[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Hand-Drawn Golf Reference
June 3rd, 2013 by Benj Edwards
If there were only 40 degrees in a circle, this is what it would look like.
There is a certain rustic beauty in hand-drawn video game notes that I will never cease to enjoy. Case in point: this map/reference key created by family friend Chris when he was a kid in the 1980s. I’m not quite sure what game it was for (other than “Golf”), but it was likely a game for the Apple IIc, as I found it among related Apple IIc ephemera when I acquired his collection some years ago.
For more hand-drawn video game goodness, check out this VC&G post about my friend’s Deadly Towers maps from 2006.
[ Update: 06/03/2013 – I was just talking to my brother, and he thinks that either he drew this alone or I wrote the letters and he drew the numbers. It was either a reference to a Golf game he programmed in C in 1991, or an old Atari 800 golf game that I haven’t found yet. I still think it’s possible that Chris wrote the letters. ]
Discussion Topic of the Week: Do you ever hand-draw maps for modern video games?
June 3rd, 2013 at 3:22 pm
When I was a kid I copied Sid Meier’s Pirates from a friend, but I didn’t have a copy of the map, which was vital for the game. I also didn’t have easy access to a copier, so I hand drew the map from his map so that I could figure out where I was in the game. I remember playing that game for days on end and that map became invaluable.
June 3rd, 2013 at 4:18 pm
I can’t imagine drawing a map for a modern game since most games seem to have auto-cartography features nowadays.
However, circa 1991, I was extremely proud to have hand drawn these maps of the NES ports of Shadowgate and Uninvited:
http://games.multimedia.cx/gaming-cartography/
June 3rd, 2013 at 11:08 pm
I can’t say that I did, but I remember having written notes for games. Like the Bill Nye the Science guy game from ’96, I had to written notes of clues to riddles for that game.
I’m sure I had a few games with hand-drawn maps or plans, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head.
June 3rd, 2013 at 11:17 pm
I never drew the maps but I did write down stuff. Mostly about Myst. I had to write out the diagram of the piano keyboard puzzle and several others to help me get through them. I also remember making notes about Zork
June 4th, 2013 at 1:15 am
hmm… i don’t think i ever draw a map for modern games. automap feature replace all the need to do that.
but i do think that drawing maps, writing quest notes etc only add to the fun in playing. it draws you more into the game. involves you more.
June 4th, 2013 at 5:48 am
I still have the map I made while my son and I played Zork 1. It started the whole game thing for us, and you see where that’s gone!
June 4th, 2013 at 10:27 am
I have a hand drawn map of all the moongate locations for Ultima 3, recently found in a pile of papers I was sifting through. This was probably 1984 that I did this.
June 4th, 2013 at 10:57 am
My good friend and I drew out the map for Metal Gear on the NES in graph paper when it came out. Eventually Nintendo Power printed a nice map for it. These days, someone has posted a beautiful screen-by-screen screenshot map of the whole thing I downloaded for when I replay it. LOVE that game.
June 4th, 2013 at 12:45 pm
I never drew a map but I have written down tips and tricks for old and modern games. For old games, I generally wrote them on the blank pages of the instruction manual, but now I type everything in a TXT file.
If I need help navigating a difficult dungeon, I generally follow someone’s video walkthrough on YouTube.
June 6th, 2013 at 6:02 pm
I used to make maps of coordinates for the BBS game Trade Wars 2002. Recently I found an old sheet of paper with numbers scribbled all over it, and the words, “Nite Owl BBS” written on the top. There were multiple BBS’s in the area running it at the time.
June 8th, 2013 at 9:39 pm
http://mapstalgia.tumblr.com/