Games with notable maps

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Another cool maps of castles are the ones from Sir Fred and Phantomas 2 (Vampyre). Very well designed.

[PeteProdge]

I always liked the layouts of Saboteur and Saboteur 2. They make perfect sense, as if you were exploring real buildings!

Ah yes, getting to the underground trams was a really nice touch. As are all those murky tunnels with convenient spaces.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Erik Phantom of the Opera show an interesting map of the Paris Opera with the stage, backstage, stalls, box seats, stalls, ... graphically is not a good game but the whole map is very well designed.

[Morkin]

Another cool maps of castles are the ones from Sir Fred

I've always loved the map of Cauldron 2. Wonderfully designed. One of my faves. Not just a collection of screens to play.

http://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=Cauldron2

Definitely agree with both of those..! Games that really had you playing, wanting to explore and see the other screens.

[Nomad]

From a technical standpoint I was always amazed how they packed in so much data into 'the forest' Given that its a mix of basic and assembly. I figure a similar technique could be used to make a 'crapper no-mans sky'.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=1843

Granted its probably about as interesting as watching paint dry being a orienteering simulator for a 8 bit machine but back in the day I spent hours playing this Its one of the reasons I went into programming as an adult.

Saboteur like others said - whoever designed that map really thought it through. It was a great example of a logical map. That is one of my fav games. (and the sequel)

Maps I thought sucked.. while I like the game for nostalgic reason Mailstrom had a really repetitive map, it was so brutal if you made one mistake you screwed up the game. I can remember getting to day 6 and making a single mail drop mistake and having to go back to the very start. Saying that the graphics were very nice. I think with some more development time this could have been really good.

N.O.M.A.D had some good map design, but some of the physics used on the screens was a bit on the unfair side. But overall the game was solid. I always wanted to ask the creator how he wrote the game but I later found out he had passed away in the 90s.

Gift of the Gods had a nonsensical map, I could never figure out what was going on. But the graphics were good, Later I found out this was the tech that was going to be used in Bandersnatch and it makes you wonder if it would have had similar problems.

[Morkin]

Gift of the Gods had a nonsensical map, I could never figure out what was going on. But the graphics were good, Later I found out this was the tech that was going to be used in Bandersnatch and it makes you wonder if it would have had similar problems.

Gift from the Gods and Robin of the Wood both had the triple-whammy of illogical/wrap-around maps (GFTG including the added confusion of being able to walk into the screen through doorways), very similar screens and random teleportation. Enough to drive you mad...

[Nomad]

Gift from the Gods and Robin of the Wood both had the triple-whammy of illogical/wrap-around maps (GFTG including the added confusion of being able to walk into the screen through doorways), very similar screens and random teleportation. Enough to drive you mad...

Yes you are right I had forgotten about Robin of the wood. ah memories. I don't think its controversial to say Robin of the wood was a better game

When I first started playing Tir Na Nog and later Dun Darach I found finding my way round a bit confusing but that was a time when a fella would think nothing of mapping out stuff with paper and pencil lol one rainy Friday afternoon later I had a workable map. I think that is one of the issues that will come up more and more as people find these games for the first time. The mindset is different, nobody has time any-more or the patients to sit down and do stuff like that. The games were written under the assumption that the player would invest that kinda time into them.

We had a family friend who had compiled what was an unofficial walk through for castle master lol she had laid out the whole game, monsters, puzzles all on graph paper and the solutions in a little note book. It took her weeks. I can remember at the time thinking 'wow she really was into the game' but now I would probably consider the person a mental case.

[Morkin]

When I first started playing Tir Na Nog and later Dun Darach I found finding my way round a bit confusing but that was a time when a fella would think nothing of mapping out stuff with paper and pencil lol one rainy Friday afternoon later I had a workable map. I think that is one of the issues that will come up more and more as people find these games for the first time. The mindset is different, nobody has time any-more or the patients to sit down and do stuff like that. The games were written under the assumption that the player would invest that kinda time into them.

We had a family friend who had compiled what was an unofficial walk through for castle master lol she had laid out the whole game, monsters, puzzles all on graph paper and the solutions in a little note book. It took her weeks. I can remember at the time thinking 'wow she really was into the game' but now I would probably consider the person a mental case.

...At least with GFTG you had the tears you could drop to track your route back, but I think even them they could get (re)moved by Clytemnestra...

Yeah, there are a few games that I reckon I could potentially complete without POKEs/snapshots if I had a decent map - the trouble is, I've got a thing where I don't really like using maps I haven't made myself, feel like I'm cheating somehow (but that's just me). It's not cheating, just that I don't get the same satisfaction from finishing something.

I remember painstakingly mapping Bard's Tale on the Amiga - it was fiddly (especially when you got teleported/spun round) but ultimately quite satisfying, especially the bit where (minor spoiler) you have to look at a bit of your map to find a clue how to proceed to the next section.

I've been meaning to spend some time trying this again, maybe picking a game and mapping it through to completeness. But I guess nowadays you're right, it's about having time to do it...