New world room map

Sarapis

We're looking to get a new updated world map, at the room level, like the now out-dated one Shazara did.  http://www.achaea.com/map/full-world-map-of-achaea

At minimum we want something that looks at least as good as this, but the trick is we want something that's in one giant file, like this one is. But we want to get Meropis and everything else that's come in since Shazara did her map in the same giant graphic.

Anyone out there really good at mapping, or know someone who is? 

Batang

IIRC Lynara was fairly decent at mapping the ocean, and I still use the Asara maps.  Not to mention Delphinus has been EVERYWHERE. 

Daklore

Can't we just tell them to get mudlet and use the crowdmap? No but seriously, I've done something similiar to that... and never again. All the cutting, the copying, the pasting... the "my computer sucks and would crash halfway through lining up a new section of map."

Delphinus

I'm sort of considering it, but I'd have to figure out the connections, the map key, and so forth. There are also a lot of... oddly laid-out areas that I haven't bothered with. Here are some samples of new areas I've mapped, though.




















At the moment, I'm actually doing an Achaean map project of a different sort. It should be finished soon.

Nizaris

I hate to take this out of the hands of players, but surely something like this could be scripted to be produced at a regular interval by a computer. Each of the rooms already have a set of coordinates, as well as a list of the rooms that are connected and by which exits. The rooms also have hard-coded environment "types" (forest, desert, urban, etc) that could be used to color code the map. But something like this would enable you to automatically update the full-world map over-and-over with minimal effort when changes are made.

I was recently playing with PyQt and QGraphicsView() doing something quite similar to test an A* pathfinding algorithm for an autowalker that I was working on. I ended up using Achaea as an inspiration for my simulations, and used QGraphicsView() to randomly produce maps that look a lot like those that people draw for Achaea. All one needs is the coordinates for the rooms, and the exits for where they lead.

But, you can browse the QGraphicsView C++ api here:

http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.7-snapshot/qgraphicsview.html

You would probably also want to look at the QGraphicsScene() class as well.

I'm sure that other languages probably have something similar (they would probably refer to it as a "Canvas"), but the Qt framework has the advantage of being free.

Prythe

I have used Asara's maps as well since I became more active again. (Prior to that I used Shazara's map when I wasn't using my own pen and paper one....)

I wonder if Nizaris doesn't have a good idea. Which seems to combine form and function.

Rakon

I'd suggest Nizaris approach, if you don't fancy relying on the player to churn out map after map and then combine into a huge file. While the player created map method would likely be cheaper than the 'script it yourself' method, the latter approach would always be as up-to-date as your last call to the 'updateMap()' function. 

Delphinus

The problem with Nizaris's suggestion is that Achaea's coordinate system 1) is three-dimensional, 2) doesn't map its disparate parts equally to one another, and 3) only has room coordinates unique to a given map. There's a reason why single areas are broken up into multiple maps.

Silas

Wish I could like Delph's twice just for the IC dates.

Katzchen

Silas said:

Wish I could like Delph's twice just for the IC dates.

Agred.  Dislike they're in american format though. 

Jarrod

The other problem with scripted maps is some areas defy any logical layout. I believe it's in the one of the village areas in the mountains of New Meropis, but there's a room where going NE->NW->N results in you being in the same room you started in. Good luck explaining that to a program.

Nizaris

Delphinus said:

The problem with Nizaris's suggestion is that Achaea's coordinate system 1) is three-dimensional, 2) doesn't map its disparate parts equally to one another, and 3) only has room coordinates unique to a given map. There's a reason why single areas are broken up into multiple maps.

Agreed. The biggest problem with this is that rooms don't have absolute coordinates (ie. coordinates all relative to the same point in every area). Instead, every area has their own set of coordinates, with all rooms in that area having coordinates relative to the area's reference room.

As for the three dimensional aspect, I agree that it is a fly in the ointment, but it is a logical problem for which there is a logical solution: offsetting the upper and lower rooms on the x-y plane. Or, another option: perhaps a Java applet that is interactive and browseable, a la automappers.

Perhaps a mix of the two? A script to produce individual jpegs for each area, which are then stitched together manually afterwards? It still requires manual input, but would be considerably easier than having to draw all 20,000+ rooms by hand. I might recommend SVG instead of Qt, if this were the case, as SVG is a little easier to manipulate after-the-fact than a raw JPEG.

Jarrod said:

The other problem with scripted maps is some areas defy any logical layout. I believe it's in the one of the village areas in the mountains of New Meropis, but there's a room where going NE->NW->N results in you being in the same room you started in. Good luck explaining that to a program.

That's not as much of a problem as what you think.

You are under the impression that the computer will look for a room in the given direction, and draw a connection. In reality, a program would go about it the opposite way: "connect to this room, using this direction". Sigh. That's probably not clear. You're thinking direction first, then search for a room. A program would need to be written using an absolute reference to the room first, then direction. The hard part is telling the computer to use a curve-y line to regress back to a starting point.

Lisbethae

I have copies of all of Asara's maps if anyone can use them.

Vasool

Lisbethae said:

I have copies of all of Asara's maps if anyone can use them.

She didn't mean it Delphinus, we only want your maps, promise.

Qwindor

Daklore said:

Can't we just tell them to get mudlet and use the crowdmap? No but seriously, I've done something similiar to that... and never again. All the cutting, the copying, the pasting... the "my computer sucks and would crash halfway through lining up a new section of map."

well at least im glad someone appreciates the ton of work i have put into the map and thanks for all the help others have given me with minor mistakes and such in there as well

Lisbethae

I meant them to help Delph as well, if he wanted. Asara is known to have virtually no errors in her maps. When I do things, I like to verify they are correct, I have a feeling Delph has a high standard for himself as well.

Heceldi

Friends talked me into mudding again. So... all of these maps I'm seeing... my googlefu hasn't come up with a single map yet, short of images. Does anyone have any of these as a base for someone in a zmud or cmud client?

Tecton

You can try our new html5 client @ http://www.client.achaea.com, which has all of the maps built-in!

Mannimar

Another issue to take into account is the weirdly mapped places like the Ashtani bog... 

if in room 'A' and room 'B' is to the north of room 'A', and room 'C' is northeast of room 'B', then how the hell is room 'A' northwest of room 'C'.

While Vadi-mapper has this working out for it, mudlet mapper has yet to get the "wth line" for those exits working yet.