8-Bit Cities Steal Our Turn-based Hearts

The maps that came along with the initial game guides in Nintendo Power back in the 80s for games like Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) and Final Fantasy were always a sort of interesting phenomenon to me: someone out there had to plan the world that characters would walk across, and the terrain they would walk over or interact with. This would start with highly-detailed and beautiful maps… which would be turned into grainy blocks that represent grass or swamps and placed on a grid. Even though the visuals weren’t exciting, their placement was perfect and pivotal to the experience. That one block representing a town? I couldn’t wait to make it across the swamp to get to there.

Artist Brett Camper takes his love of games and media to new levels when it comes to the classic 8-Bit map. His creation, 8-Bit NYC, is a scalable map of New York that is entirely done with classic graphics. Complete with locations for New York schools, landmarks, and parks, the map is just begging to be placed into game itself. The labor of love has become so popular that Camper is looking to make similar maps of other cities, if there is enough interest.

Now, anyone good with RPG Maker want to help me out? I have an idea for Brooklyn Quest that’s floating around in my head.

[Image courtesy 8-Bit NYC]