I’m currently playing Faeries of Haelstowne. Of course I’ve been creating a map as I explore and I thought I’d share it here for anyone who’d like to play this game but hates the process of mapping and remapping.
The map is just the locations and objects I’ve found while wandering around. I haven’t gotten into any of the locked rooms or solved any of the puzzles (though I’m > TAKEing everything that I can like that kleptomaniac thief from Zork).
The current map consists of two PDF files. I’ve attached the Zip file below. The best way to print it out is on US Legal in Landscape orientation.
I haven’t gotten to any of the other parsercomp games yet, but I just want to state that I like seeing maps in general. I don’t necessarily hate the process of mapping and remapping, but it gets exhausting, and I really enjoy seeing someone else do the heavy work.
Plus, maps can spoil relatively little, and they can give us an idea how big or small a game is. Or they can tell you, yes, you can get across that chasm, or no, you can’t.
Mapping is pretty much a given with parser games so “exhausting” is a better word than “hate,” especially when you’ve just discovered a whole new series of rooms but you’re at the edge of your piece of paper.
FYI - I ended up creating this map in OmniGraffle after going through several paper iterations.
Nice bit of mapping. A couple of my testers also made maps, in Trizbort - I’d never heard of it, but it does make a lovely looking map. It’s interesting for me to see it laid out like this as I never mapped it myself during the writing of it.
I love drawing maps, so I won’t be looking at yours because:
(a) I want to draw my own.
(b) I don’t want any spoilers.
I draw my maps using pencil and paper, then draw a pretty map using Trizbort when I’ve solved the game. You can find many of my maps on the Classic Adventures Solution Archive (CASA) where my user name is ‘Garry’.
Your post raises the question, “Should I provide maps for my own games on the itch.io game page?” I know that @aschultz prefers to have a map, because he said so above and I sent him one when he was play testing, but how does everyone else feel?
Personally, I don’t like to give a map and walkthrough, as it takes away from the challenge and enjoyment of solving the game yourself. Hints are different.
If there’s a map, then I’d probably look at it, not necessarily to memorize everything, but to get a sense of the environment. I like to play without a map, so a cohesive geography is appreciated. However, looking at the map before playing does help with the sense of direction.
If you want to, you can draw a generic map, identifying relative locations of the game, but not necessarily in NSEW direction format.
To expound … this sort of echoes what @ramstrong said. I really like having maps as a tester because they quickly give me clues as to what might go wrong. I might say, for instance, okay–I’ll check all the dotted-line connections. Or I can check the room description immediately against the map, as anything I find there gives the programmer good value for their time. (It’s also the sort of thing I initially miss.)
My style is to go through a game and try to find ways to get puzzles almost-right, and having maps also saves brain power for trying to play Murphy’s Law. What would a person miss? What would a person almost figure out, but maybe give up if they needed to guess a verb?
Maps also help give a preview. For instance, if I get an email for a game I’m testing, I can have a look at the map so I know what I’m getting into later. The size, the number of secret rooms, the general structure. I’m not totally flying blind. Perhaps this ruins some of the emotional impact of the game, but that’s not my highest priority as a tester.
I like having and providing maps, because there are just so many games out there that we can’t approach all of them on their own from scratch. I’ve written a few, but not as many as I’d like. It’s fun, but it is work, like when I wrote for Luster, which was opaque. I do enjoy drawing and sharing maps too… but there’s a part of me who thinks it’s just REALLY neat to see others’ efforts and be glad I’m not the only one and be able to focus on other things, if I want.