Lady Kithka
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Posted - 2011.05.28 10:57:00 -
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One of my biggest complaints when it comes to navigating the depths of space in EVE is how hard it can be to decipher necessary information from the EVE map. Now I know that there are plenty of maps out there that can can show me all the systems in any region I choose, so what's the problem?
The problem is lies in why most of these maps exist, which is to make navigating and retrieving useful information easier. For the most part these maps don't actually tell a player anything that they couldn't find out by opening up the map and searching for it themselves. Rather they display this information in a manner that is easier to read and interpret. In essence the problem is that while the in-game map puts a wealth of information at a player's fingertips, it does not do this in a manner that is neither intuitive or easy to interpret.
Now I bring all of this up because I thought up a solution for this while trying to get some information for a friend. As I was searching through my Bookmarks I managed to open one in the map browser, at which point I was like, ôEureka!ö I had suddenly realized that with some simple modifications the map browser could be altered to display the information that most players go to web based maps for in a way that is just as easy to understand and just as intuitive. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about, the next time you're in game open up your bookmarks and select one and then select show solar system in map browser)
The first step is to take the map browser from a window that is either on the left side of the screen or the right, and turn it into three separate windows labeled Universe, Region, and System. The universe and system maps would pretty much remain the same, while the region window could be seen as a merger of the functionality of the region and constellation boxes in the current map browser. This allows a player to minimize portions of the map browser so that they can focus on other parts.
Now that the region and constellation have been merged it's important to do a couple of things. Since the new region window will display all the systems in the the region it would be important to display the names of the system as well, in addition border systems should have an indicator as to what regions they connect to. This is primarily to help with navigation and make the map easier to read.
Easily overlooked yet just as important is to make the new windows adjustable. Once again it boils down to making the map easier to read and making it easier to get at the information they want.
A couple notes I'd like to make. -the maps in the map browser don't need to be to scale or geographically correct. -how ever it is important that regions and systems be in the correct position, ie systems that are no where near each other shouldn't be connected. -the objective is to make the map easier to read by breaking it up into individual regions with the option to look at individual systems as well.
TLDR well that's just too bad isn't it.
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