Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
offer the suggestion, “I recommend researching Nationalism.” Finding an icon to
represent nationalism or feudalism or communism, also options in the game, poses
a problem. On the other hand, some people find text boring, and two words can
look alike if they're both rendered in the same color on the same color background.
The worst problem with text, however, is that it must be localized for each language
that you want to support. (See “Text” later in this chapter.)
The topics of Dr. Edward Tufte give some of the best advice anywhere about con-
veying data to the player efficiently and readably, particularly
The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information
(Tufte, 2001).
MINI-MAPS
A
mini-map
, also sometimes called a
radar screen
, displays a miniature version of the
game world, or a portion of it, from a top-down perspective. The mini-map shows
an area larger than that shown by the main view, so the player can orient himself
with respect to the rest of the world. To help him do this, designers generally use
one of two display conventions:
world-oriented
or
character-oriented
mini-maps.
The world-oriented map displays the entire game world with north at the top,
just like a paper map, regardless of the main view's current orientation. An indica-
tor within the mini-map marks that part of the game world currently visible in the
main view. (See Figure 4.2 for an example. The small rectangle on the mini-map
indicates which part of the world is currently showing in the main view.) In a mul-
tipresent game, you can use the world-oriented map as a camera control device: If
the player clicks the map, the camera jumps to the location clicked.
The character-oriented map displays the game world around the avatar, placing
him at the center of the map facing the top of the screen. If the player turns the
avatar to face in a new direction in the game world, the landscape, rather than the
avatar, rotates in the map. These mini-maps don't show the whole game world, only
a limited area around the avatar, and as the avatar moves, they change accordingly.
They're often round and for this reason are sometimes called radar screens. Because
the landscape rotates in the map, character-oriented mini-maps sometimes include
an indicator pointing north, making the map double as a compass.
Because the mini-map must be small (usually 5 to 10 percent of the screen area), it
shows only major geographic features and minimal non-mission-critical data. Key
characters or buildings typically appear as colored dots. Areas of the game world
hidden by the fog of war appear hidden in the mini-map also.
A mini-map helps the player orient himself and warns him of challenges not visible
in the main view, such as nearby enemies in a strategy or action game or a problem
developing in a construction and management simulation. Mini-maps typically
show up in a corner of the screen. You can find them in virtually any game that
uses aerial perspectives and many others as well. Figures 4.2, 4.5, 4.6, and 4.8 all
contain mini-maps.
