Has anyone mapped this out? or do I need to get out my graph paper?

There are community maps, don't use them, it's more interesting exploring than being told where to go. I hope we never get a minimal.
 

Bullethead

Member
Has anyone mapped this out? or do I need to get out my graph paper?
There are some maps on the Steam guides page, which show the floorplans but are a but uncertain to read because they were all styled like hand-drawn things on ancient parchment, and don't show all the doors and such. Still, they're the most complete maps currently available.

There were some maps here that were all neatly done on a graphpaper-like grid and showed the locations of doors, chests, important items lying around, etc. However, they haven't been updated since before all the traps got added to the 1st level.

When the next update comes out, it will supposedly add some levels after #3. Obviously, no public maps of those levels yet exist.
 
I'm much worse at the patrol routes mapping. Grid Cartographer has it's limits, which make it a bit hard to map stuff like that:
  • only 1 "thing" per tile - i.e. if you put a weapon icon, you can't put in an armor icon there.
  • limited amount of layers, and no free-form layers
  • no brushes for path
  • no way of attaching path/area of activity to one monster
It's a great application to make maps, but it's not perfect. Almost makes me want to write something that would be better ;)
 
I'm much worse at the patrol routes mapping. Grid Cartographer has it's limits, which make it a bit hard to map stuff like that:
  • only 1 "thing" per tile - i.e. if you put a weapon icon, you can't put in an armor icon there.
  • limited amount of layers, and no free-form layers
  • no brushes for path
  • no way of attaching path/area of activity to one monster
It's a great application to make maps, but it's not perfect. Almost makes me want to write something that would be better ;)
Hmm... IMHO There shouldn't be "armor/weapon/key/artefact" icons anyway: just "minor loot", "major loot", "unique loot" and some explanations to the specific icons/places with their coordinates in map's legend.

Enemies... well, usually I'm making distinction between "green zones" and "red zones" on maps with an indication of the enemy's strength in it.
 

Bullethead

Member
I'm much worse at the patrol routes mapping. Grid Cartographer has it's limits, which make it a bit hard to map stuff like that....
The easiet way I've found to mark patrol routes is to put some distinctive color on the square tiles of the route. The background color of the tile doesn't affect the color of walls and icons in that tile.

Another option (which I haven't tried) might be to use the walls that are centered in the tiles to draw arrows indicating the route. Again, place these walls as some color other than that used for the real dungeon walls.

I'm not doing either of these, however, having resevered the tile color for other purposes. So I use a specific icon for wandering monsters.

Hmm... IMHO There shouldn't be "armor/weapon/key/artefact" icons anyway: just "minor loot", "major loot", "unique loot" and some explanations to the specific icons/places with their coordinates in map's legend.
My tastes differ. I've got all these icons in there so might as well use them. And creative choices of icon colors can convey a lot of info without needing huge explanations in the legend. For example, below is my WIP for level 1. I could get even fancier, for example using colors to distinguish between 1H and 2H weapons, but for the time being this is where I am.

BH Level 1 WIP.png
 
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Greenbrog

Insider
It feels, out of the spirit of the game, to map it out. If there was some mechanic, in game, to have your character make a map as they went that would be cool, and I truly understand the game isn't done. But it's not like the game is overly long at the moment, why map it out? Maybe I'm just lucky enough to memorize things quickly, but the time used making a map, is time spent on the game not playing it. Please, put spoilers on maps. Why take the experience away from other people? Nice map though, looks good, if this was a table top game.
 
@Bullethead, I like your map! Spoiler it though...

@Greenbrog, making your own map is, to many people, playing the game. You had to make your own in olden days of Wizardry. It added this nice feeling of being a pioneer and noting down your achievements for posterity. You don't have to use mapping software for making your maps, if that's too distracting. Pen and paper still work great. I personally would like to have a nice touch interface so I can map stuff using my tablet. Unfortunately GC UI on tablets is really bad.

Besides liking to do maps, some people just have to do it. I don't get much playtime during the week, so sometimes I play in really short sessions that are not enough to properly memorize the level. Having a map, especially one I made, helps me jump to the game after couple days of not playing.
 

Bullethead

Member
@Yaar Podshipnik :
I am in full agreement with you on the desirability of maps, at least to those of certain tastes. I grew up playing the original D&D from the 3 small paperback books so drawing a map an old habit. As to marking down my achievements for posterity, there's a reason my map has only just barely beyond the main locked doors on level 1. I've never gotten any further than that. Which I find highly frustrating, but that's a subject for another thread.

I play the game full-screen so make a rough paper map as I go. I've only in the last day or 2 used GC to make a neater version. I also don't own a printer so until I send my GC map to my work email and print it there, the hand-drawn version is what I play with.

Like you, I don't get to play very often due to real life. After many hours repeating the 1st part of level 1 countless times (so I can get that damn key to proceed further), I have that area FAIRLY well memorized but still find it handy to refresh my brain with a glance at the map now and then.
 
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