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QoL Improvements on Maps and Notebooks


KSHZ

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    Ever since the map system has been implemented along with letting players mark down their map and write notes in it, many players have grown used to it, and have found their own creative ways of using it (me included), and certainly, lots of players have felt that there could have improvements to the feature. Of course, those are not needed, but they sure as hell would be welcomed.

 

Changing Scale and Resolution of Markings

    Even though marking symbols and writing notes is already perfectly functional, being unable to change the scale of both icons and text can really be a nuisance when trying to keep a map clean and readable, hence why there are currently +150.000 players using the Map Symbol Size Slider mod, from capsgry.

 

    Not only that, but as soon as you zoom-in on the map, you'll realize how low-res those symbols are, which of course, would be even more noticeable if we could increase the size of them. It would be perfect if we could change the scale of symbols to our desire, and even better if they were of a higher resolution, thus losing less quality when scaled. There could have a setting in the game options so players can enable or disable those decals being compressed.

 

Representing Physical Objects

    Zomboid can be one hell of an immersive game, even if we're not seeing through our characters eyes (at least, not literally), I'm sure that no player has ever managed to stay completely calm for the first time they witnessed their character panicking, probably while trying to barely escape of a horde while listening to their character's heartbeat speed up, get louder, while intense music players. The reduction of awareness from being tired, not being able to knock down a Zombie when exhausted, and the list keeps expanding. We always see our character doing specific actions, such as eating from the plate with their hands, forks or spoons, to grabbing a crowbar to unbarricade a window... but when we write down on our Journal? All we see is a GUI pop-up following Zomboid's layout in which we type text in, while the character stands still. 

 

    Of course, there is absolutely no need for it, but I can only imagine how "into the game" I would feel if I could see an actual piece of paper, or ruled notebook page instead of just another GUI pop-up that I can perfectly see through, Down below you'll find a concept that I — who's very clearly not a designer — have made, that perfectly illustrates what I have in mind;

288587721_ZomboidJournalConcept.thumb.png.ed1a947d9ebdf9515d10ae55d50b7cc0.png

    As mentioned within the text, writing down on journals is a very common form of roleplaying, which only adds to the immersion. For example, any of DaFox's illustrations on "Lily's Journal", which usually shows a few illustrations followed by its inspiration being occurrences that the player lived through, and wrote down on its diary.

 

    Again, none of these could be considered a "must have" addition, but be honest, wouldn't they be a huge improvement to how immersed we can already get when playing? Hell, I would even suggest letting players draw on pieces of paper and maps, those could even reduce Boredness! Although, we all know what most players would end up drawing. Hopefully this suggestion can be taken into consideration, so we all can live as our characters before the unevitable.

 

Edited by KSHZ
Had forgotten to provide a link to the Map Symbol Size Slider mod.
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