Continuum world: Map design

Video game maps are an immense challenge. They need to be visually appealing but also highly functional. Additionally, there are technical limitations such as map size, different views, readability, and accessibility.

This map had to contain thousands of lands available for sale, each with its location on the map. It featured five different biomes, each with its own unique features.

I started with the basics: the appearance. Initially, I designed it with a very polygonal and minimalist style.

However, as new requirements emerged, I had to redesign it to be more rounded and closer to the UMIs (the in-game characters).

And when I realized that we needed to programmatically create each map cell with three views, different biomes, and rarities… my head nearly exploded! 🌍💥

I had to go back to polygons, but with another approach that the programming department asked me for: Voronoi diagrams. 😵

We tested a lot, but, a lot, because it was a literally big puzzle. But we got it and here is the result 😎: