Maps in Games

Location: The Krazzworks, Twilight Highlands, Eastern Kingdoms, Azeroth [fictional]
Game: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm [Blizzard Entertainment]
By this point we may well be draining Azeroth dry for diegetic maps… This offering is a shaky one, as really most of the diagrams on offer here at the Krazzworks nerve centre are just that, rather than accurate depictions of places in the world of Warcraft. Still, the goblins don’t generally go in for cartography, rather favouring simplistic illustrations of where mole machines are in relation to the Alliance fortress at Highbank, with big arrows directing them to destruction.
This table is overseen by argumentative goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel: Brett the Bomber, Flashbang Rothman and Captain Krazz himself. It is stocked with an intriguing pot of takeaway noodles, and offers yet another appearance for the ubiquitous wooden globe, as featured here.
Incidentally, this is the first post since launching Maps in Games’ own Twitter feed, should you be interested in following us or making suggestions that way!

Location: The Krazzworks, Twilight Highlands, Eastern Kingdoms, Azeroth [fictional]
Game: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm [Blizzard Entertainment]

By this point we may well be draining Azeroth dry for diegetic maps… This offering is a shaky one, as really most of the diagrams on offer here at the Krazzworks nerve centre are just that, rather than accurate depictions of places in the world of Warcraft. Still, the goblins don’t generally go in for cartography, rather favouring simplistic illustrations of where mole machines are in relation to the Alliance fortress at Highbank, with big arrows directing them to destruction.

This table is overseen by argumentative goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel: Brett the Bomber, Flashbang Rothman and Captain Krazz himself. It is stocked with an intriguing pot of takeaway noodles, and offers yet another appearance for the ubiquitous wooden globe, as featured here.

Incidentally, this is the first post since launching Maps in Games’ own Twitter feed, should you be interested in following us or making suggestions that way!

World of Warcraft, MMO, fantasy, RPG, Azeroth, globes,

Location 1: Lost Rigger Cove, Tanaris, Kalimdor, Azeroth [fictional]
Location 2: Doom’s Vigil, Mount Hyjal, Kalimdor, Azeroth [fictional]
Location 3: The Twilight Citadel, Twilight Highlands, Eastern Kingdoms, Azeroth [fictional]
Game: World of Warcraft; World of Warcraft: Cataclysm [Blizzard Entertainment]

Back once more to the world of Warcraft, with one of the first maps I’d ever noticed in a game. This one’s an oldie, having been around since the game’s original inception. I believe I first noticed it on the disputed Horde border between The Barrens and Ashenvale; at the time, I assumed it was a caricatured depiction of either the Warsong Gulch battleground or the infamous Crossroads. In truth it doesn’t seem to depict anywhere specific in the world, which makes it a fairly flexible asset for use all over Azeroth.

The map is hastily drawn, and seems to fit orcish battle plans in particular. The land is mountainous, and is crossed by two tributaries which join at a settlement of some sort. Assuming that the compass rose depicts north, as in the game’s regional maps, this places a lake or pond out west from the unnamed settlement. There are also two facilities to be seen at the south-west and south-east; presumably lumber mills or some other sort of production facility.

Taken at various points throughout my playing the game, with shots depicting my Forsaken rogue and Sin’dorei priestess.

World of Warcraft, MMO, fantasy, RPG, Azeroth, maps, games, scrolls, regional, military,

Location: Spaceport, Coruscant, Coreward Worlds (fictional)
Game: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Submitted by: Liam Nicholson
Thanks again to Liam for this submission! He writes:

My newly appointed Jedi Knight of the Republic finally arrived on the capital of the Republic. On the way out, this planetary map greeted him - presumably a generic, repeated, map texture. I won’t know how unique these maps are without translation from Aurebesh to the English alphabet. Somewhat disappointing, as the variety of worlds and cultures in the Star Wars universe is one of its major draws, and unique maps would have been an easy addition.

