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Following the Little Dotted Line

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Game Maker's Toolkit8:00Open on YouTube
0:00The Problem with Waypoints1:52Exploration in Older Games2:48Exploration in Indie Games3:21Optional Quests5:54Turning Off Quest Markers7:30Ending
Chapters show their main points

The bottom line

Open-world games feel richer when players find their way by observing and investigating, not by following waypoints and quest markers. Modern games can get this back with optional quests that give clues instead of markers.

Key takeaways

  • Waypoints and mini-map trails pull players out of the world. 0:35
    • In The Witcher 3, a character gives landmark directions (pond, boulder, cart), but a dotted line appears on the map as soon as the talk ends.
    • Players end up stumbling from waypoint to waypoint on an artificial game layer that sits on top of the world.
  • Older games made players read the world to get around. 1:52
    • Deus Ex gives only an aerial photo, and Thief gives incomplete sketched maps.
    • Morrowind maps show only places already visited, so players ask for directions, check the journal or read signposts.
  • Some indie games still make navigation a skill. 2:48
    • Miasmata hides the player's position until they climb to a vantage point and triangulate from two known structures.
  • Big modern games can add optional quests that give clues instead of markers. 3:41
    • Treasure maps in Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim and Black Flag show only a crude drawing of a landmark, so players must match it to the real landscape.
    • In Fallout 3, a hidden scavenger hunt in the Anchorage memorial museum is solved by reading rooms, such as spotting the clinic from its operating table and x-rays.
  • Playing without markers is more fun but rarely supported by the game's design. 6:30
    • After about 10 hours of Fallout 4 without markers, only two quests were finished.
    • In The Witcher 3, turning the helpers off leaves no place names or signposts, so a quest can end in a bandit camp.

The real reward was the chance to engage my brain, to study the surroundings, and to follow clues instead of bread crumbs.

Mark Brown

Chapter summaries

0:00 The Problem with Waypoints

The dotted line floats above the world it replaces
The man's spoken directions already give a full route through real landmarks, but players follow the overlay instead.

Quest helpers turn a rich world into a thin game layer that players follow without looking.

  • Switching off quest markers is a way to take in the world again. 0:14
    • In Fallout 4, Mark Brown deactivates the main quest and every mission handed to him, even a plea to recover a dead woman's locket.
    • The urge came from playing The Witcher 3, where side-screen commands, a mini-map marker and a GPS trail felt like they were spoiling the experience.
    • The Witcher 3's quests are described as exciting, funny and thoughtful. The complaint is about getting to them.
    • Geralt even says the answer aloud (a large stone near the pond) just as the player was about to work it out.
  • Good spoken directions are wasted when a dotted line follows them. 0:53
    • A man gives a route: the pond, a path, a lone rock, the woods, an old cart.
    • The conversation ends and a dotted line appears on the mini-map, so the player follows it and ignores the directions.
    • The result is blind stumbling from waypoint to waypoint, so players never fully take in the world CD Projekt Red built.

1:52 Exploration in Older Games

Before arrows and mini-maps, games gave partial information and made players work out the rest.

  • Old maps were clues to interpret, not routes to follow. 1:59
    • In Deus Ex, a map is only an aerial photo added to the notes, so the player works out where they are and where to go.
    • Thief's original maps were incomplete sketches covered in doodles and notes.
    • The Deus Ex character Paul Denton says he has a map for you, and the photo is all you get.
  • Morrowind makes the player part of the landscape. 2:23
    • The map shows only places already visited, so new destinations mean asking for directions, checking the journal or reading a signpost.
    • Players make their own way through Vvardenfell instead of following breadcrumbs.
    • That path often leads to secrets and surprises along the way.

2:48 Exploration in Indie Games

Miasmata shows your position only after you triangulate
The map is assembled from places you've been and scraps you find, and even your location has to be earned.

A few indie games still make finding your way a skill that earns a reward.

  • Miasmata withholds the player's position until they earn it. 2:55
    • The map is pieced together from visited places and found scraps of paper.
    • Your location appears only after you reach a vantage point and point at two known structures to triangulate.
    • Moving through the world takes skill and determination, which makes reaching a destination feel hugely rewarding.

3:21 Optional Quests

Big modern games can keep their navigation aids and still offer optional quests that reward careful looking.

