To Map, or Not To Map....?

                       by Bev Truter

People who play computer games tend to fall naturally into two
convenient categories - those who compulsively make maps of every
game they play, and those who believe that making maps is a
ridiculous activity, a pastime fit only for wimps with feeble
memories. There are also the in-betweeners, those people with a
foot in each camp, who surreptitiously make tatty little maps for
large and difficult games, but who would die rather than admit to
mapping anything fairly small and mundane. I definitely fall into
the first category (obsessive mapmaking), and this article will try
to show the pitfalls to avoid, as well as the fun to be had in
making maps for a computer game.

I'm one of those people who doggedly make maps for every single
text game they play, even for games with a teensy number of
locations - YES, I admit it, I even made a map for the AGT game
"Mop and Murder", which has only one location......had to create
some space for all those scribblings and bits of info about tables,
filing cabinets, desks, etc., so why not a one-location map?
However, to be serious for a moment, I think mapping fulfils more
than just a need to prevent yourself from getting hopelessly lost
in a game by representing the gameworld visually, easily read at a
glance... well, read at several glances, depending on the
untidiness of your maps. Perhaps the need to draw maps of our
gameworld appeals to some hidden artistic longings; or possibly
it's merely a determination to take control of our gameworld by
displaying all we know of it graphically, hoping desperately that
doing so might make it easier to solve the particular game we're
stuck in.......

But personally I just map games because I like doing it, stuff the
reasons. So, if you are one of those people who never bother to
make maps of any game you're playing, you're missing out on one of
the joys of computer adventuring; although from what I've read of
mapping large graphical adventures you might be missing out on
heaps of frustration too. So without further ado, here's

                    A GUIDE TO MAPMAKING

(Footnotes are in brackets like this [ ], see end of article).

1) COLLECTING THE EQUIPMENT

Graph paper is NOT recommended - plain white A4 paper is far more
suitable for mapping text adventures. You will also need a
collection of ordinary pencils, the softer ones (HB) are easier to
erase when you make a mistake, but tend to make your writing thick
and blurry; besides, they need to be sharpened more frequently. A
pencil that's too hard will leave deep grooves in your paper that
are impossible to eradicate, so choose your pencil with great care
- it is the main tool of the budding mapmaker! You will also need a
decent pencil-sharpener, some coloured pencils and blue, red and
black ball-point pens - felt-tipped pens work well on some paper,
but smudge horribly on more absorbent paper.

If you intend progressing to the ADVANCED MAPPING section you will
also need fluoro pens in 3 different colours - the kind that
highlight your writing without obliterating it. A ruler is optional
- it's easier to draw rectangular blocks freehand, but if you're a
neatness freak then you'd probably be happier using a ruler to make
your blocks (locations). Oh, and last but essential - a large, soft
eraser for getting rid of all those locations you drew going "down"
from your current location, and then discovered there were about 20
locations going "south" as well, which mingled happily with your
"down" locations.

2) SELECTING A SUITABLE SURFACE

It's very difficult to draw any maps if you're sitting hunched in
front of a computer with little surrounding space. So while you're
playing a game, I'd recommend that you draw only a rough pencil map
with locations, objects found, enemies encountered, problems - eg
locked doors, marked on it. Later on, when you've finished your
latest session on the game, clear a large space - a dining table is
excellent; and settle down to translate all those rough symbols and
blocks and hieroglyphs into a large and fairly accurate map of the
game world and your progress through it so far. Make sure all the
equipment you need is arranged in a semi-circle around your
position at the table - it's maddening to have to lurch across the
room to retrieve a forgotten item every few minutes.

3) BASIC MAPPING - for beginners and the not-too-fussy.

Grab a piece of paper - lined, unlined, white, yellow - anything
will do. Draw a rectangular block (about 2cm wide X 1cm high) in
pencil to represent each location in the game, and write on it,
still in pencil, the name of the location. Add any objects you
found in blue ballpoint to the matching block on your map, and
represent any locked doors by a pencil bar on the appropriate
"wall" on the block. NPCs, monsters, opponents, enemies or
creatures can be represented by name in red ballpoint, to
distinguish them from objects and location descriptions. Connect
each block to other blocks with a single pencil line, representing
direction of travel between the locations.

