r/truegaming • u/sammyjamez • 1d ago
In favour of a compass mechanic instead of the mini-map in video games
Something that a lot of games nowadays, especially open-world games (as most games nowadays are designed in an open-world format) are designed to have the mini-map displayed as part of the HUD so that they can convey the information for the player where they need to go and to not get lost.
However, there is a paradox here - most open-world games are made with a deliberate attempt to encourage players to explore the maps.
This could be to immerse themselves in the world and its details but also to collect secrets or other items that the players may need along the way.
Yet more often than not, most games have these mini-maps, quite literally, displaying all the information that they need as if they are pointing the players exactly where to go which minimises the need to explore or travel in paths that are not part of the main roads or the paths chosen by the game.
These are mostly path-finders and while they make sense in case the players need to go from one place to another on a very large map, this minimises the need to explore and look at whatever secrets or other information there are within the world because it makes the pathfinding too easy for the players if the games themselves directly point to the player exactly where to go.
The regard to challenge this design is to make a compass instead of a mini-map and some games to implement this feature.
While it omits players from having all the necessary information at once, it provokes critical thinking skills which adds to the immersion of the game but also allows the player to traverse within the games' worlds however they please and may even stumble upon activities or secrets that the games have, sometimes without even knowing it.
This can be useful for both single-player and multi-player.
Using the worlds' designs - the maps, the pathways, the different doors or windows that the players can test to see if they can pass through; these elements can be utilised to make the players a part of the world that they are navigating in instead of making the traversability all too easy and just giving all the information to the player.
Some games already do this whenever there are hubworlds like Deus Ex or even the recent Indiana Jones game or in the recent Assassin's Creed games.
In multiplayer, this can be useful as well. There was the idea to omit the mini-map in CODMW 2019 but the fans disagreed with this (except that you can play without the mini-map in Hardcore mode) the idea was to force the players to use their skills and knowledge of the maps to traverse during matches, making the players having to use their skills to find another way to go the objective or face their enemies instead of having the mini-map (or even the map instead if it was designed with clear angles and roads) telling them exactly there to go.
Three multiplayer games that use the compass design over the mini-map design are the ARMA games, Insurgency and Rainbow Six Siege. Not only these games are heavily designed to invoke communication but this makes it a lot harder for players to find where the enemies are which invokes critical thinking.
Where they are, how to find them, what to do, why they are there and so on.
Other elements within these games are specifically designed to be utilised over the mini-map design like the sounds or even the distinct colour schemes behind characters like what kind of characters there are, friend or foe, what they are wearing, whether armour or no armour, what weapons they are using.
Instead of telling the mini-map or even the map's UI telling the players exactly what these are (like for example when you use the Eagle Vision or the literal eagle in the latest Assassin's Creed games or even the recent Far Cry games since Far Cry 3), you are instantly shown what enemies you have and where they are, the player to figure what the information themselves.
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u/unoleian 1d ago
When the minimap displays too much information I tend to start doing what I call ‘playing the map’ and I’m effectively, if not entirely, ignoring the main game view space and just playing the game in the abstract map space. Once I realize I’m playing the map instead of playing the game, it tends to cool my interest in whatever I’m playing. So I try to disable the map as a remedy to this, but in doing so realize the game itself isn’t giving ample information to achieve the objectives without it. It can really put a damper on a lot of games or help me realize when they have deficincies in their design that put too much reliance on that map.
I tend to agree that a well made compass is a more immersive presentation overall, or like you said, a deliberately designed game space can help with remedying this as well. The best designed game spaces obviate the need for either in the moment to moment gameplay.
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u/Juliett10 1d ago
Or do something like The Division did, where it's a somewhat unobtrusive line laid over the terrain. The basic idea is a good one, at least.
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u/pickupnplay 1d ago
I remember when I first had to learn the maps in Tarkov. I didn't look up any YT guides yet but followed the fan made maps and used the ingame compass.
