There's A Map For That

An example of the level of detail captured by the map making process.

No matter what class you play in Star Wars: The Old Republic, or any other mmorpg game for that matter, it's always more fun if you know where you are going. That's where a good map system can make the difference between a great game and an average one at best.



SWTOR just published a developers blog detailing the map making process for the game. The first thing that impressed me was the massive scope of area that needed to be mapped.

SWTOR currently has seventeen planets, some of these with land masses five to six times larger than your average MMO. Add to that the fact that some planets consist entirely of cities and much of the game play on others is inside buildings. The challenges faced to get all this mapped in a user friendly format is just mind boggling to me.

When you are in an MMO you don't want to spend your time trying to figure out where you need to be, you want to be getting there and doing the task you want to accomplish. The location of quest givers, quest locations, vendors, transportation and much more is critical in spending your time playing and not just wandering around searching for your objective.

I am not even going to attempt to describe the process the developers went through in creating the mapping system in SWTOR, instead I will recommend you read the Developer Blog A Path to Success: Maps, and their Making by Damion Schubert Principal Lead Systems Designer for SWTOR. I will tell you though, I think they did a fantastic job and have definitely raised the bar on map making in MMO's.

One other nice thing about this Dev Blog is that several of the screen shot were from Tython the starting planet zone for Jedi Consulars. I have included those here to give you an idea of what the map system is like in SWTOR.

On this map of Tython, you can see mission icons for two missions, and one icon showing a mission offer. The circle represents a mission icon that is moused over, offering a better idea of the hunting radius, as well as what is being hunted, in a given area.

A map of the Jedi Temple on Tython.

Bonus feature: The map goes semi-transparent once you start moving, so you can keep it up to navigate as necessary.