WWWest-Online Development Blog

No, I’m not planning to lay more lyrics on you. Owlist’s post just left me in a musical mood and the Beach Boys simply provided a title that kinda fits the topic of the day. What topic is that, you ask? Why, “maps!” I answer. That’s right; maps. Be it full map, minimap, scrolling or static, hex-based or square-based; almost  every game has got one. Some games don’t, since a map would have no meaning in their context; what good would a map do you in Bejeweled, or Mafia Wars? Some games have maps that are merely a place to write things down; there are no distances in these games, but maps provide a convenient means of separating locations. On the opposite end of the spectrum we have games in which the maps have as much bearing as almost anything else, like most RTS games (e.g., the Command and Conquer series or the pre-WoW Warcraft games), strategy games like Civilization (or Travian, if you’re into browser-based games), and most client-based MMOs.

In browser-based RPGs, the map is usually either symbolic or missing entirely, depending on the game and its theme. But because WWWest-Online is set in the Wild West, we believe that some sense of exploration is a must; and because we’re aiming for a certain degree of realism, that’s what we’re doing with the map, too. What we’re creating these days is a rather unique map experience for a game. We’re combining GIS technology with historical maps to create a realistic, layered map of the western US. If you’re not familiar with GIS, imagine an end result somewhat similar to Google Maps. We may have mentioned before that the world of WWWest-Online will be an evolving one: as time goes by, the game world will change to reflect the changes that occurred in the western US at the time. Obviously, this affects the map as well. As the game world progresses through the timeline, new locations will be added, and existing locations will be changed and/or removed, as dictated by US history.

Now, such a map is, by necessity, rather accurate in its nature. This, however, can work against us as much as it promotes our cause. Why? Well, a historically accurate world and map mean that the “contents” of every point on the map are known. To avoid this problem, we’re being selectively accurate: large cities, some towns, major landmarks, etc.; all of these will be where they’re supposed to. But everything else, well… everything else is at the whim of artistic license. Let’s face it: when you play a game, you want some diversity in where you can go and what you can do, no matter what your location is, so we might add ore veins where none existed, forests where there should be grasslands, and so on.

This brings us to another point. As I said, the map will be layered. But where maps like  Google Maps have layers for photos and Wikipedia entries, our map will have layers that are slightly more relevant to the game. When the player starts the game, most of the map will not be displayed to him; he will have to explore it in order to see it. But just finding a location isn’t all there is to it; each location can be home to several resources and activities: a range of mountains can hide rich ore veins for mining, stone for quarrying, and maybe even a cave with a selection of bears; the various layers will include these resources. Just arriving at a location does not mean that all the resources and activities that it offers are immediately available to the player. Instead, the player will have at his disposal several means of exploration: he could prospect for gold, seek out lumber or track beasts.Only when the player discovers the resources by some means will they appear on his map.

All told, I think that you will be pleased with the map experience we’ve got in store for you.

Kraz