itch.io

Hate to headbutt in, but here's somewhere that my comment about making distinctive areas would be useful. No need to make an automap - modern games don't have them, and yours doesn't need to either. Just make some areas feel more different than others. This doesn't need to be a total area overhaul, either - add some suspended animation tubes that give off blue light and a big sign over the top that says "CRYONICS SECTOR", another area just add some glowing yellow pipes, maybe dripping emissive liquid. Got a bunch of windows that look outdoors? Want to make that corridoor look different? Make a "huge" spaceship (a flattened sprite of a spaceship) fly past the windows emitting some light from its headbeams every few minutes, but only past THAT window/set of windows. There's ways to make this space easier to navigate without needing an automap, my man!