A map is a very important element to any MMOG that has quests and exploration. This week in BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) update, Principal Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert outlines the creation process for the maps used in SWTOR. While the process of creating a map may not sound like a huge job, the process is encompassing and requires a lot of attention to detail.

In general, throwing maps into an MMO is easy. On the other hand, making maps that are comprehensive, accurate and useful to the player is much harder than you might imagine. Luckily for us, it was an area that we realized was hugely important very early on.

BioWare has created an effective way for maps to show players where to go both indoors and out while easily guiding them to mission objectives. See how they are doing it all in this week’s SWTOR update.

Source: SWTOR website