Author Topic: Old Maps  (Read 1726 times)

SpicyDirt

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Old Maps
« on: February 09, 2020, 10:33:13 pm »
I do apologize if this is already a thread on here.

I don't think that we should completely change back to the old maps, but I do think that they should still be an option for people to use. More recently I have noticed an influx of people in the game talk about how they wish we still had the old maps and that a few of them stopped playing because of the map change. I am not trying to disrespect the new mapmakers, because I do like the style of the new maps quite a lot, but I do think that we should have the option to head to the old maps.

I know that there are a few people that have the maps for download, but as someone in The Grounds today stated - not everyone will download the maps (even though they want them) and if they do download them, there are too many different downloads available that not many people are even using the same ones.

Personally I feel that if we integrated the original maps back into the game somehow (a healthy mix of old and new) we would see more of the older players returning to the game and even an influx in roleplay in the public maps! A lot of people in the community loved to roleplay in those maps and I think they would return with those maps.

l3irdie

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Re: Old Maps
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2020, 11:45:27 pm »
I am inclined to agree a bit. However.
 Integrating the maps at this point would be hard and it wouldn't flow with the system that is in place. The one drawback with this system we have now is that people do stick in The Grounds.
 I think people would be forced to spread out more because right when you get into old lonely cave you do have more options. Go to South Pole, Cape of Distant World's, Ficho Tunnel and Ascension Island.  The maps we have now are supposed to help make it feel more integrated and connected, not to mention it solved the issues with the old maps. Like FP was too big and unfinished in places and you can make South Pole in 4 minutes tops. I think there could of been a better execution to make the maps feel easier to be differentiated as well as maybe not boxing them in.

But we ultimately do have to work with what we got and unfortunately the times of the old maps are long past us. But they're not entirely gone forever, people can still download them and visit. I've hosted a RP in FP and it was a lot of fun, and I believe if people want that FH experience they can do that.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2020, 05:23:51 pm by l3irdie »

Offline FriskTheRisk

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Re: Old Maps
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2020, 11:56:44 pm »
I was around for the discussion as well.. As I mentioned in-game, the patch had a good logic to integrate the old maps in the new ones. Maybe have an 'official' portal from Cape leading to the old maps or something (Not in the custom map area but somewhere else)?

Offline Astraea

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Re: Old Maps
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2020, 12:00:48 am »
I was also around in game when this was brought up. It was a great time and it was lovely seeing things like that be discussed in game with others getting together who don't go on the forum much.

I agree with these comments and I do believe the older maps should be implemented into the newer ones in some way, shape or form. This would bring happiness to the majority of the community as a lot want the same thing to come out of it. I don't have any ideas on how to do this as some good ones have already been stated, but I want to push this along again to the higher ups. I'm hoping one day something like this can be done for the community and future of the game. I feel this is one of the things that can really bring back a lot of the population.
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Re: Old Maps
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2020, 02:47:55 am »
Sounds pretty good to me!

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Offline LordSuragaha

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Re: Old Maps
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2020, 04:31:07 am »
We tried to do that in the past.

https://feral-heart.com/smf/index.php?topic=64058.msg880784#msg880784

Short of a long story, Raz wasn’t in agreeance with the idea.

Initially our plan with the now “Forbidden Patch” was to find a way to get both the old maps and new maps into the game without also having the game just be filled up with a ton of extra empty maps. One of the reasons why the old maps were initially removed in Red’s 2016 update was due to them being absolutely massive. They caused issues with the server and Raz wanted the new maps downsized so they’d be better “optimized” to work with the server.

So when my group of staff and I started this Forbidden Patch project we had to take into consideration the immense size of the old maps and not recreating the same old mistakes that caused them to be removed in the first place. We however wanted to make sure that the old maps weren’t remade entirely or changed in a way that they’d be unrecognizable or not “feel” the same. After a lot of work and playing around with the map maker we managed to downsize the beloved old maps but in a way that didn’t disrupt the way they “felt”. Fluorite was the trickiest unfortunately since it was the BIGGEST, and no matter what way we resized it we ran into issues so we ended up just cutting the map in half and keeping the side most people hung out on (Most of the middle and west side that included N/Z, Stone Bridge, L Island, and the strictures etc).

Some other things done was that we built Bonfire Island into Seaside Grove, built in Old Ficho to the New Ficho Tunnels, built in the Temple of Dreams into Flourite, etc.) By building the old maps into the new maps we hoped it would bring some more love and life into the new maps and be a nice way to embrace new and old. It also reduced the number of separate maps so the community wouldn’t be separated and scattered through so many map. So basically if you wanted to hang out in Bonfire it was built into Seaside so everyone could enjoy being together on both those maps.

We didn’t just slap the old maps back into the game either, we had sat there refining each map, and adding more details to make them even better. We kept old beloved land marks and objects where they were and added in more, as I always have believed “don’t fix what ain’t broke” & “if something is good just make it better, don’t change it.”

There were so many other wonderful details and fixes that were being done and were to be done with that Forbidden Patch but as said it never came through because it wasn’t approved by Raz. It was a huge let down and heart break and resulted in the whole October debacle but that’s that. This isn’t to get upset at Raz either as Raz believes it’s not what the game needs and in the end it’s his server and he decides what he pushes through. He’s expressed before that he believes the community just wants the feelings the old maps have and not the old maps themselves. Don’t go off on Raz or anyone here. What is done is done. I’m just trying to explain that many of us staff feel the same but there’s only so much that can be done in regards to this topic, with this version of FH...

I’m sorry.

SpicyDirt

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Re: Old Maps
« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2020, 05:01:35 pm »
Thank you for explaining Sura, and don't be sorry! <3

I do understand where Raz is coming from - the maps were HUGE and seemed as if they were unfinished in some areas. They did also cause a lot of issues for computers due to their size and the number of people in them. However, I did not know that the old maps were seemingly put into the new maps - and that is cool to know. Also, to keep a game relevant in the changing generations, we do have to change into something that the new generation will like.

These new maps will become beloved by the new generation of players - they will feel the same way about these maps as we did about the old maps - so I guess that is a plus to this whole situation.

I guess our best option would be to pick one specific download for the old maps and if people want those then they can add that one - that way everyone can be seen on the same map. That is easier said than done and I think at the end of the day most people won't do something like that.

Thank you again, Sura <3