Sign in to follow this  
Yiraia

Better Map

Recommended Posts

I too don't approve of allowing people to see themself as a marker on the map, but there are better maps of wurm available on the internet and thats annoying to get (a game that requires you to open another window is faulty imo). Not sure if its this is lag intensive but why not put a map that represents the REAL landscape, and updates everytime the server restarts? And also add a new type of marking on maps, lines. Marking cities is nice and all, but marking roads would be very convenient.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

the last map dump was November last year.
i'd say we're due for a new one.. i did ask a month or two ago, a dev responded to the thread by linking the 2016 one. 
since then i've abandoned the intrigue. 

As for the evolution of in-game maps..  +1

Edited by Steveleeb
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Even if it was just the elevation map, anything to give a better idea of the area around you so you can navigate better by landmarks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Iirc, Rolf sees this as a survival game, thus no exact maps.

Not all want their deeds on the community map either.

 

-1

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Back in my day we didn't even have an ingame map so you should be grateful you have one :P  (Note the sarcasm)

+1 to a better ingame map. 
Or the same ingame map but a new tool, the sextant, newbies start with a low QL sextant that can be used on a compass to get a rough idea of actual location.  Better QL sextant further narrows down location.   Not the first time a sextant has been suggested.    Kinda going off topic though.
 

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, Cecci said:

Iirc, Rolf sees this as a survival game, thus no exact maps.

Not all want their deeds on the community map either.

 

-1

by deeds, do you mean visually seeing the structure? or having the deed mark with a name on it? Either way im not asking for a map ingame that shows all deeds, only one that shows the land currently. My main issue with the current map is that in plenty of cases its highly outdated. There are landbridges, huge terraforming projects in the ocean, and people changing deserts, tundra, and marsh into grass. The map that is available now is only reliable if you look at the form of a big lake+where the ocean is, or if you look at the mountains around you and guess which one you wanna move towards. Map dumps weren't a thing I wouldnt really care and just deal with it, but theres obviously a better option just not implemented.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@Yiraiayou could poke @Retrograde for more info on this one.. but if devs wanted ingame map.. that was going to be a thing long ago... opening a map in a browser isn't inconvenient, that's 'cheating' ;)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would consider it cheating if it wasn't in the most important post of every island forum :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's come up several times.  I guess if it were to happen, I'd rather see something like the almanac that is updated by players.

 

As it is though, there's also all the different types of waypoints we can set and share with village/alliance.  I think that's probably more than Rolf would have envisioned to begin with, and there is such a thing as mission creep.

 

WU servers do have mods for this, but I kind of like the idea of WO keeping some of its roots.

 

On a funny note, long time ago it was considered a plus when a game had resources outside of game.  I remember opening up a "science station" on a laptop next to my desktop when playing space simulations.  Then again I also thought sixteen whole colors on a laptop the thickness of a college textbook was RL science fiction.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
9 minutes ago, Reylaark said:

It's come up several times.  I guess if it were to happen, I'd rather see something like the almanac that is updated by players.

Im no programmer, but wouldnt this mean that every time a character creates a new map, the game checks EVERY tile and creates a brand new map for each player? This was my original idea and thought that it was much more demanding than a map update every restart, when nobody is on.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, Yiraia said:

Im no programmer, but wouldnt this mean that every time a character creates a new map, the game checks EVERY tile and creates a brand new map for each player? This was my original idea and thought that it was much more demanding than a map update every restart, when nobody is on.

Hmm.  I don't know.  Good thinking though.

If that's the case, then you're right, best to have it done once at restart and downloaded by players at login... I think.

 

As a layman, I'm kind of thinking the map could be stored locally on the player's computer?  So when a player updates his/her map, what they're adding would be added to their map like the waypoints are now.

So it wouldn't really be the server having to poll tiles and update, it'd be the player making alterations to their own file.  In the end, not all players would have identical maps, but instead maps showing what was relevant to their own travels?

Maybe that's too different from what you had in mind though.

 

No idea if any of that is even feasible :)  Just kind of guessing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, Reylaark said:

In the end, not all players would have identical maps, but instead maps showing what was relevant to their own travels?

Like minecraft? stepping in a place and having the map update in a radius around you.  OOOO Cartographers. WTS Map of North Xanadu marked with good hunting spots

 

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
24 minutes ago, Yiraia said:

Like minecraft? stepping in a place and having the map update in a radius around you.  OOOO Cartographers. WTS Map of North Xanadu marked with good hunting spots

 

 

More like cartography than automatic updates (never played minecraft so not sure).:)

I know cartography has come up a few times over the years... maybe someday.  I think almanacs were suggested and argued a very long time ago, and here they are today, so I think never say never with Wurm (sort of).

