Maps have played a role in video games for as long as I have been alive… Maps can serve multiple roles.  Maps can provide you with not only a way to help you find where you are but also where you want or need to go.  Maps can serve as a means of transportation. Maps also serve as a way to help immersion as well. Maps give you a wider look at the world at large. One of my favorite things about the old Ultima games was the maps and illustrations in the books, the cloth map, and things that helped make the world more real, and helped with this immersion.

In past Ultima games, we experienced both dual scale and single scale maps.  Ultimas 1 – 5 made use of a dual scale system. Single scale  would be the later Ultima games.  To put all the information I am considering when looking at the new style of overland map in SotA that we saw in the pre-alpha release four testing (aka R4), let’s review both styles of maps in games.

Dual Scale Map System

In the dual scale map system, you are exploring the world on not only a small-scale, but also on a wide view larger scale view. For example, let’s use the classic Ultimas 4 and 5. You, the Avatar, are walking/running/traveling in the world on maps that are based on two different “scales”.

• When you are on the “overland map”  you are on a much wider view, larger scale view of the world that you are traveling on. You, the character in game, are often at a different scale then that of the world around you. For instance in Ultima 4, you the avatar are the same size on the overland map as that of an entire keep or town.
• When you explored a “landmark”, ie: town, castle, village, keep, combat scenario, and dungeon, you changed from the top-down “overland map” to a smaller scale “player map” which then allowed you to explore that area.  The scale is realistic in this smaller scale map as you are the same size as other characters, whether it be NPCs or Player Characters.

The small-scale or “player map” gave you, typically, a top down view just like the “overworld map”, but in cases such as caves/dungeons, u got to explore the world in the first-person perspective. Despite this change in perspective, the scale did not change.  The purpose of the “player map” was to give you this closer view of your surroundings and allow you to transition from what was a means of both exploration and travel of the world to a means of exploring a specific zone within the world at a scale that was more appropriate. Another feature in the Ultima 1 thru 5 version of this dual scale map was you had access to most, if not all of the same player commands in both scales.  You could attack things, search places, use items, mix reagents, cast spells, etc.  Both allowed for deep exploration and game-play.

Having these two scales also allowed for flexibility for developers to execute their vision for a game more efficiently.  It also allowed for a much better experience for the player as well. This was because it allowed the dev team to polish gameplay and provide more quality content.

In the case of the Ultima games, the team could focus on the conversation system, the quests, side stories and lore, as well as give each keep, castle, town, village, and dungeon their own unique things about them to the world by allowing you to move down to a smaller scale to then allow deeper exploration and interaction.  The polish of the lore and content made exploring the world and seeing the landmarks both human made as well as marshes, rivers, mountains, and oceans exciting to explore.

Because of this dual scale map system, the small-scale change for combat in early Ultima games, like Ultima 4 and 5, was what defined turned based combat for me at the start of my entry to video games.  This change to a small-scale view of combat and turned based mechanics is what helped drive me to play many of the early Final Fantasy games that used this dual scale map system for both exploration and combat.  It was a system that appealed to me and was comfortable because had experienced it before.

The early Ultima games and the early Final Fantasy games are some of the best examples, I can personally think of, of a good solid dual scale map system implemented in which you are exploring the world on two scales. The random encounters in Final Fantasy took the same concept that was in the Ultima games only you didn’t see the creatures in the “overland map”.

Single Scale Maps

Single Scale Map games have you, the player, traveling and exploring the world in one map that is at one scale.  Some games, often due to technological limitations, break up the single scale map into “zones” that have a loading that you need to go through to help break up the single scale to reduce load, etc.  However, despite this breaking up of areas, the game is still a single scale map only game because you are not exploring on two different scales, the map is only a tool for reference or instant travel.  The exploration of the world has you seeing the view from the same “scale” throughout the entirety of the game.

