Proto:Beyond Oasis/April Prototype/Maps

This is a sub-page of Proto:Beyond Oasis/April Prototype.

The maps are in rough shape at this stage of development. There are a lot of layout changes, every map has object differences, and some maps don't have any objects at all.

General

There are two sets of maps in this build: "Page 0", which are maps on the main overworld; and "Page 1", the Water Shrine. Twelve maps are missing from Page 0, and three are missing from Page 1.

Page 0		Page 1
Proto	Final	Proto	Final
00: 01:VILLAGE 02:CAPITAL 03: 04: 05:PLAIN 06:RIVER 07:PLAIN2 08:RUINS 09: 10: 11:MARSHY 12: 13:SEASIDE 14: 15: 16: 17:MOUNTAIN1 18:MOUNTAIN2 19:MOUNTAIN3 20:MOUNTAIN4 21:MOUNTAIN5 22: 23:CRATER 24: 25: 26: 27:BEACH	00: 01:VILLAGE 02:CAPITAL 03:HARBOR 04:BASE-TOP 05:PLAIN 06:RIVER 07:PLAIN2 08:RUINS 09:FALLS 10:MARSHY1 11:MARSHY2 12:WHARF 13:SEASIDE 14:WOODS1 15:WOODS2 16:WOODS3 17:MOUNT.1 18:MOUNT.2 19:MOUNT.3 20:MOUNT.4 21:MOUNT.5 22:MOUNT.6 23:CRATER 24:CLIFF 25:HERMIT 26:B.BRIDGE 27:BEACH 28:B.BRIDGE	00:WATER.D 0 01:WATER.D 1 02:WATER.D 2 03:WATER.D 3 04:WATER.D 4 05:WATER.D 5 06:WATER.D 6	00:01-00 01:01-01 02:01-02 03:01-03 04:01-04 05:01-05 BOSS 06:01-06 07:01-07 08:01-08 09:01-09

Village

Proto	Final

• The prototype map is missing the doors on the villagers' homes.
• There's one more resident in the final game - a blue-haired woman - in the final version.
• The item merchant is sitting on the lower stall in the prototype. He was moved up to the next stall in the final game.
• The elder's home can't be entered in the prototype, so the poor old man has to sit in the doorway.

Capital

Proto	Final

• No objects are present in the prototype map, and only the eastern exit goes anywhere.
• As with the Village, there are no doors on the villagers' houses.
• The base of the palace is larger in the final, making the base more visually interesting and less square-shaped.
• There's no door on the second floor of the palace, and both doors are missing their partially retracted gates.
• The statue graphics haven't been drawn yet, so only the pedestals are in place.
• Several trees were added to the west exit, which leads to a forest in the final.
• Details like vases and clotheslines are only present in the final.
• The shadows on the eastern houses are larger in the final game.
• One extra wall was added to the southwest corner of the final map.

Plain

Proto	Final

• In this map and Plain2, there are wooden signs by the area's exits. These wooden signs don't do anything and don't have any solidity. They were likely meant to give names and/or other information on the areas they exit to, but they were ultimately cut from the game.
• This is the only map in the prototype with items. They aren't contained in treasure chests or anything, they're just out in the open. The only reason they're placed here is to test the game's inventory system (picking up items, rejecting items when inventory is full, etc.).
• The actual enemy layout in the prototype is a bit deceptive. The soldiers represent places where enemies can spawn, and up to eight enemies (Soldier, Spear Soldier, Orc) will spawn from these spots. It's definitely more aggressive than the final system, where enemies will only randomly generate when one of the map-native enemies is killed.
• The open field in the middle of the area is taken up by a big plateau with three soldiers in the final game.
• The plateau in the top-center of the map was moved further to the west, though part of the old plateau remained to house a new treasure chest.
• The open space in the southeast corner is occupied by a short grassy outcropping in the final map.
• More trees were added in the southwest corner of the map.
• The dirt trail stops before the west exit in the finished game rather than continuing onward.

