I constructed a rough plot that would move the player between these areas over the course of the game.Īt that point, I had this preliminary world map, whose choices are based in an okay level of intuition and reasoning. These continents would have the main areas of the game, such as a beach, or the city. Then I made a few continents to go in that shape. These sort of things form a nice context to have when deciding on continents/climates/’world lore’ etc. that is, not the size of the entire world or whatever, but if the world is a globe, or a flat plane, or whatever. After thinking of enough initial area and gameplay ideas to the point I felt comfortable, one of the first initial leaps I made was picking the ‘abstract world shape’. We thought of initial game mechanics, a main player character, we made up rough plots, picked world designs. The beginning was, of course, filled with a lot of rough and eventually scrapped ideas.

The beginning of development (March-July 2013), October 2015, and “everything in between”. The design of the world map’s size took place in about three distinct periods of time. This involves talking about the world design and a lot of development history and it skims over stuff… but that’s okay. So I’m going to talk about how we picked how many things would be in the world map. It makes more sense to me to at least roughly decide on the locations of the game before figuring out initial shape and size of a world map. saying the game will have two islands before having any narrative or gameplay basis in why that’s a good choice. I’m skeptical of it because it implies that what’s essentially a container for the main meat of your game is taking precedence over the meat… e.g. I’m not sure how effective this method is. It’s possible to think the reverse, that is, picking the world map’s size first, and filling it in. The world map needs a certain size, but before we can pick the world map’s size, we need to know how many things will be on it. This is to lend weight to the main player character, Aliph’s trips to and from the city, to use reaching a new area as the introduction to the beginning of each ‘arc’ of the story. Should convey a sense of great distances being travelled, while in reality a trip from area to area on the world map may only take 30 to 60 seconds. Should not be too small as to make the world feel insignificant, or make walking feel like a triviality. Should not be too big so as to make travelling a chore The landmarks of the world map are things like mountains and rivers, or certain formations of forests, etc. Think ‘paper map’ instead of Google maps. The rough, in-game minimap is somewhat like a treasure map - it shows the main destinations of the world map, but does not have detailed geography or a current location marker. The world map should be navigable via the use of an rough, in-game minimap, and the landmarks on the world map itself. (Note: the world map image has debug art tiles) In this picture, going to the left side of the left image exits you into the world map on the right. When you leave one of the 2D-platformer perspective areas, you walk across the overhead-perspective world map to reach another area and enter it, similar to Final Fantasy games or Dragon Quest.įor example, to get from the introductory area to the main city area, you leave the introductory area, and walk south through red forests until you reach the city. INTROĮven the Ocean has a world map, and it’s used to go from destination to destination. In early 2013, we released a game called Anodyne. And sign up for a trailer preview if you’re in the press, YouTube, or Twitch. Follow the game on Twitter, too! (or Facebook ). If you’re unfamiliar with the gameplay of Even the Ocean, visit our website and be sure to join the mailing list. Learn about how the large, story-driven platforming adventure game, Even the Ocean, had its world map designed. *Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links.Even the Ocean: Designing a game’s world map Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the Worldįorum to Find Artists, Designers, and Illustrators Paid to Play: The Business of Game Design Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games Kickstarter Advice from the Best in the WorldĮurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games Game Design Advice from the Best in the World Here you’ll find lots of different tools, sites, and resources that will help you make better games, design better prototypes, and become a better designer.

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