Opinions on a map movement system?

[PRAECESSOR]

So I'm working on RenPy-based RPG with a ton of locations. I've played games that are similar, like Glassix for example. In Glassix, you move around the map using buttons that are placed on the background. Like, if you are in a house with two doors, you click on the door you want to walk through. My problem with this system though is that when you play for a while and start to move through the map quickly, having to move your mouse around so much starts to get annoying. The buttons you want to press are sometimes on the opposite side of the screen from one another.

My alternative idea is to have a list of places you can move to that stays fixed in one corner of the screen. That way you can move through the map very, very quickly after you get used to taking certain routes. The backgrounds will still change to reflect the area, but the movement will be streamlined. I think that this kind of movement is also less confusing, as with the other method it is not always very clear where you are going.

What are your opinions on that kind of system?

 

[polywog]

If it's renpy based, you can just use the spacebar to move, the engine automatically calculates the best route.

 

[Kinderalpha]

The most intuitive design that doesn't seem intrusive to me is when the map is drawn with points in the map having some kind of identifier that easily communicates what the place is, if I can go there, and what it costs. This could be an outline, a highlight, a fog of war, or a button.

Lists work, but only if that's how the rest of the game is structured. If you want players to be able to zip through maps as quickly as possible then I'd avoid lists. Players pick up on patterns very quickly, and you should rely on that. I wouldn't recommend relying on players to memorize which locations have other locations in their available list. In games like Glassix, Chloe18, Milfy City, it usually takes me like five minutes before I'm zipping through areas and maps with ease. Those three games do a pretty good job of making locations identifiable. I don't see a need to navigate any quicker then what I can achieve with a mouse.

Just be sure to make locations obvious. Don't make me spaz my mouse around the screen to make sure there aren't "hidden" locations or things I haven't discovered. That will slow me down the most, because I'll end up doing that Everytime I arrive at a level to make sure I don't miss anything.

 

[Catapo]

I understand your point but I don't really like the idea of a list of places.
The reason why clicking on doors to move is better is because people can memorize paths their own different ways.(Ex: The second door, The door on the left, The white door, The bathroom door etc.) while a list of places forces them to remember paths by names only(kitchen-> hallway -> stairs -> bedroom etc).

But if you want to move your mouse less there are other ways here are two of my ideas:

- Use the mouse wheel to scroll through the available hotspots on the screen. Make sure to highlight them as you scroll and when the user clicks anywhere while one of the hotspots is highlighted it should behave like you clicked on that hotspot.

- Similar to your idea with the list I imagine something like a GUI wheel with the locations on it(names or icons) and when the players hovers over one item of the wheel it will highlight the hotspot for that place and when you click on a location on that will it will take you there.

Anyway IMO you should have the door clicking method and you could have an extra way like the ones I described for those who want to use something like that.

 

[PRAECESSOR]

The most intuitive design that doesn't seem intrusive to me is when the map is drawn with points in the map having some kind of identifier that easily communicates what the place is, if I can go there, and what it costs. This could be an outline, a highlight, a fog of war, or a button.

Lists work, but only if that's how the rest of the game is structured. If you want players to be able to zip through maps as quickly as possible then I'd avoid lists. Players pick up on patterns very quickly, and you should rely on that. I wouldn't recommend relying on players to memorize which locations have other locations in their available list. In games like Glassix, Chloe18, Milfy City, it usually takes me like five minutes before I'm zipping through areas and maps with ease. Those three games do a pretty good job of making locations identifiable. I don't see a need to navigate any quicker then what I can achieve with a mouse.

Just be sure to make locations obvious. Don't make me spaz my mouse around the screen to make sure there aren't "hidden" locations or things I haven't discovered. That will slow me down the most, because I'll end up doing that Everytime I arrive at a level to make sure I don't miss anything.

The difference between this game and Milfy City/Chloe18 is that there isn't a central overworld screen. In those games, there aren't any locations that are more than 3 or 4 clicks away. However, in my game, everything is in first-person. So let's say I want to go from my house to the shopping district.

I start in My House, then click: Outside, Brentwood Station, Central Station, King Station, Shopping District. Glassix has a very similar approach, but the marker that he uses to indicate where you can go is sometimes hard to see. The players won't have to memorize which places can take you where, since all the areas will be directly connected.

But a game like MC, you would click: Outside, Overworld, Shopping District. That's almost half the number of clicks, so I think it is important to try and reduce the amount of effort per click. It's also worth noting that I would make an effort to keep the lists from changing so that each location is always in the same spot. It's the same kind of thing with Glassix where you memorize the patterns to get from one place to another, but your mouse is moving about 1/10th as much.

 

[PRAECESSOR]

I understand your point but I don't really like the idea of a list of places.
The reason why clicking on doors to move is better is because people can memorize paths their own different ways.(Ex: The second door, The door on the left, The white door, The bathroom door etc.) while a list of places forces them to remember paths by names only(kitchen-> hallway -> stairs -> bedroom etc).

But if you want to move your mouse less there are other ways here are two of my ideas:

- Use the mouse wheel to scroll through the available hotspots on the screen. Make sure to highlight them as you scroll and when the user clicks anywhere while one of the hotspots is highlighted it should behave like you clicked on that hotspot.

- Similar to your idea with the list I imagine something like a GUI wheel with the locations on it(names or icons) and when the players hovers over one item of the wheel it will highlight the hotspot for that place and when you click on a location on that will it will take you there.

Anyway IMO you should have the door clicking method and you could have an extra way like the ones I described for those who want to use something like that.

The problem with the mouse-wheel approach is that it isn't very precise. People are much more used to precise clicking to get what they want, instead of placing the mouse-wheel in a certain position.

And the idea of a GUI wheel... this just sounds like the list except that it's circular. I think that highlighting the area is a good idea though. For example, when I hover over a location on the list, that path is highlighted in the environment. And if I'm going through the trouble if creating highlights for each path... I may as well also let you click there to move.

 

[Kinderalpha]

At this point, do you think it's something that can be implemented now and then playtested? I think this is a good example of a mechanic that you should playtest so players can give you feedback on what feels right in your world. Even if you don't wanna playtest, just trying different combinations yourself to get the feel right.

What you described reminds me of a game called Hentai Highschool+. Where there are roads/districts and locations on each road. I didn't mind it too much, but there definitely was a learning curve for memorizing which areas had which locations. That often times led me to navigating to the wrong place and backtracking. It wasn't too big of a deal for me, but some people may find it annoying.

Chloe18 vacation might be able to shed some light on this subject. There is an overworld, but it's not used nearly as much as Milfy City. The navigation is handled through an assortment of buttons on the bottom of the screen. I found this pretty easy to navigate and very quick. Each button had an image of the destination wrapped in it, to give you an idea of what it is. I'd highly recommend trying it out to see if you like it. It's similar to your idea of a list, but more graphically appealing.


It's cool that you're taking the time on this design decision to get it right. I respect that.

 

[215303j]

I prefer to use only the arrow keys, enter and spacebar (and H key obviously) while playing.
With a map, sometimes it is not possible to select a certain location with only the arrow keys, and forcing you to use a mouse.
This I find annoying, so I vote for list.