It does look like a fairly generic star map - enough to put the player in the right frame of reference, but not quite enough to place them directly inside the Star Wars galaxy. Fortunately there are plenty of maps which illustrate the galaxy, as well as some fascinating illustrations of historical border disputes, available at Wookieepedia.

Location: Spaceport, Coruscant, Coreward Worlds (fictional)
Game: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Submitted by: Liam Nicholson

Thanks again to Liam for this submission! He writes:

My newly appointed Jedi Knight of the Republic finally arrived on the capital of the Republic. On the way out, this planetary map greeted him - presumably a generic, repeated, map texture. I won’t know how unique these maps are without translation from Aurebesh to the English alphabet. Somewhat disappointing, as the variety of worlds and cultures in the Star Wars universe is one of its major draws, and unique maps would have been an easy addition.

It does look like a fairly generic star map - enough to put the player in the right frame of reference, but not quite enough to place them directly inside the Star Wars galaxy. Fortunately there are plenty of maps which illustrate the galaxy, as well as some fascinating illustrations of historical border disputes, available at Wookieepedia.

submitted, Star Wars, The Old Republic, RPG, MMO, action, sci-fi, galaxies, Coruscant, submission,

Location 1: Medivh’s Chambers, Karazhan, Deadwind Gorge, Eastern Kingdoms, Azeroth [fictional]
Location 2: Lost Rigger Cove, Tanaris, Kalimdor, Azeroth (fictional)
Game: World of Warcraft &World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade [Blizzard Entertainment]

This wooden globe is seen all over Azeroth, but here it is placed in two particularly appropriate locations: the chambers of a former Guardian of Azeroth, and the ground floor of a hut in the Bloodsail Buccaneers’ pirate compound. There are occasions when this globe is rendered backwards, as Azeroth’s more jagged continent includes a distinctive and large bay on the western coast, separating Lordaeron from Khaz Modan. This is evidenced more clearly on the holographic globe in Ulduar, which was featured here back in December.

World of Warcraft, globes, fantasy, MMO, RPG, Azeroth,

Location 1: Dawnstrider Enchanters, Thunder Bluff, Mulgore, Kalimdor, Azeroth (fictional)
Location 2: Guardian’s Library, Karazhan, Deadwind Gorge, Eastern Kingdoms, Azeroth (fictional)
Game: World of Warcraft [Blizzard Entertainment]

This more subtle map appears as a crest, in books scattered about Azeroth. This graphic, which is framed inside a shield, depicts four continents on Azeroth, scattered around the Maelstrom in its centre. This in itself is curious, as while the game world has gone through a few changes in its time, the world currently only includes the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor in the west, and Northrend to the north. This emblem shows a large continent to the south, which may simply be unexplained, or could be a conglomerate of the goblin Lost Isles and Kezan, and the floating island of Pandaria.

These snaps also include my holy/shadow priestess, Diziet.

World of Warcraft, emblems, maps, Azeroth, games, MMO, RPG, fantasy,

Location: Easton Station, Algonquin, Liberty City (fictional), USA
Game: Grand Theft Auto IV [Rockstar North]
Submitted by: ‘Rainbowescapades’
This view of a Liberty City transit map sheds a fascinating light upon what seems to be an unusually detailed system in GTA IV. Much of the LTA Rail subway is the subject of vandalism, but here we get to see the railway map almost in its entirety. We also see that it bears some resemblance to Liberty City’s New York template.
Easton sits on the Inner and Outer Algonquin lines, acting as an exchange for what later becomes the Broker line, to the east. The fact it is such a key stop has been carried through to various elements of the station’s design, as seen here in the station concourse:

Thanks again to ‘Rainbowescapades’ for the submission; supporting images were obtained from the GTA Wikia project.

Location: Easton Station, Algonquin, Liberty City (fictional), USA
Game: Grand Theft Auto IV [Rockstar North]
Submitted by: ‘Rainbowescapades’

This view of a Liberty City transit map sheds a fascinating light upon what seems to be an unusually detailed system in GTA IV. Much of the LTA Rail subway is the subject of vandalism, but here we get to see the railway map almost in its entirety. We also see that it bears some resemblance to Liberty City’s New York template.

