In fact, I'm not much of a huge fan of being overly "realistic". Take World of Warcraft for example, that world map makes no damn sense.
Arctic regions butt-up against deserts. The size of it is, at best, vague and somewhat crazy. Does anyone care? nope. It serves the game. The same is true for a sandbox map. It needs to be 'realistic' enough to not ruin the game, but ultimately needs to serve the game.
So what are the needs of a Sandbox map?
The Map needs to be big (but not too big), filled with lots of things to do and see, and to help the player's characters rock out.
Now, my first impulse is to make a new map and explain how I designed it in a series of post. But, after a moments though, I decide I don't want to do that because I want a map that could (in theory) be ready to play a little quicker than that. So I should use one of the legion of maps I already have. After some though, I chose a map I have, didn't make, but needs some cleaning up.
Long ago there was a website called "Irony Games". IG was fantastic. It had dozens of game aids. Not the least of which were it's maps. Tavern maps, world maps, clearings, islands, and space map that is simple insane. The IG galaxy was bigger than you can imagine. Sadly, it is lost to the ages. IG is no longer up, and no matter how hard I try, finding the resources once available is futile.
But, before IG went quietly into the night, I map this map:
Remember how I said they had island maps? well, they had 101 island maps. This map is a 10x10 of 100 of them and I have the 101st here:
Originally I added a name to each map using the 101 names of Ahura Mazda. Later, I decided I didn't like those names and needed more than 101 of them (since some of the island maps are actually 2 or 3 islands. So I will need to redo that.
Also, the map quality is, at best, poor and simplistic. It has good bones, but poor execution. I want to import it into hexographer. That will let me make changes, add to it, change up the terrain, name things better, and effect other needed changes. I like this idea because the map is large, but each island is relatively small. It's similar in concept to games like Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and others. Exploring an entire island is completely reasonable, likely several islands. Exploring the whole map is much less likely.
 |
| madness |
So what are the needs of a Sandbox map?
The Map needs to be big (but not too big), filled with lots of things to do and see, and to help the player's characters rock out.
 |
| About to Rock Out |
Long ago there was a website called "Irony Games". IG was fantastic. It had dozens of game aids. Not the least of which were it's maps. Tavern maps, world maps, clearings, islands, and space map that is simple insane. The IG galaxy was bigger than you can imagine. Sadly, it is lost to the ages. IG is no longer up, and no matter how hard I try, finding the resources once available is futile.
But, before IG went quietly into the night, I map this map:
Remember how I said they had island maps? well, they had 101 island maps. This map is a 10x10 of 100 of them and I have the 101st here:
Originally I added a name to each map using the 101 names of Ahura Mazda. Later, I decided I didn't like those names and needed more than 101 of them (since some of the island maps are actually 2 or 3 islands. So I will need to redo that.
Also, the map quality is, at best, poor and simplistic. It has good bones, but poor execution. I want to import it into hexographer. That will let me make changes, add to it, change up the terrain, name things better, and effect other needed changes. I like this idea because the map is large, but each island is relatively small. It's similar in concept to games like Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and others. Exploring an entire island is completely reasonable, likely several islands. Exploring the whole map is much less likely.
 |
| Similar, in concept, to Wind Waker. Not similar visually. |