I had to figure out where North was and where I was facing and correlate it to the map and it felt really, really cool like I was an actual Merc trying to navigate the woods in Russia.
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u/ThomasHL 1d ago
I always try and turn off the guidance UI as much as possible in games. I like the game world to be as immersive as possible, and I think learning and navigating an environment is a fun part of an open world game.
I liked Ghosts of Tshusima's guidance system best. Their map locations have natural in-game 'guides' to the site (for example if you see a fox, and follow it, it will take you to a nearby shrine) and then if you set an objective the wind will blow in the direction of the objective. So instead of looking at a minimap or a compass, you're looking at the game's actual environment.
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u/floataway3 1d ago
Elden Ring as well, whenever you get to a sight of Grace, there will be a glimmer of golden light pointing you in the direction of the next story objective, and this will be highlighted on the static map screen as well. At the same time, that game famously invites players to go off the beaten path, and explore their own way.
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u/KamiIsHate0 1d ago
Could be a interesting option if well implemented and made sense in universe, but most of times they are horrible and don't work as intended. It's so easy to bug those out and make you lose time in a compass that don't lead you anywhere.
Recently i played XC2 again and it uses the compass as "default" marker as the minimap is horrible but a lot of times i was in the quest and the compass was showing that i was 100m away of the spot. Sometimes i told me i was in the spot but it was very different floor that i would need to walk a kilometer to get there.
I think we should still use minimaps but just tune down the amount of info if it's the problem.
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u/bvanevery 1d ago
Compasses are not supposed to lead you anywhere. You are supposed to establish your leads by some other means. Then you use the compass to navigate to them, as best you can. Orienteering is a thing.
Buggy in game code, yeah that's annoying, but whaddya gonna do. Software has bugs. It's not really a reason to embrace or avoid anything. Long as some bug has an "escape hatch" like you don't get stuck in a wall forever, you can respawn somewhere else, then whatever. Try to debug and patch the bugs, but something won't be, so whatever.
"Bugs" with compasses in real life, that's a thing. They're magnetic. Any strong magnetic source can mess them up. It has been a plot point in many stories over the decades / centuries.
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u/raul_kapura 22h ago
I think there are many players that expect gps in games, cause they don't have that much time to play.
Also in many games nothing really happens when traveling and i think that's the bigger issue. Like in Kingdom Come, you can disable every UI element, disable your position on the map. If you get lost you have to navigate using sun and moon. It is amazing and rewarding to figure out your way out of the woods. But in a long run it's more and more tedious and doesn't make the travel interesting on it's own.
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u/Sonic10122 1d ago
I think more games should implement both as well as an option to turn off navigation entirely. But on a personal level, hard disagree, I heavily dislike compasses in open world games. I would rather have too much information than too little, and a compass most of the time is practically useless. Functionally it’s no different than a floating waypoint with no navigation arrows, and I would still prefer that over a useless compass grafted to the top of my screen.
Like I said, more options the better. FFVII Remake and Rebirth let you use both to great effect but I personally despise the compass.
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u/KawaiiGangster 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is interesting in the open world space, Todd Howard has specifically talked about this with Skyrim. As a player exploring the world you should not have your eyes on a minimap, your eyes should be on the enviorment in front of you thats why they use the compass instead. The whole idea of ”that mountain you see in the distance, you can go there” works way better without a mini map.
Skyrim has the advantage of every NPC being someone you can talk to and almost every location you see being of note so you are just expected to talk to anyone and walk up to anything you see and potentially find a quest.
As a counter In the Witcher 3 instead the enviorment is filled with lots of empty buildings and nameless NPCs that you cant talk to that does create a more ”realistic” looking world but makes it so the game cant expect you to walk up to each npc or ruin in the distance and see if they are just backround character or someone that has a purpose so they need to be highlighted on the map somehow instead and it needs to be easy to find them.
(Not meant to start a war here hahah, both games are great with somewhat different goals.)