Should a fullscreen Automap also pause the game?

[Gambit37]

Should a fullscreen automap pause the game, or should the game still be running in the background? (You'd still be attacked by monsters, etc. and will need to close the map to respond.)

Dungeon Master was always about the "real time", so I think the game should still be running even if the entire screen is obscured by a map. Grimrock works that way too. But I think there's also an argument for pausing the game.

I'm interested to get views from all you dungeon hacking experts...

[Ameena]

This being DM, it should work the same way as your inventory screen and definitely not pause anything, I would say. Lots of games have an in-game map (whether it's like a UI overlay thing/separate screen or a more immersive your-character-hold-an-actual-map thing) without it pausing stuff. Would feel a bit less DM-y if it did have an automap, though. Having to draw it out or just memorise your route is part of the game, is it not?

[Gambit37]

Having to draw it out or just memorise your route is part of the game, is it not?

As a nearly 50 year old with limited gaming time, I can state with absolute certainty that manually mapping or memorising is definitely not a thing!

[Sphenx]

I would even go a step further : since CSB (Amiga) and DM2 have in-game real time magic map with interactive information, why not also bring these to a full screen auto-map (but maybe just locally around the party's location) ? Personally, I think there should be some option for the player to choose : pause or not when full map is opened.

[Gambit37]

Conceptually an automap is different from the magic map. Automaps slowly reveal as you explore, and you can see the revealed map whenever you please. The magic map is just a short range radar, only showing you your immediate vicinity. You can't go back and review where you've explored with a magic map. I don't think these two different concepts can be easily combined.

Given that, here's another question: would it be strange to have both an automap and a magic map in the same game?

[Sphenx]

I agree they are conceptually different; then it should answer your question since they do not have the same purpose.
For instance, DM2 magic maps allow you to summon minions to solve puzzles, you probably won't do that from the automap. It will depend if your game requires these.
On another point, an automap would have ruined a big part of the experience in CSB since you have plenty of places that teleport you without telling.
I believe this is a reason that automap is deactivated for a small moment (pits / spins puzzle) in Castle Cimmeria in Lands of Lore.

[Ameena]

Yeah, automapping feels kind of cheaty in games like DM/CSB where learning your way around the place (especially in the case of CSB, with all its secret teleporters) is part of the inherent puzzle of the dungeon in the first place. I don't mind it in other games, say ARPGs (like the Diablo series, Titan Quest, etc), but they're a different type of game. Stonekeep had automapping but you had to open the journal in order to actually see the map, it wasn't otherwise on the screen and the journal would fill the screen when you opened it and you couldn't do anything else until you closed it again. You could add your own notes to it, though, which was nice.
I seem to remember the first two Thief games let you add nots to the maps too, but I can't remember if you had to actually find/be given the maps in the first place in order to actually have access to them within the level. I know in the third game you find them laying around places and if you haven't found the map of a level before you get there, you can't access the map feature once you're in. But there is no automapping there, it's basically just a picture and you have to figure out where you are on it as you would with a real map in real life.
And of course lots of other games just have a fog-of-war sort of thing, where stuff is revealed around you in a certain radius as you progress, often visible via a mini-map.

[Estoroth]

I think the best option it's maybe to create an option "old school mode" like Legend Of Grimrock. Enable "old school mode" before launching a new game turns off auto-mapping completely and you can't change this setting after starting the game !

Good challenge for advanced player and novice player keep the possibility to being assisted by an automap feature.

[Gambit37]

Yep, I've already got an Options screen, and a New Game screen that works this way. The Automap is totally optional, so it's up to the player if they want to use it or not.

[Gambit37]

Thanks for the input everyone, consensus seems to be that an automap should have the game running in the backgorund for the realtime gameplay experience. I'll see what I can do to enable that: I'm using Parallax's automap for DSB which currently pauses the game in a fullscreen view, so I'd need to change the way it works for it to be a realtime map.