Mini-map

Last updated
Mini-Map in the bottom right corner War Zone 2100 - Dropship.png
Mini-Map in the bottom right corner

A mini-map or minimap is a miniature map HUD element that is often placed at a screen corner in video games to help players in orienting themselves within the game world. They are often only a small portion of the screen and must be selective in what details they display. Elements included on mini-maps vary by video game genre. However, most minimaps feature at least one or more of the following: the position of the player character, allied units, structures, enemies, objectives, and surrounding terrain.

Contents

Mini-maps have become common in real-time strategy and MMORPG video games because they serve as an indication of where the current screen lies within the scope of the game world. Most first-person shooter games also have some version or variant of the mini-map, often showing enemy and teammates locations in real-time.

History

Mini-maps have been around since the age of arcade video games. The term radar was used through the 1980s instead of mini-map. The 1980 game Battlezone has an overhead-view, circular radar showing the locations of enemies. Defender (1981) has a miniature, rectangular view of the entire scrolling world above the play area, allowing players to see enemies that aren't on the screen.

Features

Many mini-maps make use of similar features. Common features are:

Fog of war

In many games using a mini-map, the mini-map begins completely blank, while the map is automatically drawn as the player discovers new areas of the game world. After players discover new areas, the terrain of the discovered area often remains visible on the mini-map. If the player's characters or units cease to see the area, the area might be covered by a fog of war, so that unit or structure movements in that area will not be shown. Things in a fog of war portion of a mini-map may not be updated until they are rediscovered. [1]

Layers

Similar to custom layers in Google Earth, some team-oriented multiplayer games, such as Age of Empires II or Empire Earth , allow players to draw temporary lines, signals or markings on the mini-map for others to see. This allows for quick communication over large distances in games.[ citation needed ]

Rotation and zoom

In some 3D video games, the mini-map rotates when the player character or game camera faces different directions to keep the top of the map always corresponding to forward from the camera's point of view. This is common for games in the Grand Theft Auto series, and many racing games that show the track in a mini-map. In other games such as The Legend of Zelda series, the map does not rotate but features an arrow that moves about and rotates to show the player character's position and the direction they're facing. In some games, mini-maps that only show the close surrounding area often have icons on the edge to show the direction of locations or characters outside the area shown on the map. Some games also have a feature where the mini-map zooms out when the player character is travelling at high speed and zooms back in when they slow down.

Automap

The automap feature in Meritous Meritous-automap.png
The automap feature in Meritous

An Automap is similar to a mini-map but traces its origin back to early role-playing games. In early dungeon crawl video games, players were expected to draw maps by hand as they played the game to solve complex mazes and explore large dungeons. Game boxes such as those for early 1980s Wizardry games included graph paper for this purpose.

Games featuring automapping simulate the creation of a map, typically showing an abstract top-down view of nearby areas of the game world that is automatically updated as the player character gains knowledge of the environment. Automaps typically display doors, terrain types, and important locations or items.[ citation needed ] When discussing The Bard's Tale III 's role as one of the first CRPGs with automapping, Computer Gaming World in 1994 wondered "How did we ever play without it?". [2]

Early automaps typically found in role-playing video games were pause screens that stopped gameplay when opened. Early examples of video games to feature a real-time automap include Namco's Rally-X in 1980, [3] Gebelli Software's Horizon V in 1982, [4] and Arsys Software's WiBArm in 1986. [5] When the feature became popular with action-oriented games such as Doom and Diablo , the automap feature in these games did not pause the game and allowed the player to continue gameplay while the map was on screen.

MUDs, which were popular multiplayer virtual worlds in the mid-1990s, rarely provided an automap. This resulted in MUD clients adding automapping as a feature, notably zMUD in September 1996. [6] [7] [8]

Code minimap in text editors and IDEs

The IDE KDevelop showing a code minimap in the right corner of the screen Kdevelop--breeze dark theme.png
The IDE KDevelop showing a code minimap in the right corner of the screen

A code minimap in a text editor or Integrated development environment (IDE) is a reduced overview of the entire file in its own view pane, typically next to the main editor pane. The portion of the file visible in the main editor pane is highlighted, and clicking or dragging in this view scrolls the editor through the file.

See also

Related Research Articles

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.

Shoot 'em ups are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives.

An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and platform games. Multiplayer online battle arena and some real-time strategy games are also considered action games.

A massively multiplayer online game is an online video game with a large number of players on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ. These games can be found for most network-capable platforms, including the personal computer, video game console, or smartphones and other mobile devices.

Player versus player (PVP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are most often used in games where both activities exist, particularly MMORPGs, MUDs, and other role-playing video games, to distinguish between gamemodes. PvP can be broadly used to describe any game, or aspect of a game, where players compete against each other. PvP is often controversial when used in role-playing games. In most cases, there are vast differences in abilities between players. PvP can even encourage experienced players to immediately attack and kill inexperienced players. PvP is often referred to as player killing in the cases of games which contain, but do not focus on, such interaction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dungeon crawl</span> Type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games

A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment, battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games and board games which predominantly feature dungeon crawl elements are considered to be a genre.

