AS VIDEOGAMES MOVE INCREASINGLY INTO THE DIGITAL AGE, PHYSICAL MAPS, LIKE SO MUCH ELSE WE DISCOVERED INSIDE WONDROUS GAME BOXES, ARE FAST BECOMING A RELIC OF THE PAST. RETRO GAMER LOOKS BACK AT SOME OF THE FINEST AND TALKS TO THE EXPERTS AND ARTISTS BEHIND THEM

WORDS BY GRAEME MASON

For centuries, humans have used maps to help guide them around the world. A simple, scaled picture of your location and its environs, maps are an invaluable resource as we seek to conquer the unknown. Their significance has continued into the world of videogames, virtual worlds that usually require just as much navigation as the real one.

The concept of physical game maps also began with the need to add value to videogame releases. Do you need something cheapish to put in the box that’s relevant to the game? A map of the game, annotated either accurately or inaccurately, would provide a moment of thrill upon opening. Even better, make the map artistic, and it could become collectable, or even displayable, a bespoke wall-mounted talking point that would surely form the highlight of any home.

The earliest arcade games were generally too straightforward to require maps, but as the computer-game market grew in the Eighties, more complex games required assistance. Branded as ‘feelies’ – a catch-all term for any extraneous physical item included with a videogame – maps suddenly became an important facet, helping to guide players around convoluted fantasy worlds in particular. “I’d argue that humans tend to enjoy all maps and have been doing so extensively for the past few hundred years,” says Konstantinos Dimopoulos, author of Virtual Cities and a physical game map aficionado. “They are an important tool for our imagination, as they spur it on to visualise places to go along with the names and lines.” Fellow journalist and author of the feature, Why I Love Physical Videogame

Maps, Joe Donnelly adds, “Physical game maps are real, tangible things, and being able to visit somewhere in-game, then cross-check where you’ve been and where you’re going on paper is a great feeling.”

Tellingly, both Konstantinos and Joe remember the first time they saw a game map. While Joe glowingly recalls the map that came with the Super Nintendo RPG Breath Of Fire, for Konstantinos, the Sid Meier strategy classic Pirates! began his love of maps. “Not only was it a beautiful thing and a completely unexpected enhancer, but it also formed an important part of the core gameplay experience,” he recalls. “You actually had to use the map to sail the game’s seas while taking longitude and latitude readings to divulge exactly where you were.”

Five years before the Sid Meier classic, one of the earliest and most significant videogame maps appeared. Disappointed in the zip lock bags that held many games, Richard Garriott stressed the need for a proper box for his second game in the legendary Ultima series. “I didn’t get into Ultima proper until 1998 when I picked up the Ultima Collection,” remembers Joe. “They were beautiful, and while a novelty to a degree, they were so detailed and authentic that they felt like copies of the maps you’d find in-game.” Released in 1982, it was here that maps started to become an intrinsic part of RPGs.