Skyrim is a great example of a game where you have a single scale world that uses this zone function to help break up areas due to limitations…  The map in that game, because you are in a single scale setting, is limited to helping you find your location but also for fast traveling via a “point and click to teleport”.  This “click to teleport” style of fast traveling is something that Portalarium has stated from the beginning is something they did not want to do.  Another element Skyrim uses is that you have way-points that are marked that show you where to go for certain quests you have.  This is yet another thing Portalarium has stated from the start that they do not wish to have in SotA.  On a side note, in Skyrim you can change from First Person to Third Person view, but the “scale” of the game doesn’t change.  The game is forever at that single scale exploration.

Other great examples of this “single scale map” would be such games as Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origins, Fable, Grand Theft Auto, and other such games.

What does this mean for Shroud of the Avatar?

Now that the basis of what these two styles of maps are defined as well as some of the background on which I am going to base my reaction on, I will dive into the important part…. Shroud of the Avatar!!!

The prototype and demos that were shown had a dual scale map system.  This was something that helped drive me to want to pledge.  One issue I have with many online games is that they are a single scale game.  This inherently puts some limitations on the developer when it comes to area based content.  This is why many MMOs over the years created DLC or Expansion Packs to expand the content of their game at a cost for the players.

That being said, we the community are getting a unique chance to see this game at all stages of development, including many of the first iterations of anything graphical and game-play focused.  One thing that even veterans like me at times forget, is that throughout any software, game, or product development of any kind, elements may go through many phases of changes and improvements and so in keeping that in mind, I will be discussing the R4 Overland Map which is in its first iteration.

Use of Small Scale/Player Map Functionality

A major point of functionality I had hopes for when it came to the dual scale map is the ability to do more than what past Ultimas had done. Innovation and not just using the same old system is something that I was hoping the team at Portalarium would strive for. One thing that Ultimas 1 – 5 didn’t have, was the ability to explore a zone that wasn’t a specific “landmark” – like a city or dungeon. In Shroud of the Avatar, we have the ability to enter a zone/hex and explore that region.  We are not limited to just landmarks like in Ultima 5, for example. I hope all hexes have content, but it would not surprise me if some areas like some mountainous regions and ocean regions don’t have any content for us and thus we don’t enter into a small-scale/player map.

But just like in Ultimas 1 – 5, you have the ability to “bypass” areas, perhaps by passing through a PVP designated zone in the overland map, because you would rather focus on traveling to a different area to continue the main storyline.  In my mind, this is similar to running away from a creature in Ultima 5 that is following you on the Overland Map. Instead of entering combat with it, you may move and avoid it all together because if you ran far enough away odds are you wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore because you focused on passing by and avoiding that combat scenario.

During R4, we got to test and visit these zones/hexes and see what content was available. We got to deal with elves and other interesting areas to explore and have combat in.  One advantage that I see, if I were on the dev team is that this new functionality allows the team to create content and very easily push out content via patches to us not only pre-release, but throughout the life of the game. This ease of adding content, especially random or special encounters, allows the team to be efficient in spending the community’s money that we pledged to them by creating polished content. They are also not limited to such a massive scale for an area. A random encounter on maybe a road hex could take place in a very small area because it is totally non-combat related and is only story related.

Another function that was lacking in the older Ultima games was your character’s entering from a certain direction when changing from “overland” to the small-scale map was not an issue. Towns like Minoc and Yew in the older Ultima games had one entrance and that was always where you started when entering them.  In the forums, one member mentioned a great idea that when entering a hex or scenario, the direction you came from should help determine where you are starting in the zone/hex.  Not having this in the past did not detract from older games for me. In fact many current games regardless of if they use single scale or dual scale don’t have this functionality.  However, having such a feature would add something unique and special to the exploration of the world of New Britannia and help push the bar higher for future games.

I would say that overall the function of using small scale maps/areas to allow you to zoom into an area and explore it more in depth so far has been executed correctly and I have high hopes for how they improve upon the bugs and quirks we experienced in R4.  There is much content that will need to be done for release and even after release, but I am staying optimistic about this.

