Plan a location

Goal: explore how a location works before treating it as an engine level. You need a project and either a blank map or a local background image.

1. Write the design question

Create a page describing the location’s purpose. For example: “The player can see the exit early, but reaches it only after opening a route through the lower floor.”

Record the uncertainties you want the plan to answer, such as route length, sightlines or the order of encounters.

2. Make the plan

Create a spatial map from Design’s view actions. Start blank or choose a background. Add floors and layers only when the layout needs them.

Place pins for landmarks, regions for spaces and routes for intended movement. Link important objects to the pages that describe them. Use calibration if distances need a meaningful scale.

3. Inspect movement and context

Select objects, adjust their positions and open linked subjects. Use Fit when you lose the overall shape. Keep route annotations explicit about what is intended versus what has been tested.

A drawn route is not a navmesh or a simulation. Engine behavior still needs to be checked in the game.

4. Compare a second version

Keep an alternative in its own authored plan and use comparison to inspect both. Compare the design question, not merely which drawing looks denser.

Record the chosen direction and remaining questions in the location page. If saving a gesture fails, resolve retained input before treating the visible plan as saved.

Result: a spatial plan linked to written intent, with a deliberate alternative and a reason for the next edit. Maps and canvas covers the individual surfaces.