Bridges can be represented by two parallel curved lines, steps and
ladders by a rough sketch of steps or a ladder going up or down.
Chasms, rifts, pits or other such hindrances to progress can be
shown by 2 parallel jagged lines, and it's easiest to draw "up" and
"down" locations either northish or southish of your current
location, using a dotted pencil line (with arrows indicating
direction of travel from each up or down block) to join the two
blocks. "Exit" and "enter" can be drawn in a similar fashion, using
dotted lines with ENTER and EXIT printed alongside. Lakes and pools
are easily represented by blue blobs of colour, holes and trapdoors
by black circles. If the game mentions that you cannot travel in a
particular direction - eg. you can't go north because a range of
mountains blocks movement there, then mark the obstacle on your map
as a row of crosses (xxxxx) permanently preventing normal movement
in that direction.

Your basic map need not be re-drawn if the game you are playing is
fairly small, and you have managed to draw it quite neatly and
accurately the first time around. But if your map looks....er....a
mess, to be brutally frank, then it probably won't be of much use,
and you might as well tear it up and carry on mapless. The larger
the game (i.e. number of locations it contains), the more useful
you will find your map, and the more necessary it will become to
progress a bit beyond the bare-bones mapping technique.

4) STANDARD MAPPING - for the slightly-more-fussy.

Only start mapping your current game after you have seen about 10
locations - this way you'll have an idea of where to start with the
first location. It's obviously a bit silly starting slap in the
middle of a pristine sheet of paper, only to discover that no
locations run south - in this case you might as well start your map
near the bottom edge of the paper. Make up your mind before you
start mapping whether you are a) an ultra-neat person with
incredibly tiny writing, or b) a bit of a slob who needs more space
and larger locations. If you are an A-type, you will be able to
squeeze in about 80-120 locations per sheet of A4 paper; if you are
a B-type, then make that 20-60 locations per sheet.

Begin by doing a rough map entirely in pencil of your game world as
you play, using a separate sheet of paper to scribble any notes,
numbers, formulae, code, magic words, etc. It's easiest to use a
large hardcover book or clipboard, propped against the computer or
dumped in your lap to hold the current sheet of paper you are
working on. The same method for mapping applies as in "Basic
Mapping" above, but you should take the time to re-draw your
"working" pencil map at the end of each computer session, sticking
to pencil for the location blocks and their descriptions and
connecting lines, but using different coloured ballpoints for
certain features, as described in the section above. Another handy
addition, which makes reading your map at a glance much more
likely, is to highlight any treasures or valuable/important items
in green fluoro, and any obstacles or enemies that hinder your
progress in orange fluoro pen.  The larger your game, the more
useful you'll find a standard map, and if you are playing a truly
enormous game, say 200+ locations, you might want to invest the
time and effort necessary to produce an "Advanced" map.

5) ADVANCED MAPPING - for the fussy/neat/efficient.

This uses the same techniques and ideas as in the above sections,
but because the world you are mapping with this method is probably
a lot larger it would be helpful to add more detail to some
location blocks. So, begin by using a slightly larger block size to
represent locations that contain a lot of objects, information or
important details - about 3cm wide by 2cm high should be ample.
Details such as a magic word, a combination number, telephone
number, address or short code can then be printed in the block
itself, instead of a separate sheet of paper. Using this method of
mapping you could probably fit about 50 locations on a page, so for
a large game you might have to use 3, 4, or even 6 sheets of paper.
If the game is large, you'll probably find many obstacles to your
progress and more enemies to overcome, so to distinguish between
the two highlight enemies in pink fluoro and inanimate obstacles in
orange fluoro.