Use of Large Scale/Overland Map Functionality

This dual scale map is in its first iteration, and R4 clearly showed that. While the small-scale functionality and exploration was what I envisioned, the large-scale map functionality was sorely lacking in my mind. Functionality that I would expect you to be able to do while in both the large-scale and small-scale levels of exploration were not available. Functionality that the older Ultima game didn’t have but many other dual scale games had (like panning, zooming, fog of war, etc) were not implemented.  Even simple graphical things were not in place.

In fact, if it wasn’t for Starr Long’s forum post as well as his comment in one of the “Deep Dive Hangouts” this week, I would not have held off on making this post until now.  It would have been much more emotional and much harsher.  Thanks to Starr, we know that the change in art style at this scale level of exploration happened only 2 days before R4 testing started.  Because of this, the functions like “fog of war”, panning, zooming, animations, and other things were not ready.

We have no function of looking at your paperdoll or changing equipment before entering a hex. In game you can change such things once you change to the smaller scale map.  I used to love changing equipment on both scales of maps in games in the past and I hope this is something that we can return to doing.

One level of large-scale exploration functionality that I do not know if it was discussed is one from the game “Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.”  One thing that I adored about Arcanum was that as you explored the large-scale map, you “discovered” landmarks, which opened up those locations for you to explore the small-scale map for those areas.  In Arcanum you also had the ability so explore random areas as well as you explored, and in fact often you would have random encounters which could prove fatal to your travels. Personally I like to use Arcanum as an example as a game that took a lot of stuff from games that came before and made use of those gameplay elements in great ways to help tell the story the team wanted to tell with the game.

To sum up, I was disappointed at first, but after hearing about the major art change so close to the R4 test period, I am willing to forgive Portalarium. I am hoping future releases we test will have things improved and more functionality is added to help give the large-scale/overland map the additional features it needs to really do SotA justice.

Travel Mechanism

An element I loved about dual scale maps was the ability to travel quickly, but not be able to “cheat” and teleport to another area.  In many of the games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim, they place limitations like “you can’t fast travel if in combat”, which thankfully keeps a subtle level of realism to this mechanic.

In R4, this fast travel mechanism worked just as intended.  I was quite pleased after they did some minor tweaks to how easy it was to move around and skip hexes that I didn’t want to enter, and go to those I did want to.  The speed in moving through trees and hills being slower was especially smart and added to my enjoyment of the larger scale map.

Art Style

Because of the high realism versions of the “overland map” in the prototype and demos, the change in art style was a shock to my system on opening day of the R4 test period.  Based upon the reactions of those in the SotA forums, it seems like many felt the same way.  My first feeling was that of betrayal, but being an artist and designer myself, I closed the game and took some time to just sit and think about it.  After staring at the screenshots I took as well as the game-play I streamed, I came to two conclusions about the art style.

• The art style of this new overland map is hyper-stylized.  The thing that needs to be discussed now is whether this art style is to the benefit or detriment of both the overland map of the dual scale system.
• The overall functionality of the map is not affected by this art style change.  This is because we still have the ability to explore both the world on a large-scale as well as a small-scale based on the content we are given as well as the areas/hexes we explore.

The community in the SotA forums have had some very strong emotions about this art style.  Some have gone so far as to say, “It’s complete crap and headed nowhere good” and “we’ve gone from an interactive, fully realized World Map to a piece of paper with a child’s drawing of mountains, trees and towns and a flag representing the player”.  Others have said such things as, “Reminds me of the travel sequences in the Indiana Jones movies” as well as some reminding us that this art style is a time honored tradition which hails back to the days of Tolkien and other great classics.  Starr Long mentioned “Game of Thrones” as another series with a similar style map.

