Any software or web-app suggestions based on these specific needs?
Hello all. I'm looking for a map-making solution that'd be simplistic to use and with clean, high-contrasting elements, as I am visually handicapped.
I've been a casual dabbler in D&D, PF, and a few others for just shy of the past 6 years -- but have always been torn on the overall usefulness of maps. I have a preference for theater-of-the-mind based encounters, but do find there times and places for a well-made encounter map. The problem is... I am half-blind, with one eye long past completely non-functional and have gone through a surgery in the past year-and-a-half that has left my definitive vision fairly poor. For example, in order to read or look at anything {on a 1366x768 resolution desktop}, I have to have a fullscreen magnification of anywhere between 350% and 800% zoom. (Windows uers can use the 'Win key' and '+' to emulate the experience, if you'd like.) As a result, the process for prepping as a DM has had to be streamlined considerably -- going so far as to switch systems (Open Legend) to cut down on the busywork that comes with session planning.
Just... I don't have a solution for map-making anymore. Historically, it's always been crudely drawn MSPaint, Roll20, or RPGMaker compilations just out of lazy convienence, but I've divorced all of those options to find something a little cleaner and that will snap to a grid upon creation. I own Photoshop, but have never put in the effort to learn it due to the perceived high-intricacy of creating maps that way.
I've tried ANAMap, which I like, but would like to find something capable of supporting larger creations. I've also looked at Ilwinters Floorplan Generator (on Steam) due to it's relatively simplistic promise of click-drag creations, but the program itself is clunky and oddly missing features expected of basic design software. Furthermore, it's various textures are rather low-res and busy looking, making the end result staggeringly bad when your visual acuity is already somewhat blurry and easily clouded.
Going on down the list, I've looked at the various map makers and -ographers from:
Dungeon Painter Studio, MapForge, Fractal Mapper, ProFantasy, and Inkwell Ideas. For the majority of this list, I suspect either similar problems to Ilwinter's; cannot afford to pay for them to try them out at present; or are just a personal preference thing against the art design for the assets used.
As I've implied, having to comb and sift through a lot of information - both visual and text - is a bit of an exercise in frustration for me. Hoping someone here can offer me a sugestion on something I hadn't thought of or to help narrow the searching field.
Thank you for your time.
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Originally Posted by Tenia
