Unlocking Secrets: The Making of Interactive Maps for Gamers!

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In the heart of the forest, you’re on a quest for a hidden secret hinted by nature. You take out your map, hoping it will guide you. Unfortunately, it’s frustratingly vague, lacking any distinctive landmarks, and no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to get a clearer view even when zooming in closely. This is a familiar frustration gamers everywhere have experienced.

The sites of Valnet Gaming want to help.

A recent innovation we’ve introduced across our gaming platforms, such as TheGamer and Game Rant, involves constructing customized interactive maps. These maps are designed specifically for various games and help players locate collectibles, battle sites, secrets, and more within the context of each game title.

Developing interactive maps for gaming platforms such as Game Rant and TheGamer calls for a considerable amount of work and collaboration among team members. Here’s a peek into the intricate process that brings these maps to life, so you won’t miss your way around!

On A Technical Level: Behind-The-Scenes Work On Interactive Maps

Without the tireless efforts of our IT team members, who work diligently behind the scenes, interactive maps wouldn’t grace the pages of any Valnet Gaming site. Though their names may not appear in the credits, each article owes its digital life to them, as they are the creative minds crafting our unique Content Management System (CMS).

Speaking about the challenges in creating interactive maps from a technical standpoint, Andrew Couto, the Chief Product and Data Officer at Valnet, shared an interesting insight. He highlighted that one of the primary obstacles in this area stems from a common element we’re all accustomed to: images.

He clarifies that an interactive map is essentially a collection of image layers on coordinates, with certain layers capable of initiating actions. In essence, the primary difficulties lie in managing a webpage with a significant number of images, typically disliked by browsers for rendering numerous high-resolution images simultaneously.

Additionally, we need someone with a keen interest in mapping who’s ready to grasp the ins and outs of how these systems function.

He goes on to explain, “Combining them is more about organization than anything else. Right now, it also needs someone with a cartographer’s mindset who is open to understanding the inner workings of these systems… Our aim is to make it easier and streamlined, but for now, we’re prioritizing fundamental features to launch sooner and collect user feedback to refine the technology.

Brad Fleischman, head of Valnet Gaming, emphasizes the hurdles involved in creating interactive maps. He explains, “Creating interactive maps involves distinct challenges. Our editorial team starts the process by playing through each new game live. They painstakingly record locations, take sharp images, and uncover all hidden collectibles or side quest indicators. Then, our tech and design teams transform this raw gaming data into clean, user-friendly maps that can be integrated across various sites. This workflow demands close collaboration among departments and tailor-made solutions for each game’s engine and map structure—yet the end product is a powerful asset that significantly boosts our content and caters remarkably well to our users.

On TheGamer and Game Rant: Relentlessly Deep-Diving Into Games Big And Small

TheGamer stands out within Valnet Gaming’s collection, as it wasn’t acquired but was established by Valnet Inc. in 2017. Over time, they have delved into a vast array of games, from high-profile triple-A titles to lesser-known indie games. From in-depth features about The Last of Us HBO series to extensive guides on Warframe, the game coverage provided by TheGamer is consistently excellent and top-notch.

A crucial aspect of achieving quality involves being receptive to incorporating novel elements into one’s work, especially in applying them swiftly to the subject matter. The integration of interactive maps on Valnet sites presented TheGamer with a fresh and exciting pathway for discussing video games more dynamically.

On TG’s sister site, Game Rant, is where most of the groundwork for making these maps takes place. Other Valnet gaming platforms can also connect to these maps.

For approximately fifteen years now, Game Rant has been in operation. This significant stretch of time provides ample opportunity for acquiring the necessary experience and knowledge to produce a wide range of insightful articles, driven by the team’s unyielding love and excitement for the gaming industry.

As an avid film enthusiast, I eagerly embraced the advent of interactive maps, just like any other innovative feature. Without a doubt, Game Rant leapt at the opportunity to lead the charge, putting in the majority of effort to turn this exciting new tool into something truly magical for our readers.

Russ Boswell, the Evergreen Content Lead at GR, has dedicated countless hours of his time to bringing interactive maps to life. It’s hard to fathom the intricate details that go into crafting just one of these maps.

…sometimes we deal with maps that have over 2,000 coordinates of data on a single map tile.

Russ explains that creating maps is more complex than it appears at first glance. A significant aspect is the organizational work required in crafting our custom files. A substantial part of my role involves gathering all metadata and ensuring it’s properly sorted out. This encompasses various elements such as map tile images, titles, names, hex color codes, icon images, and so on. All these pieces need to align for the map to function correctly, and we often work with maps containing over 2,000 data points on a single tile.

As a film enthusiast, I couldn’t help but wonder about the most challenging aspect of this process. And let me tell you, Russ didn’t fail to enlighten us. The part that takes the lion’s share of time is meticulously creating the coordinates themselves. It entails physically visiting the spot within the game, aligning that location with the site’s map images we have on hand, and then painstakingly adding those coordinates to our in-house tools.

According to Russ, our internal tools within the CMS have been incredibly helpful for managing map coordinates. However, there are still challenges. Luckily, we’ve developed some fantastic tools that allow us to create maps using a simple point-and-click interface. Nevertheless, another labor-intensive part of it is adding what we call ‘pop-up data.’ These are the small boxes that appear when players click on a coordinate, providing additional information about the coordinate such as items, enemies, puzzles, etc. This process can be quite time-consuming and often requires contributions from multiple team members to create just one map. It takes a coordinated effort from each team member to make it all work smoothly.

Out of curiosity, we inquired from Russ about which interactive map took the most effort to create, and promptly, he replied, “Definitely Baldur’s Gate 3. It features no less than four distinct tile designs, and every single one of them includes a multitude of coordinates.

Russ inserted a sobbing emoji within this answer as well.

To wit, here’s a zoomed out look at what Baldur’s Gate 3’s interactive map looks like on Game Rant.

Holy smokes.

Finding Our Way To/Through/On/With Interactive Maps

Regardless of the specific contributions made by each team member when constructing interactive maps, it’s essential to recognize that this process is a collaborative effort. Whether we’re discussing game maps, site maps for websites, or even real-world maps, the creation involves many aspects. Our goal at Valnet Gaming sites is to provide every visitor with an invaluable tool during their journey through the vast in-game worlds of their preferred games, making it all worthwhile.

Allow me to immerse myself for a moment in these captivating, interactive cartographies – metaphorically speaking, naturally. In this digital age, being ‘lost’ is no longer an option with such intuitive maps at our disposal.

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2025-05-29 22:07