Easton sits on the Inner and Outer Algonquin lines, acting as an exchange for what later becomes the Broker line, to the east. The fact it is such a key stop has been carried through to various elements of the station’s design, as seen here in the station concourse:

Thanks again to ‘Rainbowescapades’ for the submission; supporting images were obtained from the GTA Wikia project.

4 notes

submitted, Grand Theft Auto, IV, Liberty City, transit maps, games, maps, cartography, subway, action, crime, submission,

Location: Firefly Island, Broker, Liberty City (fictional), USA
Game: Grand Theft Auto IV [Rockstar North]
Submitted by: ‘Rainbowescapades’
Another map from around Liberty City, this time illustrating the boardwalk at the city’s answer to Coney Island. As ‘Rainbow’ points out, the map does look like somebody went to town on the Photoshop filters, and so there’s not much to see beyond the general shape. This sort of sign is, however, a nice addition to the street furniture, with a legend on the left-hand side contributing to the sense of authenticity.
Apologies for the infrequent posts of late - I used to keep a schedule of every two days, but posts just seem to ebb and flow. Such is the way of things! In the mean time, I’ll be working on an archive of sorts so you can browse past posts more easily.

Location: Firefly Island, Broker, Liberty City (fictional), USA
Game: Grand Theft Auto IV [Rockstar North]
Submitted by: ‘Rainbowescapades’

Another map from around Liberty City, this time illustrating the boardwalk at the city’s answer to Coney Island. As ‘Rainbow’ points out, the map does look like somebody went to town on the Photoshop filters, and so there’s not much to see beyond the general shape. This sort of sign is, however, a nice addition to the street furniture, with a legend on the left-hand side contributing to the sense of authenticity.

Apologies for the infrequent posts of late - I used to keep a schedule of every two days, but posts just seem to ebb and flow. Such is the way of things! In the mean time, I’ll be working on an archive of sorts so you can browse past posts more easily.

submitted, Grand Theft Auto, IV, Liberty City, Firefly Island, maps, games, submission,

Game: Dear Esther [Thechineseroom]
Submitted by: Gemmy
There’s not much I can say about this map, other than the fact it depicts a rather curious highlight of roads in Great Britain and Ireland. Included amongst this pile of degraded papers (or wallpaper?) and what appears to be a map of Europe is a water-damaged depiction of the United Kingdom, with two bold tracks making a route between Land’s End and John O’Groats.
These tracks follow the major arteries, including:
A-roads past Bodmin, Launceston and Bude;
The M5 and M6 from Exeter to Carlisle via Birmingham;
The A74(M) and assorted motorways in lowland Scotland, leading to A-roads through the Grampians;
and an assortment of A-roads around Strathclyde, splitting off from Glasgow to go the highlands route via Fort William.
Since I know so little about the game and have no supporting information, can anyone amongst you help fill in the gaps?

Game: Dear Esther [Thechineseroom]
Submitted by: Gemmy

There’s not much I can say about this map, other than the fact it depicts a rather curious highlight of roads in Great Britain and Ireland. Included amongst this pile of degraded papers (or wallpaper?) and what appears to be a map of Europe is a water-damaged depiction of the United Kingdom, with two bold tracks making a route between Land’s End and John O’Groats.

These tracks follow the major arteries, including:

A-roads past Bodmin, Launceston and Bude;
The M5 and M6 from Exeter to Carlisle via Birmingham;
The A74(M) and assorted motorways in lowland Scotland, leading to A-roads through the Grampians;
and an assortment of A-roads around Strathclyde, splitting off from Glasgow to go the highlands route via Fort William.

Since I know so little about the game and have no supporting information, can anyone amongst you help fill in the gaps?