On analyzing the art style on its own, not taking game-play or anything else from Shroud of the Avatar, the work is extremely well done.  I am almost entirely certain that Stephen Daniele had something to do with setting the standard for the art style. I base that solely on my knowledge of his works, as well as the map Pen of the Avatar work he has done.  The amount of work and skill required to create this kind of hyper-stylized artwork takes time and practice.

Hyper-stylized Art in video games has its place.  In fact in some case it can enhance a game in many wonderful ways. A key part of this hyper-stylization is having it be consistent throughout the game. One example of such a game in which hyper-stylized art was Borderlands.  Below is a great video to help give you some great analysis of this game and how and why it works so well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5xj63XPOsI

The issue that I have with the art style of the new overland map is that it does not feel consistent with the rest of the art style of Shroud of the Avatar. Here we have a game with a paper map in an art style that upon first look, reminded me of the game, Paper Mario. This doesn’t mean that this art style cant be successful still today. While I adore the Paper Mario games and love its art style and animation, the art style is consistent throughout Paper Mario. In SotA, it didn’t feel consistent.  If all of SotA in both the small-scale and large-scale levels of exploration had this same style of art implemented into it, the break from my immersion would not be so striking.

To break it down, even though this is the first iteration of this map in this art style, I do not like it in its current form.  The art style breaks me out of the immersion of the game.  I just don’t like it as it currently is.  Yes, that means I am giving the dev team a chance still.  We only have limited info from them as to why the change and when it happened. As more functionality is added and as the art for the overland map are tweaked, just like the other artwork and models in the game are tweaked and improved, I really hope that whatever changes are done improve the function and art and use of this dual scale system as to not ruin my immersion.

Losing yourself in a novel, movie, tv show, or video game can be a joy. It is also an experience I think most of us in the Ultima community have had in the past with the Ultima games and other games and we hope we will experience again anew in Shroud of the Avatar.

Final Thoughts….

The change in the art style is no real controversy at all. It was a choice made by the dev team in short order before a test period. The only controversy, which isn’t even a real controversy, is that it caught the community off guard.  As with all the art that is coming from Portalarium, it is well done and continues to be improved over the months by the artists involved.  However, for many in the community there is still the issue of how this art style breaks the immersion they are having with the game.  Throughout the work day today I kept trying to come up with a way to fix the issue and some thoughts came to me.

One game that I mentioned previously, Arcanum, uses a very similar art style for the overland map. Arcanum has both technology and magic, a steam-punk victorian feeling as well as a medieval fantasy feeling.  SotA has elements of medieval as well as steam-punk with the inclusion of Tesla Towers.

What are the differences between Arcanum and Shroud of the Avatar in which this art style works for the overland map in Arcanum, but it doesn’t for me in Shroud of the Avatar?  I went back this evening and reinstalled Arcanum.  I have beaten the game multiple times over the years and pulling out the old CD-ROM from my binder of old games was a joy.  Just a short while into the game I found my answer- the USER INTERFACE!!!!!  See here the interface that allows you to explore the overland/large-scale map.  There are elements to this UI that really make it feel like you are truly using a cloth/paper map.  In Shroud of the Avatar you see that with the minimalistic UI, those elements aren’t there, all you see are you symbolized as a marker and the map itself.

I wish to continue to go on record that my feelings are that if Portalarium wishes to keep this cloth/paper map art style that is hyper stylized and really challenging to do well, but is still very beautiful at the same time in its elegance and simplicity…. changes need to be made to it. I know that is a verbose way of putting it all into one sentence but it covers my full feelings.  This change in style could still be super successful as it was in Arcanum, but until we see what improvements are done, I am going to have to do my best to be patient.

There is no reason to give up hope, sell your pledge, and move on to other games.   Give your feedback, be honest, and give examples and details so that the Dev Team can hear your feelings and ideas and keep them in mind.

For two threads in the SotA Forums that are already filling with posts visit:

• Discuss the Overworld Map
• World Maps: The Minimum…..