Has anyone drawn a map?

[ryan_leonard]

Every new game I start I intend to draw a map but have yet to get anything useful put down. Just wondered if anyone else has tried this and would like to share. I can't seem to stay alive long enough to visit more than 1 or 2 of the major locations, so I am still having trouble relating them to each other. It's more like, am I going to get lucky with my starting point to be near something I'm familiar with? :mrgreen:

[marin]

I am in the process of creating a map, so far I can relate the train tracks to the frozen lake, the dam and the trappers cabin. Other locations are too deep in nowhere for me to locate for now.

If I'm on the tracks I know where I am, as soon as I wander off, I get lost.

[ryan_leonard]

In longest play that I have had so far, I was able to find my way from the clearcut/tower area to the frozen lake, and I have picked up on using the train tracks to connect them. I've only found the trapper's cabin once, though. The route between the cabin and the lookout tower is what I hope to figure out. Starting during night or a blinding snowstorm really messes up my bearings.

[robdoar]

I use the mountains to help me orient.

The "Twin Peaks" are a giveaway to the Trapper Cabin. My hunting route goes from here, to the Camp Office, Trailers, Forest lookout, and back.

Another angle:

[ryan_leonard]

Thank you, Rob. Those shots helped me out a lot in figuring out the lay of the land. I spent a couple plays last night just wandering around trying to relate the different landmarks and I think I can reliably find my way to the trapper's cabin now, at least from the lake/office/traintunnel area. I am going to sketch out a map of this stuff and then try to relate it back to the forestry road/camp/lookout tower.

[TattooedMac]

I have a fairly detailed map now, even down to rocky outlets funnelling you into certain areas. The thing is, when a blizzard up's itself, there isn't much need for it then. Stagger around blindly and hope I hit a creek, or railway track . .

[robdoar]

Here's my rough map.

I'm working on improving it with impassible routes and wolf / deer hotspots.

This is my best interpretation, I don't guarantee anything. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

[accurize2]

Here's my rough map.

I'm working on improving it with impassible routes and wolf / deer hotspots.

This is my best interpretation, I don't guarantee anything. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Robdoar that is an awesome map. Very pretty! Would you mind if I use that in my future video series? That was pretty much how I had it laid out in my head. I just wasn't quite sure about the specific location of the Hunters Lodge.

I hope if they doing more episodes, they either design new areas. This area has a lot of story mode potential. Maybe even a mountain pass,ect... that loads a completely new area. I would love to see them do a lot more great maps.

[Bill Tarling]

I hope if they doing more episodes, they either design new areas. This area has a lot of story mode potential. Maybe even a mountain pass, etc... that loads a completely new area. I would love to see them do a lot more great maps.

I'm not positive, but I think the sandbox area is just a small portion of the story mode map area. I know as the game grows [including future seasons], Hinterland has mentioned about seeing more and more areas.

Again, I'm not positive -- but I think the Sandbox is just a teasing taste of things to come...

[robdoar]

Feel free to use with attribution. :-) (its NOT an official map)

And I believe Bill is right, full release will have a much larger map than the sandbox alpha.

[TattooedMac]

Personally, I thought it too early to release a map. The beauty of not having one, is that moment you head over a hill, on your last legs and you see a cabin.

I don't know, might be just me, but I think this takes away from the game (especially being in the Alpha test group). This would of been more benefit when the 7.5K + Beta/Steam EA was released, than the small group we have here. Obviously not the 400 that were expected.

[robdoar]

Since we're asking people to submit bugs, and specifically to try and replicate them, it helps that they know where they are / were when the bug happened, and can try to find their way back to replicate.

No one has to use it, if they prefer the magic of discovery, they certainly can do so.

[ryan_leonard]

Awesome map! The layout matches my own sketch fairly closely. I had the basic locations in the right spot, but did not have the exact paths of the railroad, river, and logging road as you do. And yours is prettier...

Mine is "sideways" since that is just how I started to draw it before figuring out what was north and south. I believe you have them backwards, since I based it on the "southern access" to the lake and I think the sunrise and sunsets match, too. One thing that threw me off was wind direction. When I see "west" as wind direction, I am used to it blowing FROM the west, not TO the west as the game seems to display.

[craig_mclemore]

Here's my rough map.

I'm working on improving it with impassible routes and wolf / deer hotspots.

