I will give you my thought on this - CP77 has a great opportunity to integrate most of the gameplay mechanics into "realistic HUD". With the technology and implants everything you thought jarring in fantasy games can be an tech exploit of your gadgets - like NC minimap and locations ping on your display....
There are some good ideas here about how these things could be implemented in the game.
I think I've said this before in some other thread, but personally I'm not fan of GPS-like navigation systems except maybe when first starting.
On the other hand, I've never experienced an open world set in a city... and, when I think about it, Novigrad definitely is a bit of a pain to navigate with just the world map. And Night City is bound to be a lot bigger than Novigrad.
To sum up: having navigational aids as an optional feature is, in my opinion, the best solution. Use when you need, hide/disable when you don't.
I will give you my thought on this - CP77 has a great opportunity to integrate most of the gameplay mechanics into "realistic HUD". With the technology and implants everything you thought jarring in fantasy games can be an tech exploit of your gadgets - like NC minimap and locations ping on your display....
This. Treat it as some google maps in nowdays. In real life you also use a map/gps to get to some location if you don't know the place.
The only thing I would like in the game about navigation is not to have an exact marker on the map if the game doesn't tell you the exact address. Lets say you found a tip that you have to go to some hotel in specific area or street and there is more than one in that location. You have to make a quick search for hotels in your gps system and visit those which match the tip.
And regarding markers, what I hate the most are markers pointing to specific NPCs who are traveling and may be located in some random place. I'd prefer again some kind of tips where to search for and make some challenge from it unless we can hack to someone and track him because of it. Then I can accept such marker.
I don't want to get frustrated trying to find an objective, but also I don't want too many things on screen to distract me, there are intelligent ways to compromise. I think a compass is good because it doesn't show an exact path, only a direction, so there is still some degree of spacial reasoning required. Now the compass could be toggled with a button, the entire UI could be toggled with a quick press of a button, to clear up the screen when you don't need that shit. Also, objective markers could be approximate, or perhaps not even markers, they could be objective "zones" displayed as transparent volumes in the game world, so you know when you have entered into the correct region for the objective. Also, the zone could shrink as time goes on, so if you are struggling the game will narrow down the area to assist you. The size of zones could also be tied to difficulty level. The game could also give the player other hints and tips, by talking to NPCs and obtaining Intel etc.
More intelligent game design is required. The objective marker/mini map/compass combination is absolute brain rot.
I will give you my thought on this - CP77 has a great opportunity to integrate most of the gameplay mechanics into "realistic HUD". With the technology and implants everything you thought jarring in fantasy games can be an tech exploit of your gadgets - like NC minimap and locations ping on your display....
Simple directions are all a person needs, but that's extra voice acting. Can't count on help there. At least Preston Garvey isn't marking settlements on our maps.
A minimap is more appropriate in confined/labyrinthine level design. A compass works better for more open sandbox design. It looks like CP will have both, so if I had to choose, give me a minimap. If you don't like it, turn it off (Momot already stated they would allow players to do this) or don't look at it. I recently played Vampyr which had a compass where it should have had a minimap, and it was a colossal pain in the ass.
A minimap is more appropriate in confined/labyrinthine level design. A compass works better for more open sandbox design. It looks like CP will have both, so if I had to choose, give me a minimap. If you don't like it, turn it off (Momot already stated they would allow players to do this) or don't look at it. I recently played Vampyr which had a compass where it should have had a minimap, and it was a colossal pain in the ass.
Personally I would love if minimap was turned off by default. Cyberpunk 2077 is the world where we find ourselves lost but we need to overcome that feeling and make name for yourself. So I think the best option would be empty UI at the beginning. Then you would gain option to install map/compass cybernetic. It's just that in my opinion every UI thing should be gained by cybernetic implant. Like that demo hand grip which give V ability to see how many bullets she/he got left
Agreed, there is so much cool customization this game could have done through the cyberware system. Having an AR navigation system and an audio assist for directions is just one of the many possibilities. Widgets such as weather, todos, or clock come to mind. Color themes or image filters to just cite a few more. And that does not stop to vision, you could equip audio upgrades as well such as filters or an embedded music player in your ear lobes to play radio outside of vehicles. The best thing about all this is that it's would be completely up to the player to use it or not.
For me all the immersion and discocery experiance is ruined with the questmarker and icons above some npcs.
With the questmarker i dont need to pay attantion to anything anymore, iam just the sheep that follows it.
If someone is a possibly enemy, i dont want to know that because of an icon above their head, i want to assume it because iam a smuggler and they wear "borderpatrol" uniforms and carry guns.
I prefer to stuck in a mission because iam to stupid to find something directly, than never forced to use my brain.
Iam a cyberpunk, why i cant change color of my hud and remove is completely, my cheap blackmarket cyberware seems more buggy than games right after realese
From a game design perspective, if you don't have a minimap, you do have to make you're game more linear or players will just get lost. Even games that seem to let you explore with no map are specifically designing the levels to maximize your chance of 'stumbling' on where you're supposed to go next, or what you're supposed to find. That's cool for smaller levels, but on the scale of a city, one that's believable, players need navigational aids.
Just imagine getting dropped in a new city somewhere with just a street map and being told to find a specific cafe on the other side of town. You're going to get lost.
