24.1. What about in-game mapping and navigation? Will it be present and how will it work?
We have some pretty cool ideas on how to integrate mapping and navigating areas allowing you to earn the privilege of experiencing higher levels areas without spoiling the fun of exploration. While in game tools, such as maps, can be a benefit, we believe mystery is also important to a fun and immersive experience.
Vanguard has a fully customizable user interface, which means you decide if you want to use in-game navigation and to what extent. The map will initially show major towns, but other areas will only be revealed after you have explored them.
Source: Official FAQ
24.2. How will you deal with mapping, navigation, compasses, and the like?
There will be a compass as well as a navigation system. The latter will be largely based on where you've already explored at least once, combined with a few other variations we're working out.
Source: Official FAQ
I have an update on mapping and such. It's still not set in stone, but we've reached some internal compromises and also have listened to the feedback here on the boards.
In addition to having the travel journal guide you:
You'll be able to bring up a map of the region you are in. It's a hand drawn map and many things will be missing. It also doesn't all get revealed until you've traveled there.
Waypoints in your journal can also show up on the map as a dot.
Source: Aradune Mithara
We don't want maps to be spoilers. If you haven't discovered something yourself (or on the rare occasion been made aware of it by completing a quest resulting in a travel journal entry), then you probably shouldn't know about it. The maps will be basic, oriented for navigation, not finding your way to the phat lewtz. A lot won't be on the map.
Source: Aradune Mithara
The amount of detail on a map could differ depending on the region, or there could simply be no map at all. You guys know I'm a HUGE explorer. It's paramount that we don't hurt exploration with the map system, or with any system for that matter.
Source: Aradune Mithara
It's definitely NOT a radar. And what is shown on the map is controlled by us, because we're creating the maps. So the designers and artists work together to decide what aspects of the land would be known, or wouldn't spoil the game, etc.
One crazy idea was to have some maps be wrong. Cool, but not sure if it would actually be fun.
As for whether they'd have to be bought on vendors... probably not. Keep in mind the reason behind our scheming is to help people navigate a huge, seamless, and often confusing world. The people who are likely to need this the most are the noobs, or the more poor players, etc. Not sure what we'd gain by making people buy them other than a general money sink. And what we'd lose is potentially some subset of the playerbase not having purchased the map for the area they are in, which would then defeat the reason we're putting them in.
Again, keep in mind that we control what is shown, there won't be any for dungeons, and there likely will be areas, even overland, for which there will be no in-game map. The idea is not to spoil or make too easy, but rather to help with general navigation.
And by navigation I mean getting from one major point to another. You're still going to get very lost exploring, or trying to find specific places.
Source: Aradune Mithara
Current plan for maps, resulting from many debates and discussion amongst Sigil folk as well as reading feedback/posts.
Ultimately, Jeff and I sat down and worked out a system we both liked. If you don't know already, I'm pretty anti-map. I'm the 'hey, if you want a map, someone's going to make one no matter what we do, so let them make it, and you can go get a copy if you choose to'. Jeff, however, wanted some functionality that should be in the game, especially given how large our world is.
So there will be maps. These maps are drawn by our artists and represent a region of the world. On that map you can see yourself, and then possibly any travel journal entries that are in range. Possible fog of war, although since we control what is shown on the map, this may not be necessary.
Still lots of details to be worked out. Keep in mind the primary reason for us including them is to help people navigate in this large, seamless world. We are very sensitive to exploits, spoilers, ruining exploration, etc. So we are keeping all of that in mind.
The silvery cord, or however it actually turns out displaying, will still be helpful, and then necessary in dungeons. No maps in dungeons. Dungeons are very 3d too, requiring our final silvery cord solution to accomodate the x, y and z axis.
Source: Aradune Mithara
24.3. I've heard you're having a silvery cord. Is this true? Why are you doing it?
One of the first things we found was that a ‘silvery cord’ or however we'd eventually refer to it or display it is essential. That's why it's really not been something we'll really debate on the boards. When you start looking for something, especially your corpse, in our world, you need the cord. Embrace the cord. Love the cord.
Source: Aradune Mithara
Right now it's a simple bar in your compass. It doesn't have to be some nifty swirly particle effect. The only problem is that the world isn't just about the x and y axis -- it's about the z as well. Right now if you die in the depths of your dungeon you may have followed the compass to the right x and y location, but it could still be 3 level below you. So we need something more.
The coders are working on it, along with a lot of other things. I'm sure we'll come up with something useful but not imerrsion breaking, at least for most.
