Maids & Masters Strategy Guide Preview - Maps & Mazes
The guide is officially over 80 pages, and I'm not even done with Act 1 yet.
Part of the reason for that are the map pages, which I've tried to make as large as possible for the sake of readability. For example:
Some of the sizing is a little different, with different maps giving you wider overviews and separate maps being included for more specific areas, like the garden above (which covers the hidden maze there, how it functions, and how to solve it) being a zoomed in portion of a larger map of the entire Estate grounds on the first page.
This makes some sections multiple pages long as they cover new enemies and strategies, call out specific NPCs or other notable events and/or locations, and point out any loot you can find stashed away behind trees or the corners of the map.
Though I am also trying to make sure the important information (like how to solve the maze) is available at a glance (such as with the red arrows highlighting the path you're meant to walk). Despite all of the "giant empty map" complaints I've received, this guide will - if nothing else - show you exactly how dense these maps are with interactions, items, and secrets.
Speaking of interacting, thank you to those of you who have left a suggestion! If you have any opinions about the guide, take a look at this post and leave a comment, whether it's something new no one else has said or you just want to show you agree with someone else's suggestion.
Comments (2)
Lol I have definitely never been in the "giant empty maps" camp. As a flavor text hunter, the game is full of giant *absolutely stuffed to brim* maps that can be almost overwhelming (usually in a very fun way, though the original version of Gil's house was enough to give me pause regarding starting a new run). I also eventually had to make peace with the fact that no longer how long I spend there, I will never more than kinda know my way around the deep wilds
Yeah, it honestly took me longer than it probably should have to realize that at least a quarter of the people saying it were also the sort of player to check "skip unseen text" and hold down ctrl when they're "playing" a visual novel before they go complain about how short it is or how little sense it makes. I've since talked with other RPGM devs and have been labeled a crazy person for making maps that have 100+ events in them on top of actually learning how to be a better level designer. There genuinely were some early maps that had some serious problems with the amount of meaningless open space, but that's why those maps got reworked.