Best MMO & Movie Map Designs

[MountainLion]

I'd like to start a thread similar to this one https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/33z4w9/mmos_with_the_best_map_design/

The topic is to share your personal taste regarding MMO map designs out there (note that it can also be movies or tv series)

Some of you might feel like one of your favorite map designs is actually one that you made and you should share it if you'd like, although of course the main topic would be sharing thoughts on other games or movies out there!

Here's a quote from that thread

Having played through Rift, Aion, Tera, WoW, FFXIV the last few years, something has begun to bother me...I notice that there are many artificial borders created in order to create map zones, like in WoW, how there are mountains pretty much everywhere that create the separations. Not to mention, the "scale" of the maps feels a bit... small? Like, I'm walking through the zone and there's supposed to be a big castle or stronghold...but it doesn't "feel" big.

So what are some games you guys have played that you've really enjoyed the map design/zones?

For me, I really really enjoyed Lineage II's map. I first played the game 11 years ago, and I still vividly remember a lot of zones and places. I really enjoyed the world map because it felt properly large, took a long time to run across, and didn't have a lot of "border mountains" to create the zones. The world transitioned semi-naturally, and I enjoyed the open nature of it, being able to run in any direction instead of being limited to 4 or 5 entrances around the zone.

So what about you guys? Favorite maps? I really enjoy exploring maps and have been trying to find out the next game to play..maybe even revisiting some old ones.

[Amaroth]

Skyrim, Outlast, Left for Death and similiar games show great examples of good level design.

Map needs to "feel" realistic, contain more (creative) ways how to get through it, have some mysteries and some tales to tell and should player force to really have to work with that map while going though it, not to just ride past it. Broken road is the most simple example.

About WoW maps, I find most of especially WoD ones very, VERY well made. I definitely can understand that someone would appreciate bigger scale which would be more realistic, sure, but I don't think it would serve WoW's type of game experience. WoW is made to be the whole, huuuge world, in reduced scale which is big enough to look good, but not too big to make it feel like just tons of useless content which is just to be... skipped? Miles of mountains might look good, but what other purpouse would they serve there? It is whole world, made in way which is managable by both devs and players.

I also like what players can explore maps in WoD to find some rare items, resources and so on. It just takes looking around. You can find some easter eggs, mysteries, you are often forced to look for way how to get from point A to point B (especially in Nagrand are some areas really not very easily accesible if you just go in some general direction by using map, you actually need to really find that damned serpentine way to that rock by yourself). You can also encounter optional at least a little bit challenging bosses everywhere

While WoD might by target of criticism for being maybe a little bit easy, it shines as example of great MMO level design for me.

[xFivestarr]

It really depends on the situation and gameplay.

Some games have huge but somehow "empty" worlds, but it suits them.
This would be the example of Shadow of the Colossus (PS2). It has a huge sandbox-like world with only few detailed spots on the map, but all this makes them very remarkable, like ruins and forests where every encounter takes place.

I would agree with Amaroth on Left 4 Dead too. Sure it is linear-ish, but it makes a great use of the environment and puts the pressure on certain spots of the map.

And yeah, Skyrim for me, it was a breathtaking adventure to explore that beast for the first time (and 2nd, and 3rd,..)

[iindigo]

I actually haven't played many RPGs or MMOs outside of WoW, so I don't have much in the way of examples of good maps, but the mountains in WoW have always bothered me. I can understand smaller scale, but at least make your mountains climbable. When "mountains" are more like walls of dirt, it feels like a massive cop out and immersion takes a hit.

It'd be really interesting to see an attempt at more realistic map design in WoW. I wonder if the engine can even support that very well.

[Kaev]

WildStar has awesome maps.
It's like go where you want, you'll find something cool and surprising.
At some point there was a cave in the mountain, which looked kinda "space-y". At the end was a teleporter, which ported you on the mountain. There was a very huge badass UFO thing or osmething like that with robots and so on. There were also new quests.
A day later i was like "let's go to this corner!" and i found a really huge cage with many bees outside of it. Some people said from time to time there spawns a big bee world boss, but i never saw it..
The other time i went to a new zone, suddenly everything was radioactive and i had to get a suit to continue my way. There were also some quests in this "hell"
If i remember right, you could also create some safe zones from time to time when you quest in this zone.
Sadly the friend, with which i was playing WildStar, didn't liked the game itself, so i stopped playing too.

Oh, and there are several hidden places in each zone which you can find. Sometimes this are jump events, where you have to jump on magical mushrooms to get boosted in the air and fly in a waterfall to get some awesome epic stuff for your house..

Now where i write this stuff, i really want to play it again. :<

[TheBuG]

Age of Conan had some really, really amazing design for it's starting zone. It wasn't really an open world, but the game looked and felt very realistic in terms of scale (And looks, at the time). It was more of a multi-region open world (Think Witcher 3). Too bad everything that followed after the starting zone was plain bad in terms of gameplay. Everything apart from the starting zone felt as if it was still in alpha testing. Nowadays it's fixed from what I've heard and free to play, but I haven't bothered.

Also the soundtrack was the absolute best I've ever heard in MMOs.

For reference screenshots, check this and this.

[Amaroth]

Just btw...
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/
I would really, really recommend this webpage for all world designers (and especially ebooks which can be downloaded from there).