It's been about a few weeks since I posted the thread and I finally have a first log. My main task for the past weeks is to layout the critical path of the world map. What this means is that I should be able to walk from point A to the main points in the map, in this case its the main dungeons which includes the Minotaur's Lair.

Before I started mapping, I made a flow graph of the whole map that I can follow as a base for mapping. Here's the graph.



Making graphs is very helpful, it gives some sort of skeletal frame for your maps plus it looks nice. The red ones are the ones I focused on making with some white ones included. The blue shape at the back indicates that it's a group of maps (see image).



Another thing that changed in the past few weeks is the solidification of some features (read features section) and the map design. as a comparison:

OLD


NEW


I changed the design to a more simpler and clearer one. If you compare the two, the path is clearer and the overall feel is better and does not feel cluttered. I wanted it to have the same feel as the maps of Pokemon I used to play. Playing those games felt like it was my choice to go where I want without the game telling me to go there (illusion of choice).

With the first game (Default Fantasy: The Prison), my focus was on the game mechanic that I wanted to implement hence I forgot to focus on the game itself. With this one I'll focus on gameplay and pacing making sure that it has a good mixture of puzzle, exploration, battles and others. That's about all for the first round of my development log.