map design
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You are currently reading a thread in /v/ - Video Games
Is backtracking the core tenet of good map design?
>>318280487
It's the core tenet of cost savings and killing time.
>>318280623
not so, think of it as map wounding up on itself, making you look at what seemed to be a straightforward jaunt from a different perspective.
DMC did it wrong, From Software did it right. Backtracking is the only way to have player feel like they discovered the place inside out.
When you aren't doing the exact same shit and it's interconnected enough yes.
>>318281090
Yes. When did this first get noticed? With Super Metroid?
>>318280623
So why does Skyrim/Fallout 4 have the magic doorway to the beginning of the dungeon?
Backtracking is shit when its the same exact thing everytime and you can't avoid it no matter what you do
Conversely, it's great when either the enemies change or when you can interact with the same environment in different ways than before.
>>318280487
Also of absolutely fucking terrible map design. Going from point A to B to C to find a key you need to bring to B to get the key for A is fucking terrible, especially if you don't mix it up and just have to replay through exactly the same shit each time (or worse if enemies don't respawn so you're just walking through empty levels). Doing it like SotN or similar games where you come back to areas way later and you can do a bunch of things you couldn't do originally is the right way to do it.
>>318282659
Yes, and later glorified with dark souls 1, imo.
>>318280487
it's fine so long as it's not awfully repetitive and is well crafted
Minimal impossible space with interlinked areas and unlockable shortcuts.
See Dark Souls.
>good backtracking
>pokemon
>shitty backtracking
>smt
Backtracking in the form of replaying levels and doing specific things or looking for something is fun to.
It depends on how it's done.
In something like Metroid, backtracking serves to demonstrate just how much you've progressed. You can use all your new powers to traverse the area or kill stuff, maybe unlock powerups that you couldn't before. Discovering all the interconnections and hidden passages makes you feel like you have a comforting familiarity with what used to be an alienating world.
>>318282760
Because their dungeons are made of repeating tilesets, they can copy paste endless hallways.
>>318283128
>>318283197
I think Souls games worked this so well, even better compared to Metroidvanias, is because of the third person perspective which is an advantage.
>>318283484
I agree, I'd also add that linear progression some games with great level design have (Blood, Quake, Duke 3D) means that you have very limited possiblity of backtracking and stumbling upon an area later, hence disabling the element of revelation which in turn means storytelling.
Backtracking done well isfun
