Fields as blocks: redesigning the maps

The first build of Route 2, the Paddy Ridges, had a problem you could see from across the room: too many things in one place, and grass everywhere.

Every tile of the route had its own little crop clump on mud, so the whole map turned into stripes. Tall grass and ledges were dropped into that noise, posts floated in the middle of fields, and the trees along the edge marched in a strict pattern. None of it was wrong on its own. Together it was a mess.

The look rules

So the maps got a short list of look rules, and every map has to pass them now.

• One fill per map. Each map has one base ground (meadow, forest floor, paddy or sand), and it gives the eye a rest between the interesting bits.
• Fields are whole blocks. A second ground, like a flooded paddy field, is a solid rectangle at least three tiles each way, and the path never cuts through it. No more one-tile stripes.
• Three grounds per screen, at most. The path and the water don't count.
• Edges mean something. Where two grounds meet, one creeps over the other, or something built keeps them apart: a channel, a bank, steps, a ledge or a wall.
• Channels carry the water. Water runs in proper channels along the field edges, so a route reads as fields, path and water at a glance.
• Tall grass touches the path. Every patch where spirits hide sits next to the path, never as an island in the middle of a field.
• Landmarks, not clutter. About one built thing per screen: a threshing floor, a pump shed, a sluice, an arch. In between, the ground does the talking.
• Borders are uneven. Trees and palms along the edge mix unevenly, with a few lone trees on field corners.

Two zooms

The test is simple. Look at the whole map at half zoom, and it should read as blocks of fields, path, water and grass. Then walk it at normal height and look for seams and stripes. If it fails either one, it goes back.

The route itself is laid out like a comb, not a maze: one wide main path, with short side branches you can see the end of, and each one gives you a reason to go there: an item, a trainer, a view or a ledge back down.

Next up: Rivertown, at the end of the road.