Patchwork Map: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

In the real world, the landscape is determined by a complex combination of climate and geography. Deserts, for instance, are usually created because a mountain or valley blocks rain clouds from being blown over it (known as a "[[wikipedia:Rain shadow|rain shadow]]"). Tundra has to be at the right elevation and temperature to remain frozen. Rivers have to source their water from somewhere (usually from the same moutains which stopped those rain clouds from reaching the desert). Swamps are generally located in low-lying areas where the water collects rather than draining out.

* The Digital Worlds of the ''[[Digimon]]'' franchise are almost always portrayed as this (the big exception being that of ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', which had a very different structure).

** [[Fridge Brilliance]] when you think about how this is exactly what should be expected in a digital universe.

* On [[One Piece|Grand Line]], there're 4 different kinds of islands - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Islands. Obviously, that (partly) explains the ridiculously unpredictable weather changes. It also causes that [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World|Drum/Sakura Kingdom]] and [[Shifting Sand Land|Alabasta Kingdom]] to be neighbour countries.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

 

== Fan Works ==

 

== [[Film]] ==

*** Alternately, one could view the Oz in ''Wicked'' as a counterpart to the United States, with urban, forest-filled Gillikin as the Northeast; agricultural Munchkinland as the Midwest; swampy Quadling Country as the South (more specifically, the Mississippi Delta and Florida Everglades regions); and the barren Vinkus as the Mountain West. Even Oz residents' opinions of certain regions mirror American regional stereotypes. Quadlings are seen as filthy and uneducated. Gillikin is where the best universities are and the Gillkinese come off as snobbish. The Vinkus is seen as wild and untamed, and something of a wasteland... etc.

** In the novelisations, the scientists behind Genesis had apparently been competing to see just how improbable they could make the geography by hand-designing things Just So. Although that code was [[Easter Egg|supposed to have been removed...]]

 

== [[Literature]] ==

{{quote| ''"Have you actually looked at this thing properly? I mean, come on! The rivers just appear out of nowhere! You can't have a desert smack bang right next to a forest! Who drew this stupid thing?"''}}

* Referenced in ''The [[Discworld]] Mapp'', when Stephen Briggs quotes Pratchett as describing traditional fantasy novel mapmaking as "putting the wiggly river through the pointy mountains," before adding that when he showed Pratchett the first draft (which was indeed drawn that way), he got the response "Do you know what a rain shadow is?" and a brief lecture on climatology.

** The ''Atlas of Middle-earth'' subjects it to a climatic analysis and takes into account regions such as Lorien and Mordor as being "subject to the influence of Secondary World powers".

* In the ''[[Everworld]]'' novels, the world was created by the mythological gods of our world, with each pantheon having its own territory. So African gods would create an area of Everworld that resembles sub-Saharan Africa, and Norse gods one that resembles Scandanavia, and if the cold, forested mountains instantly give way to hot, arid grassland, who cares? This is one of many bizarre, illogical characteristics of the universe that the characters [[Lampshade Hanging]] by saying, "Welcome to Everworld."

** At another point, it's explicitly mentioned that it's indeed possible in Phantasia that an icy area borders a hot desert. It's Phantasia, after all. In fact, drawing a map would be impossible even if the country wasn't infinite - it's written that the borders between lands aren't always even determinable.

* In Clive Barker's ''Weaveworld'', the odd bits and pieces of terrain incorporated into the Fugue were stuck together in a frantic rush, creating ''literal'' patchwork geography.

* ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' is horrible about this trope. Rivers go any which way (including uphill), cities and whole geographic features are outright misplaced onto the wrong ends of the Empire because the mapmakers weren't paying attention, and to top it all off, it might be an execution-worthy offense to question the actual in-game mapmakers if the gamemaster feels like being strict over it. And it's not really justified by "the spirits", because unless specifically asked they don't do weird stuff like that (they're lazy).

* Fully justified in the [[Ravenloft]] setting for [[Dungeons and Dragons]]. The Land of Mists is composed of artificial landmasses created and sustained by mysterious Dark Powers. Each landmass is separate from the others and bordered by the Mists, in which they drift. The Core (the largest) has a truly patchwork appearance, because each subregion is a "domain" specifically formed to imprison an individual [[Big Bad|darklord]], and its geography and climate has far more to do with that darklord's culture and personal issues than reality. For example, the domain of Lamordia has a far colder and more wintry climate than its neighbors, and the tropical island of Markovia is less than two hundred miles off the coast. The shape of rivers is even more bizarre, as some rivers literally flow into or out of nowhere, apparently emanating from the Mists themselves. There is also a massive hole (the Shadow Rift) cut straight out of the middle of the Core where other domains used to be (they got relocated during a plane-wide cataclysm).

