3D Maps are Hard

It's only the most important quality of life feature in this game...

What am I working on?

This week I’ve been tweaking the user interface of Tetria’s Tower. It’s gotta be pretty, and it’s gotta be functional.

I’m pleased with most of it so far. The exception is… the freaking map.

What’s the problem?

The nature of Tetria’s Tower requires that the player have tools to develop a strong understanding of where the rooms are within the tower — in three dimensions.

Everything I try to make it pretty makes it less functional.

The more functional it is, the uglier it looks.

Here’s a few screenshots of the map as-is.

There are three main components to the map: the tower boundaries, the rooms, and a player position indicator.

What I like:

• The player can rotate the tower to get different views of the rooms.

• Transparency allows the player to see how all the rooms fit together.

What I don’t like:

• The tower boundaries look ugly and are visually confusing.

• It’s not easy to see a path from point A to point B.

• The look of the tower and the rooms don’t fully jive with the look of the UI.

How am I going to fix it?

(Help please)

I need to do some research about how other developers have solved this problem. I’m sure I’m not the first person to develop a game with needs akin to this one, but I haven’t found a game where I think their solution would work for me. I am very open to suggestions on where to look for inspiration.

I have a couple ideas of how to address the map. I’d love to hear any additional ideas or feedback on what I should try first. Here is the spaghetti I’m already thinking of throwing at the wall:

Rework the Tower Boundaries

I’m displeased with the look of the boundaries as-is. I’m for sure going to change the way they look. I’m thinking they should have fewer or no harsh lines so that the whole map looks less cluttered.

Rework the Rooms

The rooms are what I’m most pleased with right now, but maybe I could change them in a way that makes it more obvious where doors are positioned.

Change the PC Location Indicator

I’m for sure going to make the PC location indicator prettier. Maybe a little flower?

A Second View Mode

I’m starting to think I might need to implement an ‘orthogonal view’ mode where you can see a cross section of the tower from above, below, or any side. This would essentially be a second map system, which is non-trivial for me to develop. I think it would probably be useful… but I’m a bit worried that if I pursue this, I am just opening a whole new can of UI problems.

What next?

I’ll probably follow up on the map next time I post. The big question mark on development time left is the map, so once I figure that out, I think I’ll have a release date for the demo!

Follow me elsewhere!

I’ve set up an itch.io page for Good Gourd Games. I’d like to post more technical developer logs on there, and when I release the demo for Tetria’s Tower, it will be one of the places you can access it from.

I also set up a bluesky, where the game dev community is very active.