River

Proto	Final

• More preliminary enemy placement, in this case a test of the Slime enemies. Ten of them spawn upon entering the map, and more will spawn as they're killed.
• The only two exits that work are the southeast and southwest ones. The northeast and bridge exits don't go anywhere yet.
• The rocks that run along the west side of the river are absent at this point.
• A grassy hill takes up the empty space in the southwest corner of the map in the final game.
• The cliff in the northeast corner was actually removed in the final to show a bit of the waterfall area to the east.
• The path north of the bridge is longer in the final game to make room for the new bridge exit.
• The grass walls in the center-east part of the map extend further up in the finished map.

Plain2

Proto	Final

The changes here are similar to the ones in the Plain map:

• The sign by the northeast exit was removed.
• The flat field in the bottom-center of the map is now home to a large rocky plateau.
• More trees were added to the stage's borders, and a cliff was added to the northeast corner.
• Monsters spawn as they did in Plain, but now Slimes can spawn too.

Ruins

Proto	Final

• This is another instance of enemy-specific spawn testing in the prototype. This time the enemy being tested is the Mosquito.
• The stone bridge exit doesn't work yet.
• Mosquitos will spawn from the Water Shrine entrance and chase Ali around the map. Up to thirteen are present at a time. Mosquitos can be knocked out, but they cannot be killed in this build. Enjoy their incessant auditory assault!
• Cliffs and grassy walls were added to all four borders in the final game - including the west border, which can't normally be seen.
• The northwest plateau is higher off the ground in the finished map (check the base off the plateau in the water).
• The walls by the northern wooden bridge were removed from the final map, and the land below was extended further south.
• The stone bridge was moved a bit further to the left in the final game.
• The southern bridge was pushed a bit in the southwesterly direction, leaving room for more land below.
• The water shrine entrance is two blocks taller in the final.

Marshy

Proto
Final

And here starts a long section of early and very much unfinished maps. None of these maps, save for Beach, have proper exits.

• This is also the last map on Page 0 with any enemies, though it's the same Mosquito spawn testing that Ruins had. (This map does a better job of testing how they climb and fall off cliffs, though.)
• The map layout barely resembles the final at all. The only similarities are the cave entrance to the east and the exit to the west.
• The prototype's tileset is heavy on the moss - it's all over the place! The odd orange rocks were changed as well. Very little water in this "swamp", too.

Seaside

Proto	Final

• Again, the maps are almost completely different between versions. There's a lot less water and rocks in the prototype map, and a lot more beach.
• The more complicated sand dune layout was simplified considerably by the time the game was completed.
• The area exit was changed from the southeast corner (theoretically) in the prototype to the northeast corner in the final.

Mountain1

Proto	Final

• While there are quite a few changes here, they're not nearly as pronounced as they were in Marshy or Seaside.
• The Mountain tileset was completely redrawn. This mountain sure has a lot of grass for being so high up! The water was removed too.
• The ladders in the prototype map are about twice as wide as they are in the final game.
• The three bridges in the eastern half of this map are parallel to each other in the finished map.
• The southeast bridge is further northern in the final map, and the land south of it was extended as a result.
• The rock piles and ladder in the northwest part of the map were replaced with a cliff face. It's possible to bypass the rock piles by walking on the narrow ledge east of them in the prototype, which might have prompted this change.

Mountain2

Proto	Final

• This area has one of the more interesting layout changes - there's no way to get to the cave door from the south in the prototype map! This suggests that there was originally another way to get in there - would the player exit from the cave and jump down? Would they warp up? Would they use Shade or jump from the broken bridge? It's a mystery, y'all.
• The large open space was replaced with a series of Shade-accessible cliffs, ladders, and plateaus in the final game.
• The other side of the broken wooden bridge was added to the final game. Pointless, but aesthetically superior.
• The cave entrance was changed from a rocky doorway to a man-made stone doorway.