This is my best interpretation, I don't guarantee anything. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Great map! Kind of like the one I had started to map out but way more detailed. Going to show this off in my youtube channel if that's ok with full credit to you. That is one nice map!

[Raphael van Lierop]

So, I guess this answers my question regarding whether we need to add a map function to the game, or not.

[Bill Tarling]

So, I guess this answers my question regarding whether we need to add a map function to the game, or not.

Could take vote poll -- although I would expect most would vote to include it to make it easier [hand holding for sandbox].

Personally I say Yes for map in story mode -- No for map in Sandbox.

Even though I know most of the general locations of areas, I can still miss them or get lost when I travel over a different hill or direction -- and that's more fun (knowing I'm headed in the right general direction, but not enough to see every easy route to get there).

The more you play, the more you get used to direction and location -- hand drawn map shares are fine... a more precise in-game map would sorta take away that exploration enjoyment for Sandbox mode (no longer any point in searching for your own landmarks and shortcuts).

[robdoar]

I believe you have them backwards, since I based it on the "southern access" to the lake and I think the sunrise and sunsets match, too.

Nope, there is a southern and northern access to the river, not the lake.

[RJIII]

I think as far as in game map I have two thoughts. One, it must be found, Will did not expect to crash in the woods and would have not have a detailed map with him after the accident of this remote area of the Canadian wilderness. A good location could be the "Lookout Tower". Second it should be pretty crude not a super detailed map with a "you are here" icon. Key locations are detailed but one must use their surroundings to determine where they are and they could make mistakes. God only knows that I have gotten lost using trail maps and got into some hairy predicaments.

[ryan_leonard]

I don't want an in-game, gps tracking, follow-this-waypoint type of map. What I would like is a very simple hand draw style that marks key locations and their relative positions to each other. Basically what a few of us have been drawing ourselves, but made for us as we explore. I like the idea of first having to find a blank terrain map, which then gets scribbled on as we discover unique locations. Still no compass, though.

and thanks again, Rob, for pointing out my error in direction. I guess I should have trusted the wind direction after all!

[RJIII]

I love the idea of Will scribbling the locations as he finds them!!!

[jason_myles]

I always loved how the Ultima games came with a cloth map. It's wasn't accurate, and some places were even missing, but it gave you a general guideline of what the world looked like.

I kind of feel the same way about the maps above. They're drawn by people who have played the game and not super accurate, but they give a general sense of where stuff is. (Personally, I had three quarters of the map drawn in my head already....)

If you do add a map to the game, make it drawn out and vague and missing things.

All that being said, at first I felt horribly lost in the game, which was rather discouraging and frustrating. I really wanted a map. However, as I play the game more, I see that there are plenty of clues to help me get around: obvious things like the rail road tracks and the river, the mountains in the distance, and simpler things like the fallen tree I use to get between the trapper's cabin and the rail road tracks.

[jonahcutter]

Here's my rough map.

I'm working on improving it with impassible routes and wolf / deer hotspots.

This is my best interpretation, I don't guarantee anything. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Great map. The one I had developed in my head is pretty close to that.

Although, I think you're missing the cave area.

As far as functionality for an in-game map, Darkwood does the hand-drawn thing. New locations are marked down when discovered, but there's never any actual player location shown on it. It's as if it's an actual map you jot down notes on, and the whole thing is not too specific about distances or scale. It's well-done, and greatly adds to the sense of exploration.

I hope TLD does something similar.

[Raphael van Lierop]

From the very outset, the idea was always to build a world that the player could navigate using landmarks, and the more they learned about the world, the more comfortable they would feel going out into it.

We also have plans to add a simple map along the lines suggested, with a few tweaks. We'll be tackling some of that in the weeks and months ahead.

[TattooedMac]

Since we're asking people to submit bugs, and specifically to try and replicate them, it helps that they know where they are / were when the bug happened, and can try to find their way back to replicate.

Agree to a extent, then you have the idea of not having a map, so no-one knows where they are or going, which means they will travel new terrain and find new bugs. With a map now, people can go from here to there and use the same path always, and not see anything new.

6 of one, half a dozen of the other ?!?!?!? :idea:

[RJIII]

It's a hard call with the world we live in these days, look how fast internet videos came out after the official alpha release. everybody wants to be first... everybody wants secret info, everybody wants to win or beat the game. I think it comes down to the design of the game... Do you want to be an episode of "Friends" or do want to be the film "Apocalypse Now". One takes a bit more thought, the others synopsis can be "tweeted".