4 notes

submitted, horror, Dear Esther, FPS, thriller, UK, Great Britain, road maps, games,

Location 1: Hall of Doom, Slaughter Swamp, Gotham County, New Jersey, USA
Location 2: Watchtower, Justice League Satellite II, Earth orbit
Game: DC Universe Online [Sony Online Enterainment]

This superhero MMO presents the player with two different globes - and globes are quite a regular theme in our game worlds - depending on their good or evil alignment. As contributor ‘Big-Cow’ describes, villains are allowed to pass between Metropolis and Gotham by way of the Hall of Doom, which presents the Earth as a red hologram. The Hall is described on the DC Wikia project as being in a secret location, somewhere in a swamp which lays geographically between the two major cities - indeed, the stomping grounds for Superman and Batman.

Heroes pass instead through the Watchtower, which leads me to some conjecture based on my lack of experience with DC comics. The Watchtower has long been the headquarters of the Justice League of America, but its destruction saw the Watchtower reincarnated as a satellite. It appears that DC Universe employs the latter, because as ‘Big-ow’ points out, the heroes’ holo-map is rendered fairly pointless by a view of the actual Earth just outside:

Thanks to regular contributor ‘Big-Cow’ for these! Each render includes a targeting reticule, while the Hall of Doom shot appears to have an interactive ‘hotspot’ too.

3 notes

submitted, DC Universe Online, MMO, action, Earth,

I Work.. for the Horde!

Location 1: The Dark Portal, Blasted Lands, Eastern Kingdoms, Azeroth [fictional]
Location 2: The Stair of Destiny, Hellfire Peninsula, Outland (formerly Draenor), The Twisting Nether [fictional]
Game: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade [Blizzard Entertainment]

Returning once more to the worlds of Azeroth and Outland, we have a quite simplistic map to illustrate this expansion’s realm. The map appears on a campaign table before Warlord Dar’toon and Watch Commander Relthorn Netherwane (of the Horde and Alliance respectively), at a point where players of the appropriate experience are sent forth into the alien battlefront. The same map also appears in the Horde base at Thrallmar, and presumably in Honour Hold, as part of the player’s gradual movement through the conflict on Outland. In Thrallmar it is overseen by Nazgrel (advisor to then-Warchief Thrall) and Magister Bloodhawk of Silvermoon City.

The map is unlabelled, which means it serves as little other than an illustration. What it does show is still quite telling though, as the distinctive ‘E’ shape is actually that of a complete Draenor, rather than the now-shattered Outland. It is as though the map has been drawn from the orcs’ memory of their old homeworld, with nothing yet to show the desolation which was wreaked upon it after Gul’dan and Ner’zhul’s deal with the Burning Legion. It makes some sense, as the orcs were cut off from their homeworld long before the events portrayed in World of Warcraft, when Draenor was irreparably damaged by the opening of multiple inter-dimensional portals.

For comparison, here’s the in-game map of Outland, courtesy of WoWwiki:

Taken while on a transition quest to begin play in Outland. The character is my own blood elf priestess, Diziet.

World of Warcraft, military, Draenor, Hellfire Peninsula, Outland, Blasted Lands,

I Used to Be a Cartographer…

Location: Dragonsreach, Whiterun, Skyrim, Tamriel, Nirn (fictional)
Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Bethesda Game Studios]

A land as rich and turbulent as Skyrim is well-deserving of cartography, and I dare say that this is my favourite example yet. This shot (featuring Liam Nicholson’s avatar, William) depicts one of the campaign maps which are dotted around a civil war region. Liam writes:

Used primarily by the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks to plan their civil war, each blue or red flag marks a location of an encampment or stronghold held by one of the two armies. Clicking one marks that location on your map in the menu, which is rather helpful.

I particularly like the Tolkien-esque rendering of mountains and waters, the sheer size of the map and the rather nicely-scripted title, below and to the left. The fact it interacts with the player’s UI-integrated map is an excellent feature too, since the idea of each hero carrying around their own, commissioned piece sits contrary to the likely expense with which they’re crafted.

Thanks to Liam for this submission! The snapshot is taken with a regular camera pointed at a screen, and so the colour is slightly desaturated.