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Maps in adventure games
What is your taste in maps (or minimaps if you will) in the adventure games? How do you prefer to travel from one location to another? Relocation via maps is a faster way I guess. But traveling in let’s say Grim Fandango without a map isn’t bad at all, is it? Could you imagine playing Gabriel Knight 1 without a map travelling? 
Do you like when new places pops up on the map or do you prefer to see all the places visible right from the beginning? Just let’s talk about maps in adventure games; what do you like about them, what don’t you like about them, and why?
The Monkey Island maps are nice, can be a bit time consuming to travel around on them though.
Think it depends on the game if all locations should be visible or not from the beginning. I like games where stuff pop up after hand. Makes it more exciting to see new things appear and makes you feel you’ve achieved something when that happens.
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Maps have a grand tradition in adventure gaming starting with the terrible maps I used to sketch on graph paper when playing the old text adventure games.
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I’m not sure i really have a taste in maps.
I guess it all depends on the game.
For example it never bothered me that there isn’t any maps in Grim Fandango, the only area big enough to have benefited from a map is Rubacava, but even that isn’t bigger then you will quickly learn to find your way around.
On the other hand if you have a game that takes place in a larger city, like most “realistic” games that takes place in modern times, then you absolutely need a map to provide you with a fast travel option.
If there is some very large locations, then a map can be really helpful to avoid getting lost. And if you need to revisit the same rooms or places many times, then a fast travel option can be really helpful. On the other hand then i’m currently playing Keepsake where you are exploring a huge school, with only a passive map and no fast travel option, but the lack of fast travel doesn’t really bother me at all in this game.
There are however two things i can say that i prefer:
That locations only appear on the map when you either discover them, or you get some information telling you you need to go there.
If there is a fast travel option, then you should be able to use if from anywhere, and not just when you get to the exit.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
On the other hand then i’m currently playing Keepsake where you are exploring a huge school, with only a passive map and no fast travel option, but the lack of fast travel doesn’t really bother me at all in this game.
Well it did for me! The Keepsake map was terrible. I must have got lost 30 times during the game and still don’t know how I found my way to where I wanted to go. Maybe that was the point, after all it WAS a school of magic.
I like your map, Lucien!
I have a pretty good sense of direction and don’t mind drawing my own maps, if necessary. If the game does have a map, then I agree with Iznogood about it growing only as you discover new areas.
I liked having a map in The Messenger, because I was always going back to one of the storage trunks for something I forgot to take with me to a new location. I also played an old 3D Mac-only adventure game called Nightfall where every new area appeared in real time on the map. I found myself in a stream at one point and could switch to the map to watch it form. My goal after playing it through once was to go back and explore every nook and cranny so it would appear on my map before I entered the next level. Finding the secret areas was fun.
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What is your taste in maps (or minimaps if you will) in the adventure games?
The more the merrier. Some good games don’t have a map, but that’s not to say having a map would’ve somehow damaged them.
In general, the time it takes to move on-screen or between locations is by definition padding. It may be realistic padding, but it’s still padding: adds no enjoyment while increasing play time. So, maps are always good.
Do you like when new places pops up on the map or do you prefer to see all the places visible right from the beginning?
Depends on the game. In general there’s a more exploration-y feel if locations appear on the map only after being found out. If that suits the game, then that’s the style that makes sense.
You can still have a map with everything marked on it and explore, like in Monkey Island, where some locations have barely descriptive titles until you go there and find out what’s there. So, it’s not a strict prerequisite.
I personally prefer the style where locations appear after hearing about them (like Sam & Max, Broken Sword, many others). However, such style lends itself to more linearity, so I could see the case for the “everything is open from the get-go” style.
A lot of adventure games use maps solely for cosmetic purposes. Node-based maps as seen in Broken Sword and The Longest Journey are more menus than maps, but I guess the map look provides a bit more context than a boring list of locales.
I can’t think of an adventure game I’ve played where using a map was integral to the experience, although I know it was a big part of Miasmata (and text adventures, obviously). I’m not big on first-person slideshow adventures, but I imagine maps would be more useful in those games than in third-person adventures.
Personally, I love maps. I bought the Lands of Ice and Fire map book recently 
Maps are probably something that’s under-utilised in the genre, but it’s hard to make them fun, I guess.
I can’t think of an adventure game I’ve played where using a map was integral to the experience
Resonance is a recent game that made good use of the map.
I’m not big on first-person slideshow adventures, but I imagine maps would be more useful in those games than in third-person adventures.
They are, but in a different way. It would be almost impossible to finish some of those games without having a clear picture of the layout of the land, in your head or on paper. Especially the RHEM games and many of the Myst ages as well.
Maps for travelling are also wonderful and I still think the Melee and Monkey Island overhead maps were the greatest thing ever for their atmosphere and function. They still left enough room for discovery while helping you get around and adding a sense of scale. They didn’t present you with a bunch of locations, you had to explore and find them yourself. A lot of games forget to do that.
