I realize I don't want to simply have an enemy and a player in the room on the map.
I'm not sure what you meant by that?
Definitely agree that a log is great. And a good action log, like a good index in an RPG rulebook, is worth its price in gold in how it facilitates stuff without getting in the way of enjoyment.
Question, why go for a red dot instead of a number, for threat-level? More thematic? How about going with the Defcon colours and numbers? Would also help for colour-blind people.
And if you only have a dot, and it's not reflective of location within the room, why not place it in the center?
Finally, I think you should have a sprite for the player character. It just looks missing to not have it.
The map is essentially a minimap, and I don't see a need to display all characters there. In the current example, that highlighted room would need to have 2 enemy icons and a player icon. Too much.
Could definitely work. It was just easier in the mockup to just make a red dot of two intensities. And yes, could be in the center.
Maybe. I'm no artist, so making a player sprite is a lot of effort. Maybe just an arrow or something.