This game needs a map badly
aeroripper
Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42471NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42471NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
Comments
Perhaps 2 different map modes, one that has depth map and another that is flat? Dunno about anyone else, but I have a hard time reading depth maps.
Nice..? *glares at random YouTuber*
There will be D's
I mean, the game world is static, right? There's no procedural generation aside from collectable items/resources? The Aurora, the Islands, the various wrecks AND all of the Lifepods (save for good ol' Number 5) and the various biomes always appear in the locations... so why do we not have access to a map, when logic states it would make absolute sense to have one?
Not to mention, the SeaGlide and Cyclops can map terrain naturally - it seems to me that there should be a way to make this data accessible to the player in a map form.
Eh, there will always be those people. I tend to just ignore that aspect of them.
They tend to be... Some "unknown" YouTubers. Them fuckers keep popping up in "trending" and "suggested videos" regardless of being subbed or not
Not easy especially given that Subnautica's 3D spaces and connections are quite free-form and organic. Other games such as Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda have a much simpler arrangement of stacked floors and their mini-maps still struggle to convey correct locations to players.
I've thought about using kind of an MRI-style interface, where the player could quickly ripple up and down through a set of slices of the game world. It still relies of the player translating that into a mental model of how the stacked zones connect with each other, but it's at least a hint of how things are put together.
And yes, a section of a slice would only become visible in the map after the player visits the location. Gotta reward exploration!
Topographic maps and rotatable 3D maps are both proven solutions to this problem. A topographic map provides a quick 2D reference to see where biomes are and their relative depths and interesting terrain features, and Descent showed us back in 1995 that a rotatable 3D map is a great way to visualize a full 3D environment. In fact, the scanner room already does this but then illogically fails to provide a way to download the generated map to the PDA.
A 3D wireframe representation of the world, similar to what the scanner room or seaglide produces is fine for a relatively small area. But I suspect the complexity of Subnautica's world would quickly make that type of wireframe view very confusing if it covered an area large enough to be useful as a map.
All just in my humble opinion of course.
1) The seaglide 'topographical' map isn't available by default, and is only available after upgrading it on the modification station. It adds the mapped terrain to the main map. It really isn't that useful when navigating anyways, but it does look cool.
2) Vehicle based sonar also maps out the topography on the map.
3) Scanner room maps the topography like sonar/seaglide, and also reveals all resources, flora, fauna, and other things within its range in real time (as long as its powered).
The PDA-accessible map looks similar to the scanner room map, with specific blips to indicate what stuff is.
Yes, Descent had a great 3D map implementation
DXX-Rebirth (D1X and D2X) - this is an upgraded, faithful to the original, Descent.
D2X-XL (works with both Descent 1 & ][, just like DXX) - this is basically an entire rework, with new modes, mods, level editor (DLE), and more. You can configure it to be more like classic Descent, but it's more fun to play with all the settings and be blown away with what is now possible.
Overload - the Descent crew makes another title.
Descent Underground - Prequel to Descent, MMO, get it on BrightLocker here (used to be on Steam Early Access, they pulled it to focus on finishing up their single player campaign and tech trees, their explanation here).
Sol Contingency - A modder was going to re-do the entire Descent series in Unreal. Got a C&D after he sent a proposal to Interplay to make an official remaster, as Interplay had decided to go with Descent Underground (you can find out more on the SolC forums, threads here (C&D) and here (in-depth discussion) -- they do have a demo available.
If you like FreeSpace (Descent / Conflict: FreeSpace, and FreeSpace 2), check out the Hard Light Productions forum, and use the FSO SCP Installer to get the latest updates (you can get the retail game on GOG or Steam, but note I would recommend GOG for better results with older titles).
Also, Forsaken was similar to Descent, and also good. Gameplay video here (I don't think that's with any upgrade projects, just retail). Try ForsakenX
2017 Hotas roundup X-56, Warthog, X-52, X-52 Pro, T.16000m FCS - overview
I make notes, mostly in my head, of how to find places by landmark.
"North of Lifepod 2, on the ridge, is the first alien pylon leading the way to Alien Cache Beta."
