Um, I messed up! I meant to move the topic regarding the interface and Cartography skill to the "General Game Chat" forum...which I thought I did...but it appears I deleted the topic instead. Mark that one up on my rookie phpBB2 skillz.
Please, if anyone has any comments regarding the interface or the Cartography skill, feel free to start a new post. Very sorry!
I like the idea of the map being "fuzzy" until you learn the skill, in some RPG's it's hard to see what an increase in a stat category gives you. This way you actually know. I would also like to see other tangible results, it would be cool to see your chracter get bigger muscles as your strength increased. Maybe an increased IQ would give your chracter an upgraded vocabulary as he talks to others. Small impacts like that really go a long way in selling the increase, or decrease for that matter!!
Shouldn't this be at General Game chat???(At Eschalon: Book I)
Here is a place for general chat but that place is specialy for this game
I'm shure the topic can be moved(I have a forum my own)
Okay, so it's not so hard after all to move a topic to a different forum when you're refreshed from 8 hours of sleep...however, trying to do it for the first time after 15 straight hours of work- now that's a different story.
Yeah I know the feeling...
last night I was working for about 11-12 hours on graphics for the game I'm working and then a friind of mine asked me to help him to learn BlitzMax... Nah anyway I lot him to read a tutorial(he is a total n00b)
Btw I think I got offtopic srry
Why not steal the M&M system?
"untrained" - general geography only
"wizard eye" - additional info based on caster skill
-critters
-treasures
-"interactives" (fountains, secret doors, switches, etc)
I think it would be interesting to see your map get filled in with more pertinent details as one's Cartography skill increases. Start with a basic, rough map, and as the skill rises, more details are filled in. Starting with major roadways, landmarks and geographical features, then displaying more side roads, buildings, settlements, and progress into short cuts, hidden caves, and so on as the skill improves. Essentially increasing detail on the map. And the map would of course start with a small area and get larger, with the details starting locally and filling in on an outward expansion. So an amateur could map his locality, but it would take a professional Cartographer to accurately map far-away places.
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning. And the sea's asleep and the rivers dream … People made of smoke and cities made of song … Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold!
Since the old post got lost, I just wanted to express my support for the idea again. In fact, why not make some cartography quests: charting unknown territory for a local ruler, mapping enemy encampments, trade routes, etc. Exploration is a big deal for me in RPG's and a well developed cartography skill and gameplay that makes use of it could go a long way.
I also want to tell everyone that we are writing down all your suggestions and archiving them for future reference. We won't be able to get all these great suggestions into Book I, but with Book II and III in the pre-dev stage it is a great time to be adding to the feature lists of those games.
Attaching quests to the skill as GhanBuriGhan points out is practically a "must do", I would say. Doing so would go a long way to making one's Cartography-skilled character more than just a map-maker for his own interest, but actually develop the character into something more. A spy, a scout, a merchant, and so forth.
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning. And the sea's asleep and the rivers dream … People made of smoke and cities made of song … Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold!
Gallifrey wrote:I think it would be interesting to see your map get filled in with more pertinent details as one's Cartography skill increases. Start with a basic, rough map, and as the skill rises, more details are filled in. Starting with major roadways, landmarks and geographical features, then displaying more side roads, buildings, settlements, and progress into short cuts, hidden caves, and so on as the skill improves. Essentially increasing detail on the map. And the map would of course start with a small area and get larger, with the details starting locally and filling in on an outward expansion. So an amateur could map his locality, but it would take a professional Cartographer to accurately map far-away places.
This idea is so cool:). Has any game got something like this? I have never heard such thing.. Combined with GhanBuriGhan quests it would be so cool:). Hopefully we'll see this in one of the books.
For the most part I support the cartography skill idea.
I'd like to see the "automap" and the cartography skill as separate, well for the most part.
First the automap. The automap should always be accurate, concise and should note anything of interest that I, the player, can see. I think one of the things that kills the idea of a mapping skill is when you find yourself playing and thinking "where's the pencil" so you can note something that is obvious to you the player. It is an exercise in frustration not being able to make that little X for the big chest you can't open yet just because of a skill point. Let the computer take care of all the fiddly bits for me, that what they do best.
The cartography skill. I could see being able to make maps, say with paper, and have them in your inventory. You could sell them and make some $ easy. Also you could read maps, maybe adding to your automap areas you've never been. Or reading a map may unlock areas or quests that cannot be accessed. Say if the game has a portal system, you can get to the other end of a portal without going there via the correct map. Or maybe that you gain some movement bonus because you know the terrain. Or heck even just being able to see a map say for a large and otherwise pointless maze. Maybe those quest arrows that games have now, that I could see being a skill related automap feature. That makes sense because you wouldn't necessarily know that anyway. Maybe the automap goes gray at night unless you have the skill (and a torch!)
Anyway I like it. Just with the caveat that it never leave me taking notes for something - if I know it then the automap should know it.
Lots of good ideas, but many of them would be nearly impossible to code. Better to spend time coding game elements than perfecting a "side-issue" like the automap, even if the automap is a critical side-issue (if you'll pardon the oxymoron).
Use the cartography skill to have a couple graduations of additional information added to the automap. Quests that yield a skill point or two in cartography would be a nice addition. Simple and quick.
I meant to move the topic regarding the interface and Cartography skill to the "General Game Chat" forum...which I thought I did...but it appears I deleted the topic instead. 
Mark that one up on my rookie phpBB2 skillz.
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