DOS Games Discussion

I mentioned, in the URR Roguelike thread, that I hate walking simulators but love maps.

That's one of the best part of old games, whether paper or cloth maps in-the-box, or in game maps from Defender of the Crown to Icewind Dale to Daggerfall to Darklands. I even love them in books; so much better to have a fantasy world or star map in the front of a book as I start it! (I'm obviously a bit spatial in my reasoning!)

I've been trying to figure out how to have maps without having walking simulators. In fact, since they don't have to be walked on (or a different mode with the map as an afterthought), I hope a game could have a great map, much better than if you had to walk through the game. The Icewind Dale maps were beautiful, even though they were just a picture with some "active" areas to click on. Somehow I want it more map-like than that, that just seems like a menu, but something along those lines.

I've been looking at how people use Voroni diagrams to generate random chaotically-tiled maps, especially this article from Stanford. If the game let you travel to any tile you can reach "instantly" in real time (with whatever game-time cost is requred), and showed you unreachable and "gateway" tiles that have to be dealt with (a guarded mountain pass) before you can travel past them, I think that could solve the walking simulator problem with a good looking map, especially if the tiles are overlaied on a pleasant map image or generated image.

Planning is easier than implementing, but that sounds like fun, and I like the direction it's going. I'm thinking in terms of an RPG (and continues thoughts of a simplified version of a Darklands remake I started 10+ years ago!), but it really could be any kind of game - adventures, racing, whatever. The map is just a cool way to select a location (with some relationship with other locations), so the game is really what happens AT locations.

And behind it all, the reason I hate "walking simulators" is that the fun in games (especially replayable ones) is the decisions you make, not waiting for screens to load and traveling a road from A to B - I commute enough in real life, thank you very much! Reduce and solve any non-decision area of a game that consumes time and hopefully the game is all about the fun rather than the waiting for the fun.

When you first mentioned "maps without walking" in the URR thread I immediately thought Eador: Genesis. This game shares many similarities with the Heroes of Might and Magic series, but you don't have to steer your heroes throughout the lands. Instead, when a hero is in a province, he can explore it, and when something interesting is found you are taken to that event (e.g. a shop, a special encounter or a monster lair).

I'm not sure if the maps in Eador are constructed according to these Voronoi diagrams, as I haven't heard about those before. But they are somewhat similar in appearance. BTW, Eador generates random maps - IIRC even on the campaign mode.

The only thing is that Eador is not strictly an RPG but a TBS, although the author makes an emphasis on role-playing, as in "playing the role of a ruler of a certain kind".

I've seen stuff about Eador, but haven't played it yet. That sounds very cool, very much like what I've struggled toward: find me something fun to do at my current location, or easily let me move to a new location. Cool!

Yes, "RPGs" so often have little to do with playing a role, while non-RPGs often do... haha.

Jesus Christ!hehe

Always happy that everyone finds what they are looking for.

Jesus Christ!hehe

@Quadko:

I am one to have it right away too.

Thank you God we get the good before it is too late!

JESUS!

By the way, Thank you for your advice on "No wasted time from now on until after God calls us home at 100 years old."