Map Types and Explanations

Map types are different features maps have that are common enough to be considered a genre.

Primary Map Types

Primary map types are map elements that are common enough to be their own genres on the server.¹ Maps are typically split into two categories referring to their main map types: pure and mixed. Pure maps are those where the primary map type is the only type of gameplay in the map. Mixed maps are those which contain other map types.

Parkour

Parkour is the most common map type on Minr. Parkour consists of getting from A to B using a path that presents physical difficulty or danger to cross.

Maze

Mazes are challenges of navigation through a series of branching paths. Most paths do not lead to the exit. Mazes typically allow you to backtrack, even if you find a dead-end. Mazes can be 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional, have changing pathways, and have possibly no dead-ends but a bunch of loops instead.²

Puzzle

Puzzles require thinking beyond just finding an answer and applying it. Puzzles may require logic, deductive reasoning, and abstract thinking to be solved. They may come in the form of riddles, math problems, or clue sets. Most puzzles have defined rules, but some involve figuring out the rules themselves without anything said.

Search

Searches involve finding some sort of "key" to "unlock" the correct path or task the player with finding a large number of a collectible. This may involve finding signs with answer information, hitting buttons that briefly open access to other buttons, or looking for some sort of hidden trigger to a locked door. As this is more looking than solving, this type was created and separated from the Puzzle type.

Dropper

Dropper maps were once lumped in with parkour but around 2021 became common enough to be considered their own map type. Dropper maps typically include falling sections where the goal is to land safely at the bottom of a large descent. Sometimes, other gameplay elements can be included, such as trying to avoid fall-damage while descending a tower.

Adventure

Adventures are unique in that they are typically a combination of at least three different types. They usually contain a story or a plot, which can be presented in various ways (visually, implicitly, in writing, etc.). The map will usually feel like an experience beyond what would be expected in a non-Adventure map.

Guess

Guesses are usually a sub-genre mixed in with Mazes and Parkour. The goal is to pick a correct path from a group of potential paths without any form of clues or insight. For this reason, guesses are notorious for being time wasters, as it usually takes multiple tries to find the correct path. The punishment for choosing a wrong path is usually death or a large setback, and once committed to a path, there is usually no way to back out of it.

Secondary Map Types

Secondary map types refer to all map genres a map falls under except its main type. These only apply to mixed genre maps and adventure maps. Most primary map types can also be secondary types with the sole exception of adventure.

Tertiary Map Types

Tertiary map types are supporting types that indicate a sub-genre of gameplay instead of being standalone genres themselves.

Co-op

Co-op maps are designed specifically for two or more people. The map may require you to work with another person to beat it, or it may pit you up against the other person. Some Co-op maps can be completed with only one person, but others require at least two people.

Mobs

Mobs refer to maps where the threat of dying to hostile mobs is present. Sometimes the mobs are to be avoided entirely, sometimes you will have to get through a few mobs to progress, and sometimes it is required for you to kill all the mobs before advancing. Some mobs maps give armor and weapons before you have to face them.

No Sprint

No Sprint maps will remove the ability to sprint, limiting movement speed. These maps are typically quite difficult, as jumps tend to be tighter than usual.

Story

Story is used for maps that revolve around a story.³

Trivia

• The most common map type is Parkour. Mazes, despite being the second most common, have significantly fewer maps.
• The guess genre is far more common in older maps. Most maps that use guess as a primary gameplay element are now located in Mount Minr.
• Quiz maps, including FAQ Quiz and Delta FAQ Quiz, do not have any map types associated with them and are listed as having an unknown map type.

Notes

1. Map genres are typically set in stone, only splitting to create new genres when there is a large enough set of maps for that genre. Droppers, as mentioned in its genre section, were lumped with its closest matching genre of parkours for a long time before receiving its own section during Frozen Spawn. Other map types can theoretically, with enough time, split off from some of the current genres to become their own niche genres in the future.
2. While mazes usually follow the listed guidelines, there are a variety of maps within the maze genre that do not follow them. Mazes, such as those in Moving Mazes and Vertigo, can be navigation puzzles beyond moving the player in a space with added rules. Trength has proven that four dimensional maps are a possibility, and some maps have flirted with the idea of non-euclidian mazes like drunkrooms.
3. Story is an underused tertiary map type. A large fraction of the server's maps that have plots are not listed with the story type, and there is no defined amount of plot that those with the story type share.