Worldspinner: Fantasy RPG Worldbuilder & Map Maker

[Johnny Au]

Read here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects.../posts/1018899

It discusses about how cultures affect the world map.

[Bogie]

I had posted a thread about this kickstarter on Saturday the 11th under the heading NEWS at the top of the forum threads.
http://www.cartographersguild.com/ne...ckstarter.html

The maps are very good, but they are not going to replace the beautiful art produced by many of our members. Also, while the program will use a number of algorithms to generate the maps using real data on Tectonics, Biodiversity, Weather, etc, the maps are still pretty much random design. If you have a specific world shape you want, it won't do that yet. What makes this program so good is the wealth of info that is imbedded into each map and accessed by a hot-link. I spoke to Darren, the creator of Worldspinner, and he plans to continuously add content and new features so it doesn't get repetitive.

They are now on their 4th stretch goal and should easily hit a couple more by the end of the month.

[WorldspinnerDG]

Hi, this is Darren from the Worldspinner team. It is with some humility that I introduce myself, as I've seen some amazing maps on the forum here, and we are working on a tool that will never match what a truly skilled cartography enthusiast can produce with sufficient experience and time.

But we do hope the tool proves useful for some of the projects of cartographers here. I suspect it's probably most useful as an starting point to accelerate a project or learn how the pieces fit together... and especially for tying the map into fantasy RPGs, by storing information on every city, nation, and point of interest on the map. But I've also learned that when building a tool, no matter what your plans are, the creative people who get their hands on it will invariable figure out how things never foreseen.

So that said, we're interested to hear what you like or don't like about what you've seen so far, and what you'd want to do with it. Worldspinner is an ambitious project, so there's no way we're going to be able to deliver everything that everyone could possibly want on day one. But we do hope it proves an interesting starting point, and we look forward to continuing to make it better and better.

- Darren

[ltan]

Hey Darren, I have a quick question concerning the history aspect of Worldspinner.

Will user made information be able to be uploaded? Say I have a world already formed with a rich history and elements that I want to use. Is that something that I could format into a text file, for example, and then upload it into the map?

Also, will there be a possibility to have an offline viewer? I understand that this is a monthly service to create and edit the maps, but an offline viewer would be nice to allow the use of the maps when no internet is available.

[WorldspinnerDG]

The first version is focused on creating a new world from scratch. We will definitely be adding import, since you (and for that matter I as well) have existing worlds we'd like to bring in. But it'll be just a little further down the road as it brings up a whole extra bunch of issues to work through such as file formats.

In my opinion, the best offline viewer is actually a big printed map. It is amazing the amount of detail you can fit into a sheet of paper two by three feet, compared to how much zooming & scrolling it takes on a screen.

[Johnny Au]

Darren, it would be very interesting if later on, it would be possible to import maps made using Other World Mapper into Worldspinner as well.

[WorldspinnerDG]

Johnny, we definitely do plan to add import a little down the road. One of the biggest questions is deciding which formats/tools to support and what features people need in the import. Good suggestion on that one, we'll add it to the list to consider; it's largely a matter of prioritizing what will do the most people good (and what is possible).

[Johnny Au]

Darren, I noticed that you have implemented making maps having hex tiles.



They remind me of Civilization V.

[WorldspinnerDG]

We're still exploring how exactly people want hex maps. A lot of people prefer the "hex overlay" style, which we are definitely doing, but as with anything there's no one "right answer".

[WorldspinnerDG]

FYI - after a very successful run, the Kickstarter will be completing tomorrow. Just one day left if you want to back and get alpha or beta access, instead of waiting for the public release.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...r-and-map-make