New ideas for default Sandbox/test map
planned
A
Anonymous Joe
In my opinion, I think default map for Sandbox gamemode should not be an island.
Here's why I think so:
-A lot of vegetation is obstructing player's view.
-A lot of bumps and objects in the way (especially not good for vehicles).
-A visual cluster.
-Generally not a lot of space to roam around.
-(Probably) uses more hardware resources than needed.
So here's what I'm suggesting:
-A map that is visually appealing while being centered on being flat.
-A map that offers alternatives for testing various functions, such as water, underwater, hills, sand, snow, ice, high altitude and clouds (even space if possible), etc.
-Some structures such as airfields, a few tiny towns, a few asphalt roads, etc. (for testing out, but it's not the most important imo)
-Destructibility would be a quite a nice addition too.
-A pretty big size map in general, to enjoy high speeds from vehicles such as cars and aircraft. This includes big heights too.
-Flat areas should avoid high bumps or not have any bumps at all, in order to enjoy using high speed vehicles better, such as cars and aircraft.
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In other words, it's something like Just Cause-ish, but without visual cluster or buildings/infrastructure everywhere (nor humongous size obviously).
A pretty decent example would be a map from that unnusucessful sandbox game where there is a big flat desert area surrounded by mountains/hills.
GTNardy
planned
Hey Joe, thank you for the suggestion. This is something indeed very important and that I personally would love to have, it takes time indeed, but I hope soon™ having someone dedicated to create it!
T
Timmy
What you describe is basically some kind of "city life" roleplay map, and it takes a long time to make. Also, the current default maps are great for testing things out, as they are very quick to load and allow you to test all of the game features.
My opinion is that getting into the "art" side on very big tasks like this (and especially on things that already work since the community can create/import/share their own maps) would slow down the development on more important points, like fixing bugs or adding new features.
The purpose of a sandbox game is above all to give tools to developers and modders to create their worlds, so if the game runs with a good playerbase be sure that this kind of map will exist at some point after it's release.
Voltaism
The TestingMap has to be replaced or a new one has to be done, he already said it.
Making the "default" map that most of the players will see first is a big challenge as it shows what is the game, if you make a big map that looks realistic it's gonna become an rp game in people minds which is not what they are aiming for i think.
I don't really know what this map could look, does it have to look more like gm_construct, or something else ?