Some games provide a graph of resources/metrics over time. What have I done? Games unfold over time, and I want to have a record of the events. Skyrim is okay but not great at telling me about unexplored areas. Some points of interest I have visited and fully explored are marked “cleared”, but others are not. Points of interest I know about but haven’t visited have dark icons.

In Skyrim, the unexplored areas look like explored areas. In Civilization, the unexplored areas are dark so it’s easy to tell what needs to be explored. What areas have I missed? Knowing where I’ve been sometimes tells me where I haven’t been. Other than roads, I’m fairly happy with Skyrim’s system here. None of the roads are marked when I travel on them. However, there are some points of interest that aren’t marked - I’ve found shrines, camps, and treasure chests that didn’t get placed on the map automatically. In Skyrim, points of interest (towns, caves, forts, etc.) are marked on the map when I visit them - this is good. Where have I been? Whether the overall map is known (games like Skyrim) or unknown (games like Civilization), I’d like to know which places I’ve been to. Here are some things that I’d like to know when playing Skyrim and many other games: History When designing a game map, make a list of the questions the player might ask about locations. If you’re designing a game map, here are some things to think about, and my thoughts on Skyrim’s maps. If you’re playing Skyrim and want a better map, get the Quality World Map mod to add roads to the in-game map. The map should include what’s important for gameplay: forests, not trees roads, not clouds. TL DR - the Skyrim map should include the things my character would put on a map, either by automatically marking things, or by allowing me to annotate them myself. I think a satellite view is almost never the right thing for a game map.

The cloth map is hand-drawn the in-game map is computer generated. Skyrim’s cloth map is like Google Maps “map view” and the in-game map is like “satellite view”. In Google Maps, the satellite view shows the physical features like trees and rocks the map view shows the abstractions like forests and borders. Map design is not only about what’s included but what is omitted. The maps are pretty but they don’t have all the functionality I’d like to see. Game maps and Skyrim Game maps and Skyrim

Map of skyrim with roads