Jump to content

Map Design


StormWolfe
 Share

Recommended Posts

Good Day Everyone!

 

I am in the process of relaunching my old, long-running swords and sorcery roleplay. It is my first love when it comes to my three sites.

 

I would love some input, suggestions, links, ideas and overall discussion on the topic of creating and using maps for sites.

 

Caveat...I am a graphics Village Idiot. Photoshop and I have a very adversarial relationship.

  • Do you create or use a map of your world or continent, etc.?
  • What are some resources out there for map and world building?
  • What makes you run screaming from the very idea of creating a map of your world.
  • Do you have any tips or tricks for map creation?

I am using Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator and following a couple of Photoshop tutorials: Creating a Fantasy Map.... and some of the ones found here at The WorldBuilding School.

 

Thing is, the tutorials are almost too high level...and too fast...for me.

 

 

 

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
  • I've created two world maps for games. I'm not a photoshop or graphics expert either, but I know enough that I can get around and eventually get to a finished product.
  • https://www.cartographersguild.com/forum.php All the way. I'm not a member on the forum; mostly a lurker. But they have so many great tutorials for map building available, even for guests. For my most recent map, I used Ascension's Atlas Style Tutorial, but the revised version with videos. https://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=18643 The videos helped a lot for me because it described all the photoshop actions I was not entirely familiar with and how to find them. I've also used Cartographer's Guild for tutorials on coastlines and river flow.
  • Probably photoshop. lol Like I said, I can eventually fumble my way through things, but at this stage in my life, I try to avoid graphics. There's also worry about, "If I mess up this thing, can I go back easily?" In which case, I usually end up with layers all over the place.
  • I don't really have any tips and tricks. Most of what I've picked up I learned on the spot from reading tutorials.
  • Love 1

banner-01-88x31.jpg
Khyeras: an original fantasy RPG.

 

"I keep wanting to write 'dwarves' as 'drawers'."

"Land of the Drawers... we call it... Ikea."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you! I am prowling the 'net for options, but it helps to have actual input from people that have used a tool. I'm also functional (barely) in Photoshop. In fact, I started taking their free tutorials yesterday.

 

Thanks again!

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I've used Inkarnate in the past. It's relatively simple to use. Tricky part is actually getting it to work with large scale maps, since it's more designed for smaller resolutions. But it's fairly easy to go back in and edit the maps as they develop. 

  • Like 1

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also use Inkarnate. It makes decent maps. I used it for my fantasy site and enjoyed it. And as mentioned it’s very easy to go in and edit in new locations. 

Reality is an illusion. 


 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the feedback!

 

I discovered Inkarnate and love it for smaller, very detailed maps - like villages or cities.

 

I also found Wonderdraft and it is amazing! There is a one-time purchase price of $29.99 US.  I usually do like 99% of my work in Wonderdraft. I have done layout in Photoshop if I wanted to combine more than one landmass.

 

Pros (so far)

  • Excellent for large scale maps.
  • Has a built-in landmass generator that you can tweak to your liking.
  • Works great with graphic drawing tablets (I have an XP-Pen Artist 12)
  • Several themes and options.
  • Can "zoom" a section to create a detailed map - like a specific town or terrain.
  • Easy to "paint" and blend biomes, etc.
  • Hundreds of symbols and icons.
  • Labels, grids, overlays, etc.
  • Can import and trace landmasses, etc. (I use Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator for pure landmasses).
  • Several tutorials on YouTube.
  • Can import and export maps.
  • I think you can import your own symbols (castles, houses, critters).

Cons (so far)

  • Low grade user interface (at least on the Mac).
  • Not quite as intuitive as Inkarnate. However, the tutorials are excellent.
  • I am sure there are more cons, but those are the 2 biggies.

Here is the landmass I'm working on currently. I used Photoshop to layout and combine several landmasses into the layout I wanted, then imported it to Wonderdraft and traced the images. Doing it this way is time consuming. However, that was the only way to get the western landmass layout that I wanted. Right now it is a bare landmass. I've not started adding mountains, rivers, other terrain, etc. Since I'm about half-blind, I'm building my maps in segments - Western Hemisphere (the one below), Eastern Hemisphere (Laid out but not imported yet), and then any additional major islands we might need.

 

This map was done on the 4K Ultra theme in Wonderdraft (3940X2160) and uses the "pastel" setting for the ocean color. 

 

catria-template.png

  • Fuck Yeah! 1

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is an incredible looking map. I'm going to have to check that out! And as long as it's a one time purchase, that's more manageable on my budgets than a month subscription. 

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd suggest watching some of the tutorials on YouTube. If you do a search on Wonderdraft, lots of videos pop up.

 

And thank you!

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic's responses inspired me to create a coterie dedicated to World Building. It's an open to join coterie for discussing all aspects of world building from forum layout to map design. We can also upload and give tips and tricks on map building (a new love of mine).

 

World Building Coterie

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

wanted to drop a couple of links here as additional resources that folks might be interested in. i like creating my own maps from scratch in Clip Studio or Photoshop, buuut for those who don't have a specific vision for their world map and just want to generate a map as a base and then plug in their location names onto that generated map, i recommend these two map generators:

  • Thank you 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

There are lots of great photoshop map brushes you can get on DeviantART (just credit ofc!) to create mountains, forests, rivers, towns etc. This map looks brilliant!
Another program I used a long time ago was called Inkarnate or something of a similar name, though I believe was in beta back then. It may have changed an awful lot. 

Super stoked admin at

DIRECTORYAD.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Well now I feel like an absolute maniac for drawing my own maps lol I've got a stash of weird blob-like images saved that I haphazardly stitch together in Photoshop to give myself a rough shape, then I break out the art tablet to overpaint/refine the shape, blob in and then refine land features/regions, then add all the symbols/markers and legends. Its a bit of work, and loads of clipping masks and going over things 60 million times, but I'm really finicky on the aesthetic of visual aids for my boards and low key hate the end results of a lot of the map generators I've tried out.

  • Like 1

Candide: An original dystopian RPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made my own map. I hand drew the thing, had someone outline it for me (I didn’t have a tablet at the time), and colored and textured the dang thing with Gimp. Since I have an original world as my setting I’ve found it’s pretty helpful for some players to get their characters’ bearings. 🙂

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always look at the custom maps for boards I'm considering joining! Super helpful for me to get a sense of the world I'm playing in and everything. 

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Guidelines and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.