  • Treasure maps make players match a drawing to the real landscape. 3:42
    • The scrap of paper has only a crude drawing of a landmass, rock or tree, with no hints and no markers.
    • They push players to study the world and delay the reward.
    • Yakuza's locker keys and Skyward Sword's goddess stones and chests work the same way, since an extra step makes the reward sweeter.
    • The idea is aimed at modern triple-A open worlds that offer dynamic maps and hints in the name of accessibility.
  • Unlisted scavenger hunts teach players to read a place. 4:42
    • Fans call these hidden or unlisted quests, and they don't count as quests in the game.
    • In Fallout 3's Anchorage memorial museum, a computer note points to a floor safe in the clinic. A safe component opens a hidden door, then a key and note lead to a refrigerator.
    • The prize is a load of bottle caps and a mirelurk cake recipe, which is only an inside joke at Bethesda.
    • He didn't mind, since the real reward was using his brain and following clues instead of breadcrumbs.

5:54 Turning Off Quest Markers

Playing without markers lets curiosity lead, but most games aren't built for it, so they should make markers optional.

  • Without markers, curiosity decides where the player goes. 5:54
    • A building on the horizon becomes a reason to go and see what treasures or stories are inside.
    • Notes and scavenger hunts are solved by the player's own investigation.
    • One note says a guard found the mayor in the tub and locked the door. The player finds the right room by spotting a sign, not by following a waypoint.
    • The aim is to be led by my own curiosity, and not by a compass.
  • Games should let players choose markers, and hide a few quests from the map. 7:03
    • Markers would be optional, for when the player is lost or wants fast progress.
    • A few missions would stay off the map and quest log.
    • The Witcher 3 quest to find a lost patrol says only somewhere along the south shore of Lake Wyndemere.
    • With the helpers off, the map has no place names and nobody can be asked for directions.

In the growth library

Mark Brown, creator of Game Maker's Toolkit. Quest markers and mini-map trails can turn an open world into a layer of waypoint-chasing that keeps players from actually looking at the world. Mark Brown shows older and newer games that make navigation an act of observation, and the Fallout 3 museum scavenger hunt that rewards reading the environment.

More from Game Maker's Toolkit · The whole library, and ask it anything

Transcript102 lines
The Problem with Waypoints 0:00
0:07

Hi, this is Mark Brown with Game Maker's Toolkit, a series on video game design. The first thing I did when I emerged from Vault 111 in Fallout 4 was deactivate the main quest. And whenever someone gives me a mission... BLAKE ABERNATHY: Those raiders that killed Mary, they took her locket too. If you could get it back, it'd mean a lot to us... I deactivate that too. I'm doing this, slightly mad thing, because I had just been playing The Witcher 3, and felt that the game's helpful, hand-hand-holding quest information - like the commands on the side of the screen, the marker on the mini-map, and the magic GPS trail to my next location - was kind of... spoiling the experience.

0:53

Like, take this chap with the funny hairdo. He's giving me some directions to my next quest point and he says... BOWL CUT BLOKE: Know the small pond near the village? Path leads off from it. Follow that 'til you come across a lone rock. Walk around that and into the woods, find the old cart, you're there. Okay, got it. Pond, Boulder, Cart. I'm on it. But as soon as we leave the conversation, a dotted line appears on my mini-map. So I follow it. I end up here, and I guess I have to find GERALT: a large stone near the pond ah, god damn it Geralt! I was about to say that.

1:26

The quests in this game are often exciting and funny and thoughtful, but getting to them just has you blindly stumbling from waypoint to waypoint, not fully taking in this incredible world that CD Projekt Red has established. It's so hard to be truly immersed in a world like this when you spend most of your time operating in this artificial video game layer, that sits on top of everything else.

Exploration in Older Games 1:52
1:52

Games with nonlinear levels and big open worlds didn't use to be like this. It's hard to believe there was once a time before floating arrows and mini-maps but go back and play Deus Ex and when Paul Denton says he has map for you, he just means you now have an aerial photo in your notes, and you'll have to figure out where you are, where your objective is, and where to go by observing and investigating. Similarly, the maps in the original Thief were incomplete sketches, covered in doodles and notes.

2:23

And then there's Morrowind. You've got a map but it only shows you places you've been so if you need to get somewhere new you need to ask someone for directions, or consult your journal, or look at a signpost. You actually have to be a part of the world, and become immersed in the landscape. Instead of simply following a trail of breadcrumbs you make your own way through Vvardenfell, and often end up finding secrets and surprises along the way.