Mountain3

Proto	Final

• Very similar to the final map. Certain cliffs are larger or smaller depending on the version, but the basic layout is there.
• The southern exit was moved from the southeast corner to south-center in the final game.
• There's a ladder in the southwest part of this area that's not present in the final map.
• An additional thin plateau is in the center of the final map, requiring the player to jump from one cliff to another.

Mountain4

Proto	Final

• Aside from the standard cliff widening and/or shortening, the layout for Mountain4 is identical between versions. The only major additions are the streams of water running down one of the cliffs, and the addition of a cliff in the northwest corner.

Mountain5

Proto	Final

• The two southernmost plateaus are connected in the prototype map.
• The southwest part of the stage was opened up in the final stage to make room for a new exit.
• The castle entrance is a set of two doors in the prototype game and a single ladder in the final version.
• The castle design is similar to the enemy hideout entrance in the final game. Might have been the original entrance? Maybe?

Crater

Proto	Final

• Crater has a darker palette in the prototype version. The final game's Crater palette matches the rest of the Mountain maps.
• The elevated part of the area in the eastern part of the map extends further west in the prototype game.
• The narrow strip of land in the bottom-center is wider in the final game, thank goodness.
• There's no wall of rubble by the cave entrance in the early version of this map.
• The cave entrance itself is pretty rough. Check out those smooth rectangular edges.

Beach

Proto	Final

• While both the prototype and final start on this map, only the latter has the special animation of Ali jumping off of his boat.
• The waves on the beach were redrawn and smoothed out.
• The prototype map has no sparkling light on the water's surface.
• The fence on the left extends further to the right in the prototype, and the tree on the right was removed from the final game.

These changes don't really make a lot of sense. The top of the prototype map properly matches up with the bottom of the Village map, which isn't the case in the final version.

Water Shrine

Water.D 0

Proto	Final

• Most of the rooms in the Water Shrine have different floor tile patterns in the prototype game. The floors look much worse for wear in the final, with more cracks and fractured bricks.
• The doorway is taller in the prototype. It's lower in the final to fit with the Yellow Key door.
• Since there's no Yellow Key door, there's no need for the Yellow Key chest either.

Water.D 1

Proto	Final

• Again, different floor tile patterns and doorway heights.
• Ali can't crawl through the waterways of the prototype build.
• The five Soldiers (two spear, three unarmed) were replaced with two Soldiers with crossbows.
• No stone doorway in the prototype map.

Water.D 2

Proto	Final

• The floor tile arrangements differ between versions. The doorway is the same height in both builds.
• There are two less soldiers here in the final game, but they were all given weapons to wield.
• The elevated blue platforms jut out one block further in the final game.
• The Sword chest, Shade stake, Shadow Gem chest, and Yellow Key door are absent from the early build.
• The two hidden waterway drainage areas aren't in the prototype at all.

Water.D 3

The layout of this map is identical to the final game. The only difference is in the Slime enemy placement:

• In the prototype, all of the Slimes spawn from the open door at the top of the room.
• In the final, the Slimes surround the water that flows through the middle of the room.

Fitting with the rest of the rooms in this build, the Yellow Key door has not been added to this room yet.

Water.D 4

Proto	Final

• While the floor tiles do differ between builds, the changes aren't as drastic as in the previous rooms. There are very few changes in which tiles are dark or light blue, and none of the brick blocks are fragmented.
• The water gates were moved from atop the door to surrounding the door.
• A continuous flood of water was added to this room in the final.

Water.D 5

Proto	Final

• No floor tile differences here! Whoever was in charge of these cosmetic touches must have been bored by this point.
• The prototype's unending hatred of all things door continues. No need to deal with that giant crab.
• The crab itself doesn't have an awakening animation in the prototype, and it's positioned closer to the door.

Water.D 6

• There's no Light Ball door (what a surprise) in the prototype. The boss room exits directly to the Dytto cube area.
• A Water Stone marks where the Dytto cube will be.

(Source: Original TCRF research)