Map submissions

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Mayobe
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Map submissions

Post by Mayobe » 14 Feb 2016 07:10

To whom should I proffer maps for addition to the magic map system?

Some of them are for uh... Hidden places... So I can't really post them here.

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Cherek
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Cherek » 14 Feb 2016 15:20

Mayobe wrote:To whom should I proffer maps for addition to the magic map system?

Some of them are for uh... Hidden places... So I can't really post them here.
Glad you are interested in creating magic maps. When you want to contact us wizards you should always <mail aop> from any post office.

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Mayobe
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Mayobe » 14 Feb 2016 15:31

I'll send them to AoP for now then. Is the bug/idea/typo system still in use? I've been sending some miscellaneous reports as things have come up, but as it's a one-way system I'm not sure if anyone is receiving them.

Apropos of the two, what do you think about a cartography club?

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Cherek
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Cherek » 14 Feb 2016 22:20

Mayobe wrote:I'll send them to AoP for now then. Is the bug/idea/typo system still in use? I've been sending some miscellaneous reports as things have come up, but as it's a one-way system I'm not sure if anyone is receiving them.

Apropos of the two, what do you think about a cartography club?
Yes, it's still in use, but we're very few developers in a huge game so ideas, typos and minor bugs usually end up pretty far down the priority lists, and we don't have time to send replies to everyone who provides feedback. That does not mean it's not useful though, sometimes wizards who like to fix things appear, and then those logs are very good to have.

For major bugs it's probably best write a bug report and also mail AoP about it.

A cartographer guild sounds interesting. Not sure how it would work, but it's an interesting idea. It would be great if players skilled in the art of ascii-mapping could create maps for the magic map. As it is now, you need to be a wizard to be able to use the mapping system. So any players who wishes to submit maps must work together with a wizard willing to implement them.

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Ckrik
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Ckrik » 15 Feb 2016 03:39

Cherek wrote:
Mayobe wrote:I'll send them to AoP for now then. Is the bug/idea/typo system still in use? I've been sending some miscellaneous reports as things have come up, but as it's a one-way system I'm not sure if anyone is receiving them.

Apropos of the two, what do you think about a cartography club?
Yes, it's still in use, but we're very few developers in a huge game so ideas, typos and minor bugs usually end up pretty far down the priority lists, and we don't have time to send replies to everyone who provides feedback. That does not mean it's not useful though, sometimes wizards who like to fix things appear, and then those logs are very good to have.

For major bugs it's probably best write a bug report and also mail AoP about it.

A cartographer guild sounds interesting. Not sure how it would work, but it's an interesting idea. It would be great if players skilled in the art of ascii-mapping could create maps for the magic map. As it is now, you need to be a wizard to be able to use the mapping system. So any players who wishes to submit maps must work together with a wizard willing to implement them.
For maps of places that are meant to be hidden, I think guild libraries are the best places to share the knowledge. The Travelers guild was historically the cartographers' guild of the realms. Their library has an extensive collection of maps and lore regarding the lands of Genesis. However, I believe it's been years since anyone updated it so some of the information there may be a bit out of date.

Map contributions will most certainly be appreciated. As I'm quite unskilled in the department of ascii art, maps of Earthsea are rather spartan and could use some sprucing up. Maps of eastern Calia, Raumdor and Khalakhor would probably be very much appreciated as well. Raumdor and Khalakhor especially since those domains have zero map coverage I believe.

For any mortals that wish to submit a map, the below is a very simple example of what the map data needs to look like.

Code: Select all

::NEWMAP::
thwil
::MAPDATA::
p3 16 5
p4 20 5
p5 24 5
p1 20 7
p2 16 7
p6 24 7
t8 20 11
t5 16 13
board 16 11
t4 16 15
bank 12 15
notary 16 17
t3 20 15
t2 24 15
t1 28 15
t7 28 13
ta 28 11
tb 12 13
t9 24 11
shop 32 13
a1 32 17
h4 36 17
h1 36 19
h2 40 19
h3 44 19
h5 36 13
h8 36 11
h9 36 9
h6 40 9
h7 44 9
a3 32 9
a2 28 9
a4 20 17
gate 20 19
t6 20 13
herb 24 13
post_office 12 11
alchemist 24 9
pub 32 11
::MAPDATA::

                  =====
                  Thwil
                  =====

                o - o - o
                |   |   |
                o - o - o
                    |               |
                    |   A   o - o - o - o - S    T Town Hall
                    |   |   |       |            B Bank
            P   T   o - o - o   t - o            N Notary
            |   | / |       |       |            A Alchemist Shop
          - o - o   o - H   o - G   o            H Herb Shop
                |           |       |            G General Store
            B - o - o - o - o       |            S Ship to Gont Port
                |   |         \     |            P Post Office
                N   o           o - o            p Pub
                    |               |
                    W               o - o - o
The columns in the MAPDATA section of the code are:

1. Room name
2. X coordinate of the room in the text map
3. Y coordinate of the room in the text map

Top left corner immediately after the second instance of ::MAPDATA:: is coordinate (0, 0). For example the bank in the town is located on (12, 15) in the map. If a player is in the bank at the village of Thwil, then an * will replace the character at (12, 15).

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Mayobe
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Mayobe » 16 Feb 2016 10:16

I can do this except that I'm not sure what room names are to be used.

