRE_MAN]

On 1/2/2018 at 7:32 PM, Wade said:

When do you suppose that mod support will magically materialize?  Late 2019 early 2020?

I don’t think he’s supposing anything. He’s supposing that /when/ mods are released that would happen possibly. I don’t think you can count on it any time soon though.

[Wade]

3 hours ago, MRE_MAN said:

I don’t think he’s supposing anything.

It was a question, not a statement.  Hence the ?

[Sabbers]

Procedurally generated maps of course would be the best but player made maps is probably the next best thing! Great idea imo. 

[Prestermatt]

3 hours ago, Sabbers said:

Procedurally generated maps of course would be the best but player made maps is probably the next best thing! Great idea imo. 

Actually, I think player-made maps would be better, at least if there's the ability to create and customize locations.  Knowing how many people on these forms think, I have a feeling there would be a lot of interesting and evocative places to explore.  Procedurally-generated might be good too, but I'm afraid they would end up being repetitive — lots of the random trailers and cookie-cutter houses with predictable loot locations, fewer Trapper's Homesteads and Katie's Quiet Corners.

[stratvox]

On 15/01/2018 at 8:54 PM, Prestermatt said:

Actually, I think player-made maps would be better, at least if there's the ability to create and customize locations.  Knowing how many people on these forms think, I have a feeling there would be a lot of interesting and evocative places to explore.  Procedurally-generated might be good too, but I'm afraid they would end up being repetitive — lots of the random trailers and cookie-cutter houses with predictable loot locations, fewer Trapper's Homesteads and Katie's Quiet Corners.

This. I think I would enjoy making a region, given a good level editor. Actually, I'd really love to make a whole bunch of regions based on the Killarney region of Ontario (one of the most beautiful places in this world imho). However, procedurally generated regions would completely lack the touch of little specific things that really make regions come alive and seem like a real place where humans used to live.

[PaddyM]

Just adding my +1 to the map editor idea. After getting into the game over the last month or so, I had an overwhelming desire to craft my own world/levels (which is something I don't do generally), and I think this could be a huge draw for people who love playing the game. I'm thinking of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and how its "custom story" support gave the game a life of its own and undoubtedly boosted sales/exposure/longevity.

Full-blown mod support, allowing cut-scenes and quest tracking and such, would obviously be fantastic, but a simple bare bones map editor, and the ability to easily load up and play other people's maps, would keep us going for years on its own. We wouldn't even need to have support for custom assets or game mechanics tweaking for it to be worth doing.

[KlabauterMann]

Is there any official statement from Hinterland about plans for a map editor or even a challenge/story-editor? I think, I heared somehting but I don`t find an official source.

Can anybody help me with that?

[private duksworth]

hinterlands roadmap said something about modding and people have already making stuff for it like guitars and camper vans. the customisation feature was to satisfy people so they could have more time on working on the modding feature. because of this I think that making maps may be coming but this is just a estimation so I don't have a real clue

[Megaloceros]

On 1/1/2018 at 12:45 PM, Rancid said:

Because of this I think that adding support for community made maps would solve the problem of having maps being overplayed and becoming linear with out have a ton of work added to the dev team (compared to procedurally generated maps). This would also allow the magic of exploring the maps for the first time to be there for a lot longer if not forever.

 

Rancid, I admit, I am usually pretty skeptical of the idea of fan-generated content, but you've started to convince me otherwise- this is a pretty interesting idea!

I do feel strongly that Hinterland should vet the available fan-made maps, though, but maybe I'm being too overbearing. Interested to see if a map-making program/tool will ever be released to fans to allow for easy creation of new maps!