Resonance is a recent game that made good use of the map.
Cool. Something about the first scene in that game really annoyed me so I turned it off (you had to find a spare phone battery, which was in a locked drawer or something? Firstly, who has a spare phone battery lying around? Secondly, who locks the drawers in their apartment?) Guess I wasn’t very patient that day 
Maps for travelling are also wonderful and I still think the Melee and Monkey Island overhead maps were the greatest thing ever for their atmosphere and function. They still left enough room for discovery while helping you get around and adding a sense of scale. They didn’t present you with a bunch of locations, you had to explore and find them yourself. A lot of games forget to do that.
Yeah, I’m all for maps that need to be explored to uncover new areas.
I just had a horrible flashback of the railway map mini game in Mata Hari 
On the other hand then i’m currently playing Keepsake where you are exploring a huge school, with only a passive map and no fast travel option, but the lack of fast travel doesn’t really bother me at all in this game.
Well it did for me! The Keepsake map was terrible. I must have got lost 30 times during the game and still don’t know how I found my way to where I wanted to go. Maybe that was the point, after all it WAS a school of magic.
Finding your way around the school is certainly a part of the challenge in this game, and the map is close to useless in this respect, it basically only tells you in what part of the school you are, but not how to get from a to b. A more detailed map would have helped, but with the layout of the school it would have been an almost impossible task to create a map, that actually showed you how to get to places. Also the game wasn’t originally designed with a map, it was added later, in the European version it was added as a patch.
Personally I think a fast travel option, would have detracted from the experience in this particular game, which brings me back to my overall point. A map and/or a fast travel option isn’t just a completely isolated feature from the rest of the game, it should be an integrated part of the whole game design, and how the map should work depends entirely on how the rest of the game works.
If for example they in Keepsake wanted to make a map that actually showed you how to get from place a to b (apart from adding a fast travel option), then I believe they would have had to change no less then the whole layout of the school, so it wasn’t so much of a multi level maze.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
IIRC the Keepsake map was added after the game was released as there were many complaints about the walking around/getting lost when first played. They really should have supplied a map (only when you get from A/B etc. showing) for the upper floors of the school. I had to create my own map and it wasn’t the easiest thing to do as you’ll find out. There is also a place that is bloody difficult to find, even after you know where it is. Apart from that a good game.
As to maps generally, I like them. I agree with those that only want places to appear once you’ve found/accessed them for the first time. The Tex Murphy maps being a good example - plus they allowed fast travel as well.
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It really depends on the game, but I prefer having maps in games (as well as other fast-travel options).
When there are no maps and a decent number of screens to go through, then I like it when there are “shortcuts” present so that you never have to cross more than four-five screens to get to any other location (like the elevator in Rubacava in Grim Fandango, or the two semi-hidden shortcuts in Castle Warg in A Vampyre Story, or the light bridges in The Dig).
If there are maps, then it’s VERY game-dependant.
The map system in Miasmata, where you have to build the map yourself based on visible landmarks that you’ve visited, is a great feature, but not one that would work in just about any game.
Personally, if a game is open (and you can visit the entire world from the get-go), then I prefer a Bethesda-style map where locations that you visit get added (and named) on the map and allow you to fast-travel there from anywhere else. Places you haven’t yet discovered need to be found first (no fast-travel yet).
And if it’s not an open-world game, then I prefer it if new locations you can visit get added sporadically, especially if you suddenly develop a reason for going there. Having that location “pop up” on the map at that point feels like the game rewards you for your progress, something that’s often needed in adventure games. Discworld Noir handled this really well, for instance.
Otherwise, I like the LucasArts map system, where undiscovered locations are indicated on the map with a question mark (until you visit them at which point they’re given a better description). The Atlantis circle in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, or the Monkey Island maps are great examples of this.
But like I said, a lot of this depends on the type of game it is…
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They really have never made much of an impression of me. I hardly even remember them. SO I would say they are used sparingly and when used, used pretty well. I have played most of these games and still only remember a slight impression of the map in Keepsake alone. I think I remember it being slightly useful in getting a general direction down. And exploring keepsake and many others would of been ruined by better maps like iznogood says.
I do really love maps in fantasy adventure novels though. They are far more important in the world-building continent spanning adventures you get there. They are a main point I look at before deciding on a new novel.
I would also agree with TimovieMan. It all depends on the game. One great example, and the most memorable map, is Yoomurjak’s Ring. Graphically it is no different from Broken Sword’s. But the game makes it so much more unique. The game is based in a real city, and brought to life with 360 cameras, at location. So the map updates as you explore, a little, updates as you progress a little, but mostly it is a perfectly accurate map of the center of a very real city. The city would be a insurmountable maze without it. Amazing game.
Hand-drawing adventure game maps is more pleasurable to me than sex.
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