With regard to crowd-sourcing cartography, I was thinking about it earlier and the best idea I have so far is:

Joining the guild provides a cartographer's kit (a leather tube, maybe a better name for this) and a magic quill. The tube can hold the quill and a number of parchments (purchased from the guild).

With the tube opened:
  • <list parchments> Shows a count of blank parchments and a list of labeled ones.
  • <get parchment from tube> Fetch a blank parchment.
  • <get -label- from tube> Fetch a labeled parchment.
  • <put parchment(s)/label in tube> ...
  • <put/get quill in/from tube> ...
The tube can't hold other items. Only one labeled parchment can be held (out of the tube) at a time.

With the quill in hand:
  • <label parchment> Names a blank parchment.
  • <draw map> Open the editor to enter/alter the map "image" on the currently held and labeled parchment.
  • <link room> Shows the map with numbered lines and a ruler across the top and asks for x,y coordinates, then links the room the cartographer is standing in to the specified coords. (Replaces any previous link for the room.)
With a labeled parchment held:
  • <examine -label-> Works like <examine map>. If the current room is linked then the player will be drawn there with an X, just like the magic map.
  • <submit -label-> In a special guild room. Submits the map to be reviewed by other guild members.
  • <(de)activate -label-> Replaces magic map with indicated parchment in web client?
  • <tear up -label-> Use twice to destroy the held parchment.
When a map is submitted a message is shown to online cartographers. Submitted maps can be copied onto a parchment and activated so that other members can test them out. After having reviewed the map the tester can return to the guild(?) to vote for or against it or to submit a revision request to the mapper.

A map with a summary +5(?) votes is locked out of voting and sent to a wiz for review and potential adoption.
A map with a summary -5(?) votes is removed from the map library and returned to the submitter next time they come around.

Regarding reward structure, if there is one, maybe the guild could require members to make a (valid) submission periodically, or maybe just provide a gen. xp or brute reduction for accepted maps.

Suggested skills:
  • Awareness
  • Climb
  • Swim
  • Riding
  • Location Sense
  • Language

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Ody
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Ody » 16 Feb 2016 17:40

Sounds like an interesting idea. It'd make a good craft guild, yet probably a better club.

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Mayobe
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Mayobe » 16 Feb 2016 18:19

I'm not sure about the precise distinctions, but as a club I think it would need the skills/rewards dropped, so I don't know if people would take the time without some kind of incentive. That was my thinking in suggesting it as a guild, at least.

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Ckrik
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Ckrik » 16 Feb 2016 18:32

Mayobe wrote:I can do this except that I'm not sure what room names are to be used.

With regard to crowd-sourcing cartography, I was thinking about it earlier and the best idea I have so far is:

Joining the guild provides a cartographer's kit (a leather tube, maybe a better name for this) and a magic quill. The tube can hold the quill and a number of parchments (purchased from the guild).

With the tube opened:
  • <list parchments> Shows a count of blank parchments and a list of labeled ones.
  • <get parchment from tube> Fetch a blank parchment.
  • <get -label- from tube> Fetch a labeled parchment.
  • <put parchment(s)/label in tube> ...
  • <put/get quill in/from tube> ...
The tube can't hold other items. Only one labeled parchment can be held (out of the tube) at a time.

With the quill in hand:
  • <label parchment> Names a blank parchment.
  • <draw map> Open the editor to enter/alter the map "image" on the currently held and labeled parchment.
  • <link room> Shows the map with numbered lines and a ruler across the top and asks for x,y coordinates, then links the room the cartographer is standing in to the specified coords. (Replaces any previous link for the room.)
With a labeled parchment held:
  • <examine -label-> Works like <examine map>. If the current room is linked then the player will be drawn there with an X, just like the magic map.
  • <submit -label-> In a special guild room. Submits the map to be reviewed by other guild members.
  • <(de)activate -label-> Replaces magic map with indicated parchment in web client?
  • <tear up -label-> Use twice to destroy the held parchment.
When a map is submitted a message is shown to online cartographers. Submitted maps can be copied onto a parchment and activated so that other members can test them out. After having reviewed the map the tester can return to the guild(?) to vote for or against it or to submit a revision request to the mapper.

A map with a summary +5(?) votes is locked out of voting and sent to a wiz for review and potential adoption.
A map with a summary -5(?) votes is removed from the map library and returned to the submitter next time they come around.

Regarding reward structure, if there is one, maybe the guild could require members to make a (valid) submission periodically, or maybe just provide a gen. xp or brute reduction for accepted maps.

Suggested skills:
  • Awareness
  • Climb
  • Swim
  • Riding
  • Location Sense
  • Language
Don't worry about the room names, just insert place holders (e.g. r1, r2 ...) and clearly mark the important landmarks (e.g. banks, taverns, docks and forks in the road). Filling in room names is the part that requires wizard involvement as Cherek mentioned.

Regarding your parchment idea it's a good idea, but you have to remember that the tool one builds shouldn't expend more effort than the actual mapping itself. I believe I spent around 5-6 hours in total over several weeks to continue another wizard's work to completely map Earthsea in the magic map. I think your parchment idea would take around 50 hours of work (coding ain't easy even for seasoned pros). I believe every domain with missing map coverage would be completely mapped if someone spent 50 hours working on it.

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Mayobe
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Re: Map submissions

Post by Mayobe » 17 Feb 2016 06:17

Lol, I didn't realize it was that near to completion.

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