Exploration in Indie Games 2:48
2:48

A few games are still carrying that torch. Science-based survival sim Miasmata, for example, offers you a map, which is pieced together from places you've been and scraps of paper you find, but it refuses to show you your current position unless you get to a good vantage point and triangulate your location by pointing to two, known structures. Or weenies, if you watched the previous episode. Again, simply moving through the world requires skill and determination, and there's a huge sense of reward when you reach your destination.

Optional Quests 3:21
3:22

But okay. Those are arcane retro games and high concept indies. What about modern triple-A open worlders, that feel the need to offer dynamically updated maps and helpful hints in the name of accessibility? Well, how about more optional quests that shun such navigational aids, and encourage devoted players to really engage with the world? Like the treasure maps you find in games like Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, and Assassin's Creed Black Flag.

3:51

The idea with these is that you get a scrap of paper which directs you to some hidden booty. The map might have a crude drawing of some landmass or a rock or a tree, and that's about it. You then need to scour the landscape and find the real-world equivalent of this drawing. You're left to figure it out yourself with no hints, no map markers, no hand-holding. They're fun because they encourage you to really study and explore the game's world.

4:16

And they also have a nice byproduct in that they delay the gratification of getting a reward. Like finding keys, to open lockers in Yakuza, or hitting goddess stones to unlock goddess chests in Skyward Sword, putting an extra step in before finding a reward makes it all the more sweeter. Anyway. I always cherished these scraps of paper in games because they give me a chance to slow down, take in the environment, and figure things out for myself.

4:42

The other way to encourage proper exploration is with small scavenger hunts, that don't actually count as quests. Sometimes they're called hidden quests or unlisted quests by the fans. One of my most memorable moments in Fallout 3 took place in the Anchorage memorial museum. I hacked into this computer, and found a note about a hidden stash, behind a busted storage door near the service entrance. I just needed to find a floor safe in the clinic.

5:07

Which is this room. How do I know it's the clinic? Well it says clinic on the door which is a pretty big giveaway but also there's an operating table and x-rays on the wall and a changing screen and a scalpel in the locker. You can see how playing in this fashion encourages you to read the world in a very different, but more organic way. Anyway. Inside the safe is a component, which lets me open the door. And behind that door is some goodies, a key, and a note pointing me to a refrigerator. Which I find and open to get my prize: a big load of bottle caps and... A recipe for mirelurk cakes?

5:40

Well, turns out the recipe is just an Easter egg. An inside joke at Bethesda. But I didn't care. The real reward was the chance to engage my brain, to study the surroundings, and to follow clues instead of bread crumbs.

Turning Off Quest Markers 5:54
5:54

So that's why I'm wandering the wasteland in Fallout 4 without waypoints and quest markers. I want to be lead by my own curiosity, and not by a compass. I want to find interesting notes and follow scavenger hunts, but using my own powers of investigation. I want to see some interesting building over the horizon, and just go see what fun treasures or stories can be found inside. And when I find a note that says... SHELTER GUARD: Found the mayor in the tub last night. Locked the door before the missus found him I want to find the right room by finding a sign like this, instead of just following a waypoint.

6:30

I'm not exactly making much meaningful progress in the game, mind you. I've been playing Fallout 4 for around 10 hours and finished exactly two quests. The game simply isn't designed to be played this way - like how you can also turn off all the quest helpers in The Witcher 3 but then some guy will say... MILAN NORAN: The patrol has been lost, somewhere along the south shore of Lake Wyndemere and you soon realise there are no signposts and no place names on your map and you can't ask for directions. So you try and find it yourself and you end up in a bandit camp and you run away and oh god is that a bear? This has gone very wrong indeed.

7:03

But I am having fun. Perhaps in an ideal world, games like this would be perfectly playable without map markers, but you could turn them on if you get really lost, or you just want to make some fast progress. But, for now, at least, it'd be cool to see a few more optional missions in games that don't show up on your map or your quest log, and let you take a moment to really soak the world in. To get around through observation and investigation, and not blind subservience to that little dotted line.

Ending 7:30
7:33

Hi guys, it's Mark here. Thank you so much for watching the episode. If you enjoyed it please leave a comment, like the videos subscribe to the channel, or consider pitching in via Patreon. This month my supporters not only helped fund the episode, but helped with suggestions and ideas for this very episode. If you want to get involved and literally make the show happen, then please head over to Patreon.com.