 

I do still want to keep @Cecci's thought on maintaining Rolf's over-arching vision for the game he lovingly brought to life over many years though.  Not to keep it from evolving, but so it stays what we all fell for to begin with at heart.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'd settle for a top down non-isometric map to be honest; maybe with a couple of extra levels of zoom on Xanadu?

 

+1 for something like that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

+1 to any items used for cartography, maybe to map out the area you live around, or mines/ hunting areas nearby

 

-1 to general in game map enhancements, gotta agree with cecci here, theres a reason you have a compass and the woods are filled with nasties, its part of wurm

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There could be some system with checkpoints.. like reaching specific tile.. to reveal 2 to 3 locals from the map(certain areas are just broad mountain areas.. quite hard to reach random places there.. but.. if this is to be a new, additional map.. like a scroll or a book... and show something more.. or unlock a map that updates every season with a ingame map dump~, blah blah.. anything.. making it unique and showing more than what could be seen on the current web map dumps or ingame maps.. Could be something fun to do, explore, sell maps maybe:blink::ph34r:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, elvenwing said:

-1 to general in game map enhancements, gotta agree with cecci here, theres a reason you have a compass and the woods are filled with nasties, its part of wurm

The largest part of wurm making the land whatever you want it to be. There are areas where hills are being removed, additional dirt is placed to expand towns into water, Turning tundra, marsh, and even sand into dirt to live in a "unique" place. Whats the point of a compass if you don't know what is north XD and the woods are filled with nasties for skillgain, or for noobs without mounts to die. animals are currently no threat to anybody that can maintain a good movement speed. The only bits of land that are highly accurate are mountains... for now at least 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just my 2 cents, but I'm cool with the in game map never changing.  Only reason why is the sandbox element.

 

Fun story.

 

Long time ago on Chaos we planned a big fight with Panda and looked at the in game map and had escape routes and everything planned out for an entire week.  So later we went over the Panda to fight and found they had too many people and they started chasing us.  We are like "it's all good we'll sail this way".  Then when we get to that part of the map that was supposed to be open (like 30 tiles open) ....it appears Panda or someone else made a huge land bridge we didn't know about so our escape plan turned into a death trap.  We went more south to another open area while being chased and that too was being blocked off (another 20-30 tiles), but was lucky to find 1 unfinished tile that we could sail over and push the boat really quick and so we escaped.

 

The whole time we are joking about the map that almost wiped our entire crew since it's not accurate.  I'm fine for whatever but thought was a cool story and experience based on the static Wurm map.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, nicedreams said:

Then when we get to that part of the map that was supposed to be open (like 30 tiles open) ....it appears Panda or someone else made a huge land bridge we didn't know about so our escape plan turned into a death trap.

Haha that sounds like a very fun story. I would understand not wanting an updated map for PvP, but for PvE I don't think "Oh darn I'm gonna be late for the rift" Would turn out to be a fun story.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Kinda agree with Cecci, -1

 

To me travelling without exact locations, discovering something new on every single trip just by using compass and raw map is something amazing. I'm still traveling through all Wurm's lands just because i don't know what I'll discover next time. Even if I have pretty much every Xanadu road in my head it's still fun to me. 

Big -1 to this idea. Getting knowledge about using a map and compass, landscapes and landmarks was and still is a big part of playing Wurm. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@AlkhadiasWould you -1 if there was an option to switch back to the original map?

5 hours ago, Alkhadias said:

Big -1 to this idea. Getting knowledge about using a map and compass, landscapes and landmarks was and still is a big part of playing Wurm. 

and tbh you are part of a minority when it comes to gameplay. Last i remember you played alone and raised the majority of your skills really high and decided to venture around xanadu in a wagon... There are a large amount of people that don't leave their deed because of the lack of benefits of venturing far from their deed. Getting knowledge about using a map and compass, landscapes and landmarks was NOT and still is NOT a big part of playing Wurm... Thats why people make community maps to enhance navigation. I'm not asking for anything new to anybody, Just for the map dumps to be in the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'd be still against this idea. Remember your very beginnings in Wurm. What was your possibly first question asking to yourself? "Where the hell am I?"

At least for most new players that's the one of very first thoughts and questions. I was no different. So then you, me or any new player got to start thinking about location. New peep just see a map, and start to look around, looking for similar to map landmarks, mountains, lakes etc. Everyone had to deal with it, bulk of people still have to deal with it. Once you get knowledge about your location it's still a huge challenge to find a route to your destination point. With new map dumps once you get your point on the road, you can just walk looking on map like moving up the ladder. So that's a huge part of everyone's beginnings in Wurm. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe we'll get a map function like the almanac. Use dioptra and range pole to survey an area and create a report which can be placed inside an Atlas.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this