"The northwestern edge of the eastern mushroom forest runs up against the eastern slopes of Gun Island. There's a Reaper there."
Stuff like that. It's been... interesting.
Personally I prefer not having a map in a way, for me its more immersive, I mean a highly detailed map would be a bitch to make if you were a lone survivor on an alien planet.
I agree with concept of having a basic map, but the areas are revealed as you encounter them, I would hate to have one as soon as you start off.
They could just do what Final Fantasy: XI did for their zones that had multiple sections of inhabitable area that wouldn't make sense on a singlular map. In the game a lot of the areas are flat, with just one plane of interaction (maybe some hills or valleys); but some areas are actual "buildings" or zones with multiple vertical sections. What happens then is when you hit an invisible threshold or XYZ coordinates, the game changes which map you have access to.
Since Subnautica's engine already can track where your XYZ coordinates are at any given time, and knows when you've crossed-over into another biome's border (can check this by pressing F1 in-game on PC), then it should be relatively "easy" to implement both a usable map and one that can update for certain areas (I'm looking at you, Jellyshroom Caves and the ILZ/ALZ).
I hope i'm not coming off as an ass with this comment. But a map being a bitch? In a world where we can create rooms that are 5 tons heavy from a remote control size builder. But for some reason a wireless transmission to the dive suits HUD is impossible. Even though the Scanner room can send pings of items to your HUD already :P The game is inconsistent in its internal logic. It's just that making a map is probably the harder things to do in the game. I just don't get why they couldn't just add the Seaglide's map to your HUD and be done with it. In till they wanted to make a more fleshed out map in the future. Moving that map to the Cyclops 3D image would be good to.
It would be handy to have even a 2D version, though, that I could at least mark wrecks on or something. Ooh, something that could be neat, is setting up multiple Scanner Rooms across the game and have them feed into a master map somewhere that you could interact with and make notes on. You know like, clicking on it takes you to a different interface where you can "fly" through the map and put markers on that show up on your HUD. The functionality is already there for those markers.
Still, that would make the game much easier in a way that I think would be convenient, but not necessary. Maybe something for Creative mode.
That's what I basically do in the game. I make multiple bases so I can get an idea of the ILZ and Lakes. I wonder why people who make the 2D maps don't do that. I've seen people complain about no one making a good ILZ/LL map. Go in creative. Spawn as many scanner rooms needed. See the 3d map. Free cam looking down/inside the scanner room map. Draw it in photoshop.
But for new players, finding our way is a nightmare.
Even wrecks my be rare to find. On my last run, I don't even found the wreck in the mushroom tree. The sonar could be improoved to help find stuff.
A PDA map would be a great improvement
It doesn't help as much with the '3D' portions, unfortunately, so for things like 'directions to the ILZ' you may need a chain of buoys as landmarks.
It's not perfect by far, but I find it helps a lot.
Really, between buoys and a compass, that's all you need. I don't even bother putting a map in my screenshots directory anymore, and it's certainly not because I have the world memorized; it just takes me more time to go into the photo file and read the map than it does for me to take a bearing off a couple buoys with my compass. Add in the scanner room and that's plenty of nav information. The 3D scanner on the seaglide is...neat...but in the end it's just eye candy.
I'm not saying the pro-map camp is wrong. Some players really want or need to have a map, and that's fine. However, with the abundance of navigational aids in the game right now, I don't think it needs to be a high priority for the developers; there are far more important fish for them to fry.
I agree that the devs have much more important things to work on before 1.0 (game balance...).
However, I'm less satisfied with the current navigation aids. Technically the game is completely playable with what we have already, but they're very expensive for what they do (especially since a proper map is a given in nearly every other game). Hopefully once the game gets is full balance pass they won't be so much of a headache to deal with. Still doesn't really solve the discoverability problem for finding the scanner room and beacon fragments (and the resources to craft them) in the first place though.
Do Beacons still require Silver in the latest Stable? In experimental, beacons cost only one copper and one titanium. Compared to the Silver recipe or the old Copper Wire + Titanium recipe, beacons are ridiculously cheap now. Again, if you are talking stable, they may still have the recipe set to use Silver.