Making Maps Available for Play

Abstract

Maps in video games have grown into complex interactive systems alongside video games themselves. What map systems have done and currently do have not been cataloged or evaluated. We trace the history of game map interfaces from their paper-based inspiration to their current smart phone-like appearance. Readonly map interfaces enable players to consume maps, which is sufficient for wayfinding. Game cartography interfaces enable players to persistently modify maps, expanding the range of activity to support planning and coordination. We employ thematic analysis on game cartography interfaces, contributing a near-exhaustive catalog of games featuring such interfaces, a set of properties to describe and design such interfaces, a collection of play activities that relate to cartography, and a framework to identify what properties promote the activities. We expect that designers will find the contributions enable them to promote desired play experiences through game map interface design.

Exploring the Design of a Mixed-Reality 3D Minimap to Enhance Pedestrian Satisfaction in Urban Exploratory Navigation

“…Our method is inspired by the minimap mechanism in video games which aims to help players orientate and locate themselves and grasp their environment and targets efficiently and comprehensively. There are studies on the minimap being applied in navigation [52][53][54][55] to help players to walk and explore. Thus, we expect the design of the minimap mechanism could also be applied in the future exploratory navigation system.…”

Map Symbols in Video Games: the Example of “Valheim”

“…The concept of "Game Cartography Interface" is frequently touched upon in articles on games. GCI encompasses a widely understood user interface that depicts a map of the game's world along with additional information elements (symbols, notes, text, notifications, icons) that can be modified or are added to the map through special events during the game (Toups et al 2019).…”

The Cognitive Skills in Interpretation of Spatial Situations in the League of Legends game

“…Moreover, collecting spatial information is to a large extent based on reading maps and the interaction with the navigation elements of the user interface (Horbiński & Zagata, 2021, 2022a, 2022b). In the last years game developers were working out various navigation aids, such as: maps of campaign setting, mini-maps, routing lines, compass, verbal instructions, colours of objects and cut-scenes (Gardony et al, 2015; Toups et al, 2019).…”

“…Moreover, collecting spatial information is to a large extent based on reading maps and the interaction with the navigation elements of the user interface (Horbiński & Zagata, 2021, 2022a, 2022b. In the last years game developers were working out various navigation aids, such as: maps of campaign setting, mini-maps, routing lines, compass, verbal instructions, colours of objects and cut-scenes (Gardony et al, 2015;Toups et al, 2019). Burgess (2008) and Palermo et al (2008) note that topographic orientation is one of the most relevant spatial skills that depend on many cognitive behaviours, such as memory, attention, and perception (Wang & Spelke, 2002).…”