* [http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l612/Dezeroth/Creation_Map_v71a.jpg Creation] in ''[[Exalted]]'' goes with having four major climate forms (desert and volcano, ocean, tundra and glaciers, plains and forests and jungles) and simply confining them to each of the cardinal directions (with the central island continent being largely mountainous). Justified by the fact that things like climate and geography are controlled entirely by gods, as well as by the fact that Creation was designed by beings with some pretty odd ideas about how a world should work.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', this is justified and enforced. It is justified in that the world was forged by god-like creators: an entire continent was blasted to smithereens to form three smaller ones, and magic plagues/life-giving [[Trees/Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] all contribute to weird design. That and the fact that it does need to be patchworked for game design.

** ''[[Spirit Tracks]]'' does much the same, but partly averts it with the snow realm by having it gradually change from "snow everywhere" to "it looks ''sort'' of cold" as you get close to the border.

** Whoever designs the map for the Zelda games clearly has [[You Fail Geography Forever|no idea how rivers work]]. They do normally start high and end low, which is better than a lot of examples on this page, but they do all kinds of crazy stuff on the way. The worst offender is probably Twilight Princess, where two rivers ''cross''.

** Not surprising, since it's based on California (notice the redwoods?) and Arizona, which really do look like that.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' (well the 3 GBA games at least) does this slightly differently, where forest and other [[Geo Effects|terrain types]] are spread out in a ridiculously random way.

** Jungle next to tundra.

** ''[[Final Fantasy Mystic Quest]]'' was an even greater offender; the world is divided into four climate zones of identical size, one representing each of the four classical elements, by a pair of planet-spanning mountain ranges that run directly along the equator and the prime meridian.

** Averted in the next installment, ''[[Oblivion]]'', where it was mostly just meadows and forests, with snowy mountains to the north.

*** Note, though, that it still counts in-game: Cyrodiil is on the equator, and is surrounded on most sides by steaming jungles and swamps. It was in fact supposed to be a tropical rainforest for the first three games, but then [[A Wizard Did It|a god stepped in]] and turned it into Ye Olde Fantasy Europe.

*** [[The Other Rainforest|It's still a rainforest.]] The term "rainforest" is defined by precipitation and foliage, not temperature. It rains practically every other day in ''[[Oblivion]]''.

* ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' had swamps, snow, and volcanoes all within a few minutes of each other, but the speed of the elevators probably means they were fairly far apart.

** The recent impact of the Phazon meteorite (aka the Leviathan), coupled with Phazon radiation, probably have a role in all of this.

** Justified in ''Metroid Fusion'', as the game takes place on a biological research vessel, and the various environments have been artificially created to support creatures that need a watery area or a fiery area.

* Video game ''[[Civilization]] IV'' has a map option called "fantasy world" where the terrain types are strewn about randomly. Any given tile is as likely to contain tundra as forest, desert, etc.

* Also [[Averted Trope]] by ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', which pays attention to things like rain shadows and biomes when generating worlds. Generating a new world can take about a quarter of an hour, depending on the size of the world and the number of potential worlds rejected for not having the right terrain distribution. On the other hand, the world generation is very powerful and flexible and you can set parameters that create worlds with glacier, sand desert, swamp, and mountain range all rubbing shoulders. Regions in half the map bursts into flames as soon as the game starts and the other half freezes every living thing dead within a minute are statistically uncommon (you really do have to make the effort) but not otherwise unusual. However, bugs in some versions can cause unusually powerful fluctuations in water temperatures.

** "Fluctuations" means creatures spontaneously melting on contact with water, if you weren't aware.

* An extreme example in the graphic chat/MMO, ''[[Furcadia]]'', users can make their own maps (called dreams) that other users can explore, chat, and RP on. Quite a few users have made dreams based on the [[Warrior Cats|Warriors]] series by Erin Hunter. In the books, the four clans of wild cats live in slightly different territories, such as one clan lives in moorland while another lives in a forest. In these fan-made dreams, however, the differences in the territories tend to be very drastic. It is not at all uncommon to find a Warriors dream with a barren desert, murky swamp, snowy tundra, and lush forest all sitting right next to each other with little or no transition in between, made even more drastic by the fact that the area of the dream would probably wind up being only 15 square miles or so in real life.