<i>Quake</i> engine Video game engine developed by id Software

The Quake engine is the game engine developed by id Software to power their 1996 video game Quake. It featured true 3D real-time rendering. Since 2012, it has been licensed under the terms of GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.

A cooperative video game, often abbreviated as co-op, is a video game that allows players to work together as teammates, usually against one or more non-player character opponents (PvE). Co-op games can be played locally using one or multiple input controllers or over a network via local area networks, wide area networks, or the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HUD (video games)</span> User interface element common in video games

In video gaming, the HUD or status bar is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface. It takes its name from the head-up displays used in modern aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Level (video games)</span> Discrete play space in video games

In video games, a level is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively increasing difficulty to appeal to players with different skill levels. Each level may present new concepts and challenges to keep a player's interest high.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quest (video games)</span> Player task in video games

A quest, or mission, is a task in video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games. Rewards may include loot such as items or in-game currency, access to new level locations or areas, an increase in the character's experience in order to learn new skills and abilities, or any combination of the above.

<i>Delta Force 2</i> 1999 video game

Delta Force 2 is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by NovaLogic and released in 1999. It is the second game in the Delta Force series and was followed by Delta Force: Land Warrior one year later. The game was re-released in 2009 on Steam.

<i>Blake Stone: Planet Strike</i> 1994 video game

Blake Stone: Planet Strike is a first-person shooter video game, the sequel to Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, made by JAM Productions and released for DOS on October 28, 1994, by Apogee Software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First-person (video games)</span> Graphical perspective in video games

In video games, first-person is any graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character, or from the inside of a device or vehicle controlled by the player character. It is one of two perspectives used in the vast majority of video games, with the other being third-person, the graphical perspective from outside of any character ; some games such as interactive fiction do not belong to either format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isometric video game graphics</span> Type of video game graphics

Isometric video game graphics are graphics employed in video games and pixel art that use a parallel projection, but which angle the viewpoint to reveal facets of the environment that would otherwise not be visible from a top-down perspective or side view, thereby producing a three-dimensional (3D) effect. Despite the name, isometric computer graphics are not necessarily truly isometric—i.e., the x, y, and z axes are not necessarily oriented 120° to each other. Instead, a variety of angles are used, with dimetric projection and a 2:1 pixel ratio being the most common. The terms "3/4 perspective", "3/4 view", "2.5D", and "pseudo 3D" are also sometimes used, although these terms can bear slightly different meanings in other contexts.

A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions such as the processing power of central or graphics processing units.

Dragon Quest is a series of role-playing video games that originated in 1986 with the release of the first game in the series. Although the games are not related in terms of story, many aspects of the gameplay are consistent throughout the series. Each game in the series add new elements to the gameplay, such as longer quests, character classes, or different ways of story-telling.

This is a non-comprehensive list that includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players.

<i>AVATAR MUD</i> 1991 video game

A.V.A.T.A.R. MUD is a free, online, massively multiplayer, fantasy, text-based role-playing game, set in a real-time virtual environment. It combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash style computer games, adventure games and social gaming.

References

  1. ↑ Adams, Ernest (2014). Fundamentals of Game Design. New Riders. ISBN   9780133435719.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. ↑ "H. o. F. Highlights". The Score. Computer Gaming World. July 1994. p. 161.
  3. ↑ Rally-X at the Killer List of Videogames
  4. ↑ John Romero, Horizon V at MobyGames
  5. ↑ "【リリース】プロジェクトEGGから3月25日に「ウィバーン」発売". 4Gamer.net. Retrieved 2011-03-05. (Translation)
  6. ↑ Dodge, Martin; Kitchin, Rob (2000-09-02). Mapping Cyberspace. Routledge. p. 153. ISBN   0-415-19884-4. One interesting approach that attempts to achieve this is, is one which automatically records movement through MUD space, using this information to dynamically map the spaces visited. Such an approach has been adopted by the zMUD client, from Zugg Software, which includes the automapping tool shown in figure 8.5. zMUD can be configured to decode the room descriptions, and to record the standard cardinal walking directions, teleports and one-way links.
  7. ↑ Bartle, Richard (2003). Designing Virtual Worlds . New Riders. p. 481. ISBN   0-13-101816-7. Some clients (zMUD is the best-known) constructed for use with generic textual worlds can automap arbitrary room connections, exploring a virtual world exhaustively to produce an accurate map.
  8. ↑ Mike Potter (1996). "Versions of zMUD (v4.x)". 4.0 (based upon 3.61) Initial Automapper module
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.