Hi everyone!

I want to consult you about something. I'm developing strategy games whose main interface are maps -game A uses a mapamundi, game B uses a map of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East up to the Indus river.

In these maps, I want to reach a good compromise between shape and area, (i.e. make an area with X pixels ingame represent an area with Y square kilometers in the real world, and maintain this ratio as constant as possible through the entirety of the maps) and shape (i.e. avoid the projection make the shapes of the landmasses look distorted to the ai of the common player).

What projections would fit these criteria for game A? and for game B?

Also, another question. Once I have a projection, is there any available free software to transform an image from a projection into another? When I draw the different mapmodes I will most likely have to refer to online image that might be in different projections than the one I decide upon, so something like that might be helpful.

Thank you all very much in advance!