Indie developer makes a World of Warcraft map, complete to the last detail.
It’s either a labor of love or madness, but whichever it may be, Glitch developer Cal Henderson has done it: he’s made a free Google maps-style World of Mapcraft, accurate to the nth degree. If you ever wanted to know precisely where that fort or hut is in Outlands, or found yourself wandering aimlessly in the Black Temple having lost all hope, this is the map for you. It’s complete up to Cataclysm, and includes battlegrounds, dungeons, raids, every major city – even little extras like Darkmoon Faire Isle have a place on this massive map.
Henderson used his previous experience making a Google Maps version of the London Transport map to do the same for Warcraft. As Henderson describes it, “Once you have a sensibly named tileset, you just need a little bit of JS glue to load in the correct images in the correct place.” Google maps takes care of the rest. Some of the maps – the outdoor ones in particular – were very straightforward, while others were much more difficult to stitch together. In only one case – the Dalaran Sewers – was Henderson forced to throw up his hands in despair, and so no matter how hard you look you won’t find those on Mapcraft. Yet.
There were several anomalies that Henderson discovered by pure accident. Some, like the variant names of Scholomance and Ragefire Chasm, are interesting bits of historical data. Others, like the vast pile of junk hidden in Karazahn or the maps that exist in-game but which the developers never actually used, remain mysterious – not unlike that section on historical maps labeled ‘Here be Monsters’.
Henderson is still tweaking Mapcraft, and asks that any users who spot an inaccuracy or who have information that could be useful contact him directly via cal [at] iamcal.com. His blog post, which includes all of Henderson’s trials and tribulations, can be found here.
Sources: Eurogamer, World of Mapcraft