Source: Aradune Mithara
Note: the final decision on how the location mechanism is to function is to be played out in beta. In the current implementation, a marker is displayed on your compass (a small line on which you can orient to face the right direction). However, a true 'cord' may be the preferred mechanism when in 3d dungeon environments. - updated 31 October 2005
Source: Silky Venom
24.4. What is this travel journal? What does it do?
We came up with the idea of a counterpart to the quest journals we've seen pop up in newer MMOGs (though they've been around longer in single player RPGs), called the Travel Journal. Its purpose is ultimately to store information about locations that don't necessarily have to do with a quest. For example, we feel the new player when assuming control of a level 1 character who is, assuming he or she is human, at least 18 years old, probably ought to know something about their surroundings. Where to buy food... where their guild master is... where the merchant is... where the nearest noobie yard is... There's no reason to frustrate a player by forcing him to find these places and from an RP standpoint it doesn't make sense -- you're creating an adult noob, not an infant. So your travel journal, to begin with, will contain basic information that makes sense for you to know -- basic locations. And then you can use your travel journal to bring up the cord and guide you to that location. No, there's not a ton of info there, and we very much believe in learning your surroundings and not being too hand-held, but the key stuff is there.
Next, when you die, an entry related to your corpse appears in your travel journal. You can then use the cord to lead you to said corpse, and after you loot it, that entry will delete itself. As stated elsewhere, while it may be dangerous and difficult to get to your corpse based on where it is, you shouldn't simply lose it because it blends in with desert rocks.
And then, as you play the game, travel journal entries will come and go based on what you're doing. You could be given a quest with directions. You could complete a quest and be rewarded with directions to something important or valuable. You could pay a merchant upon entering a new town to scribble down some of those essentials again (food, merchants, etc.) The possibilities and power of the travel journal are really cool, I think. And those locations, combined with the cord, definitely help you navigate the world.
Source: Aradune Mithara
24.5. What the heck does all of this have to do with maps?
As a matter of fact, that exact question came up during a design meeting several years back after I'd excitedly pontificated as to the merits of the travel journal (whose origin, forgive my vanity, came a lot from, well, me). To which I answer a question with a question: with this here travel journal, what else do you really need an in-game map for? If the travel journal dynamically keeps track of salient locations and then the cord can lead you to them, why do you need a map?
And that remains the question, although certainly many excellent ideas and answers have been brought forth. But it does answer the question: what you'll see in Vanguard in terms of an in-game map will likely be that which we agree is both important to the gamer and also not provided, albeit in a different format, by the travel journal.
Do you need to see any topography? Do you need to see dots representing your group mates, or enemies, or any other creature outside of your view frustum? Do you need to be able to view icons in relationship to each other in order to obtain a better spatial viewpoint that the travel journal doesn’t provide? What is truly a spoiler, and what is an aide that makes the game more enjoyable for most? And, certainly, what are we going to provide that someone else in the community isn't going to end up providing anyway, likely in a superior format or quality, but also likely containing information we'd rather the player discover on his own (e.g. spoilers).
One last neat thing about the Travel Journal, btw, is that it works well in the depths of nasty, multi-leveled dungeons, whereas conventional maps usually do not. The cord navigates through 3d space as well as it does 2d space. It might even be able to help you if we end up being able to do some crazy non-Euclidean geometry using portal technology... but hopefully not! After all, the point of doing something like that would be to truly confuse the player and make him quite lost But I digress.
This is probably a good segue into what I personally feel about maps. And it's that thinking that, while brainstorming with others, led to what we now call the Travel Journal. I asked myself, what do I truly need in terms of a navigational aide, especially given how vast and seamless we're making our game world? Being able to find my corpse, to find areas I should already know about, and to find areas I've learned about in my adventures that the game designers want to lead me to, was pretty much it for me. I definitely wanted to spend time in areas and learn them so I could get lost less often, or know the most efficient way to flee an area when things went bad, etc. What I definitely didn't want was any form of spoiler, because according to Bartle, I'm an explorer, and experiencing new areas for the first time is often as great a reward for me as meeting a new friend or acquiring that phat lewt. So when I think of maps, I think of what they used to give you in Ultima 2, or what you see in the Fellowship of the Ring, etc. -- maps of nations, of huge mountain ranges, or seas and oceans. And these were actually the opposite of spoilers for me; rather, they encouraged me to one day learn about that exotic, far away land that would hopefully be reached by the end of the book lest I have to wait a year for the sequel to come out.
The only exception to this, for me, was when I was totally, completely, frustratingly, abjectly, lost. And not lost in a challenging way, or in a way where further exploration felt like achievement; no, lost like I'm getting pissed off. And on those few times, yep, I went to the spoiler site and downloaded a map, printed it out, set it next to me, and used it. And while I didn't feel spiffy about it, I didn't feel that guilty either -- it was, I would likely assert, bad game design that caused me to be lost, or created an area that I couldn't wrap my head around or in any way intuitively navigate.
Source: Aradune Mithara
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24.6. Will there be Collision Detection?
The difficulty with collisions in MMOGs is that they almost all need to be done server side, and since collision detection is computationally expensive, it can be a problematic or at least challenging issue.
Source: Aradune Mithara