* Justified in ''[[Endless Frontier]]'' {{spoiler|which ends with five different worlds getting mixed together in a fairly haphazard way}}. Of course, Nature is soon to start asserting itself, so...

* [[Simon the Sorcerer]]. You have a temperate forest right next to a swamp right next to some icy mountains, and so on, and so on, in it's defense, it IS a magical world.

* In ''[[Runescape]]'' the border between desert and grassy fields is ''a fence'', both from the northern and western sides. The western border eventually turns into a river and a sea. The eastern border is a river and a sea all along, and across the river from the northern part of the desert, both to the east and the west, lie separate swamps. Another swamp lies in the corner of the desert, separated from it by a plateau from two sides and bordering with the sea from two other.

** In both the anime and the ''FireRed''/''LeafGreen'' games, there are tropical archipelagos not too far south of the icy Seafoam Islands (or at least, they're implied to be icy, given that that's the only place in Kanto where a lot of Ice-type Pokémon, including Articuno, are found. In Pokémon games in general, the "icy cave/island" which forms the Ice-types' lair tends to come out of pretty much nowhere).

*** That said, we are dealing with Pokémon here - they can shape their environments. Particularly in the case of the legendaries which are responsible for everything from time and space to earth and sea to life itself. If Articuno wants a frozen cave, Articuno damn well gets a frozen cave. See also: the second movie where Fire/Lightning/Ice islands are all close together with very different climates thanks to their respective Pokémon overlords.

* Somewhat deconstructed in ''[[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World]]''. Since the two worlds merged together, the climates have gone insane. Deserts are freezing over and the north pole is melting.

* The island in ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Football 2006]]''.

* ''[[King's Quest V]]'' takes place in the land of Serenia, which is mostly forest, but it is bordered by a hot desert to the west and a cold mountain range to the east.

** Sort of. The mountain is not on top of the forest; it's stated the screen's a few hours later. It's still implausible, but not ''quite'' bordered.

* Averted in ''[[Diablo II]]'', where there's a specific 'travel gap' between the different Acts - an (unseen and assumed) caravan takes you from the temperate Rogues camp to the desert of Lut Gholein, then an unseen boat takes you from the desert to the jungle of Kurast, then the end of that Act opens a magical portal directly to Hell. If you have the LoD expansion, a helpful angel teleports you directly from Hell to the fifth Act in the snowy mountains.

* ''[[Impossible Creatures]]'' is set on an island chain called Isla ''Variatas'' which manages to contain polar, forested and desert islands.

* ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' has about half a mile and a deep chasm between icy mountains and sweltering jungle. Most of the other transitions are better, though.

* ''[[Minecraft]]'' can get ridiculous with it's biome generation. In rapid succession, you can walk from a temperate forest, to a tundra, to a sandy desert, to a tropical rainforest (which for some reason, has livestock instead of the normal stuff). Without skipping a beat.

** Not as obvious, though, as of the 1.8 update. Biomes are much, much bigger now, so it's not as stark. Still, you can see a desert that shares close boundaries with a very large, temperate forest and ocean.

* The lower areas of Paradise City in ''[[Burnout]] Paradise'' are tropical and resemble Florida, then there's the geologically implausible California-style mountains with a parody of the Hollywood sign, and temperate forests/vegetation.

* ''[[Halo 3]]'' not only has jungle with [[Misplaced Vegetation]] and savanna right next to each other, but Mt. Kilimanjaro is way too close to the Tsavo/Mombasa area. And let's not talk about the rings themselves.

* ''[[An Untitled Story]]'' has it's entire world compressed into few hundred screens. As such, there's a [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World|snowfield]] that borders with a sunny town and a grassy (and moonlit) hill without ''any'' barriers, or a [[Lethal Lava Land|lava]] covered [[Eternal Engine|factory]] that borders directly with [[Under the Sea|a water grotto]], a grassy plain from above and ''a tree''.

* Very common in most games by [[Nifflas]]. The geography tends to change ''halfway through a screen,'' indicating a new area.

 

* Similarly, there was a [[Bugs Bunny]] cartoon where the drab, unpleasant Northern U.S. was separated from the verdant, flowered South precisely at the Mason-Dixon Line.

* [[The Flintstones]] did it in one episode. Rain up until a border.

* ''Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1,001 Rabbit Tales'' has a lush jungle near or in the middle of an Arabian desert.