You might also want to add more detail to your location blocks by
representing some features as a small drawing in colour pencils -
eg, a waterfall, a climbable tree, a magic mirror, a fountain, a
shark can all be drawn quite easily, even by the most artistically
talentless. But hang on a minute, this looks like heading towards

my next category of mapping, so I'll end this section with a
reminder of THE Golden Rule of mapmaking:-

NEVER try to squeeze extra location blocks into odd corners on a
nearly-full piece of paper, even if you add asterisks and other
strange symbols in an attempt to remember where it should really be
attached - a few days later you'll have forgotten what all those
funny squiggles mean, and you'll continually get lost when trying
to track your movements on the map. The same goes for running out
of space on the edges of your paper - rather than drawing
progressively skinnier and skinnier blocks if your locations seem
determined to head west and fall off the edge of the page, grab a
fresh page and continue in a westerly direction with normal-sized
blocks.

Don't try to pin or staple the separate pages of your map together,
you'll only end up ripping them apart again when next you play the
game. And trying to match all the edges and sticky-tape them into
one enormous map is doomed from the start.  Through trial and error
I found the easiest way to store maps and read them was to put each
page into a separate clear pocket of a display or ring folder.  And
now, the last and final section, which is....

6) DELUXE MAPPING - for the artistic, insane or neurotic.

Playing a gigantic adventure and STILL want more detail? Not quite
satisfied with all those little graphics of waterfalls and lakes
and pools? Want more defined `edges' to your world on paper? Want
to astound your friends and amaze your family with incredibly
wonderful maps? Then read on..... If you are really determined to
turn the humble functional adventure map into a work of art, then
here are some extra touches you might want to try out. Work out
exactly where streams, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, etc. are flowing
from and to, and draw them in between, over, under and around your
blocks in the appropriate place - eg, if you are standing in a
location "on a sunny bank north of a babbling brook" you could draw
a stream to the south of that block in various shades of blue,
depending on your mood and the size of your coloured pencil
collection.

Other pleasant touches are to fill in `forest' locations with trees
(green blobs with brown trunks) [1], `desert' locations with sand
(yellow), perhaps with a date-palm or two for additional impact....
and any boggy or marshy areas with ripples of brown or black mud -
go on, let your imagination loose! You could also draw some of the
game features mentioned in your location blocks, eg fountains, a
fish tank, a boat, a dragon, a bridge, a tower....  whatever you
come across in the game that grabs your fancy.

On a slightly less artistic but more practical note, you could draw
mountains, a cliff, a brick wall - whatever feature it is that
finally blocks progress in any particular direction, and have a map
surrounded by definite features at all edges of the game world.
Mazes are fun to outline - green for hedge mazes, brown for a maze
with walls. But the cherry on the cake, so to speak, is an island.
This can be ringed by sea (blue) and fringed with trees (green) or
sand (yellow) [2]. Distant mountains can be drawn as jagged brown
peaks rearing up from your page, and if you're lucky enough to have
any locations in the sky you could add the odd fluffy cloud or two.
You're luckier still if there's a volcano in your game, the mind


positively quivers with excitement at the range of possibilities
there..........[3]

If you are justifiably proud of your little creation, remember that
it might prove an irresistible temptation for various family
members; some of them could tamper with your maps with disastrous
results, eg - "HOW did I get into that Locked Cell down in the SW
corner of page 2???......Funny, I don't remember a Dragon guarding
the blue crystal in the cupboard...come to think of it, I don't
remember a blue crystal either, or a cupboard.......".

Well, I don't know if anyone out there is still reading this, but
I've enjoyed writing it, and feel I should mention at this point
that what prompted me to put digits to keyboard was a remark from
someone recently who'd read my review of Crypt, and asked in a
letter if I really went to all that trouble of colouring in
mountains and rivers.........well, yes Jean, sometimes I do.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] I have a friend who distinguishes on her maps between different
types of forests, if there's more than one area of forest in a
large game. She draws thin, pointy dark green `trees' for pine
forests, and rounded medium-green trees for oak or any other type
of forest. She also adds round pale green blobs for areas with
bushes (!) This is what true dedication is all about.

[2] Or all 3 colours in concentric circles, denoting the exciting
possibility of an island fringed with a beach AND trees.

[3] Smoke pouring from the conical peak of an ominous black
mountain! Red and orange eruptions from a crater! Rivers of bright
red lava cooling to grey mud!

@~As an avid map-maker for RPGs, I love the idea of illustrating
@~maps, though I've never actually gone that far ... Sue

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