Cartography

[Pacho]

I don't quite know how you implement the maps, but would having player-made maps be vector graphics lower the hard drive requirements enough for this to be implemented? It would totally be awesome to have maps in game =D

[Ferinex]

You could simply do it tile by tile (big map tile, that is), and keep track in a players information which tiles they have uncovered.

You could do it without using the map tiles, and use some other coordinate system (storing the information in their profile, still). The map tiles are just available so I thought I would suggest using those. There is indeed no reason to store even a second copy of the world map on the server - rather, store the coordinates. Store coordinates of what has been mapped by a player in THAT players profile. This would cut down massively on the space required .

Perhaps doing it by one mini-map at a time would be even better, making RoB have 0,0 coordinates. If you don't care to fool around with negatives (who doesn't like negatives?), you could make it spiral out from the RoB. (this allows for expansion of the map, of course).

[RiverPhoenix]

Hello

Cartography, I like this idea a lot... I get the impression that tiles are quite large... do you have line-of-sight? If not then it might still be conceivable to see an entire tile at a time. When a player uses the cartography skill you could take a snapshot of what the mini-map would look like at that point in time for the tile they are standing on - on the assumption (possibly incorrect) that players would trade map pieces regularly you'd not have to store many historical copies and, since maps get worn out quite quickly with use, not for very long (either there is no updated version of that tile in which case you're not having to store new versions or the old versions go out of use and can be scrubbed).

If you went for an OS (Ordinance Survey) style map (which are about as detailed as real world made by cartographers tend to get in everyday use) then individual trees are not marked - forests, swamps and lakes are already marked as you have them. Roads are marked if they are paved (so only the stone ones - maybe they'd have to be two by two squares before they are marked to count as roads), buildings are marked like forests and swamps if there are more than two or three in a small area - i.e. a tile? - and not particularly accurately most of the time (maybe just draw a vector polygon covering the area they are in with the building as the vector nodes?) - farmland ditto to buildings (with building polygon over the top of it - maybe over the top of other areas too. Other points of interest (e.g. mines, village idols) could be marked since they're rare enough anyway. Other than there is not much in the way of things that are marked - a name maybe (could this be taken from the village totem - assuming that these allow names to be assigned - I don't know that yet I'm afraid

Anyway, just a thought off the top of my head since the above would only create a very sparse mini-map tile mostly filled with vector polygons it might be quite cheap to store on the server - another thought is that everything but the fields, roads, buildings and points of interest might be kept as a base map and histories only kept of the overlying features (which might also be separated to some degree - a mine unlikely ever to disappear, not a village idol for that matter - roads are also unlikely to move and in large parts of the world not change for long periods (either after sufficient have been built or before any are built)).

Anyway, enough from me - I hope all goes well with it all I'm loving it (especially the farming

River

[moonshield]

Even if you store only vector graphics you'd have to do that for a lot objects. Also, you couldn't store the terrain (that is modified by players) in vectors, though you could use fractals for the natural terrain if that's what the new map will be based on.

edit: well nevermind, didn't properly read your post.

[Pacho]

Maps should fall appart after a certain time so the server doesn't have to store month/year old maps someone decided to keep in a long forgotten chest (or all those thousands of baskets).

[RiverPhoenix]

Maps should fall apart after a certain time so the server doesn't have to store month/year old maps someone decided to keep in a long forgotten chest (or all those thousands of baskets).

That's what I was (very convolutedly) trying to suggest except that the map wouldn't should baskets or any other movable (or even small immovable) objects - it's a map not a town planning application or miniture version of reality

River

[moonshield]

While i'd like such a skill, users would upload maps after a while anyway, so i don't think this is worth the effort.

[RiverPhoenix]

While i'd like such a skill, users would upload maps after a while anyway, so i don't think this is worth the effort.

They'd be out of date though and it'd be more use if by buying bits of the map from users ingame your minimap was also updated

River