Looking for a map creating program for a Shadowrun campaign

[Kerberos91]

Hi There

After having my most recent action set piece in the game go not quite as planned because I didn't draw a proper map of the place which left my players disoriented I've decided for my next Shadowrun campaign I'm going to draw detailed layouts of the locations where big action set pieces take place. The problem is though that despite an extensive search I haven't come across a single piece of software that allows me to draw the things I want to draw. The location in this case is a large stealth ship and the action takes place on two different decks that both need extensive floor plans. As it turns out though the only floor plan creator programs I've come across are made specifically for residential areas and don't take into account things like missile launchers, heavy machinery, rows upon rows of monitors etc... So I'm looking for a program that allows me to faithfully create a floor plan for the two decks of this ship. I know they're out there because I've seen maps for Shadowrun that do have the level of detail I want for my map but I have no idea what program they were created with. Here's one example:

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If anyone can tell me what program was used to create that map or alternatively if anyone can recommend me a program that I can use for my map instead that would be amazing.

Thanks in advance

PS: If I accidentally posted this in the wrong sub-forum I apologise in advance and please move this thread to the correct forum.

[Greason Wolfe]

Not totally sure that was done by a program specifically for making ships and what not. My recommendation would be to look through the sci-fi and tutorial sub-forums. You will likely find several good examples in the first of those two, and in the second you will likely find a few tutorials on how to create similar results on your own in something such as gimp or Photo Shop.

[bkh1914]

First of all, that example you show was not done in a architectural / CAD type program (99+% confidence level). And it certainly wasn't done by anyone with a good knowledge of building design and layout. Instead, it was done by an artist and he most likely used a general-purpose image editing program. That's not to say you couldn't do it with a CAD type of program and create custom objects for your environment (it's not that difficult once you learn how). But there are easier ways to do it.

You can use any one of a number of programs to create your floor plans - Photoshop and GIMP are probably the top contenders. Both of them are highly capable image manipulation programs. (I use GIMP.) There also are programs aimed at the RPG map making market, like CC3+ (and it's sister programs).
There's a learning curve for all those programs. And tutorials for each program.

[damonjynx]

First of all, that example you show was not done in a architectural / CAD type program (99+% confidence level). And it certainly wasn't done by anyone with a good knowledge of building design and layout. Instead, it was done by an artist and he most likely used a general-purpose image editing program. That's not to say you couldn't do it with a CAD type of program and create custom objects for your environment (it's not that difficult once you learn how). But there are easier ways to do it.

You can use any one of a number of programs to create your floor plans - Photoshop and GIMP are probably the top contenders. Both of them are highly capable image manipulation programs. (I use GIMP.) There also are programs aimed at the RPG map making market, like CC3+ (and it's sister programs).
There's a learning curve for all those programs. And tutorials for each program.

100% agree with this. I know Gameprinter does a lot of sci-fi maps, deck plans and the like. He uses a vector program Xara something or other, that's similar to Ai and Inkscape. I think CC3 (if they do sci-fi objects) would be your best bet, but it too has a learning curve.

Sometimes you have to bullet and either learn how to draw them (probably using GIMP or Inkscape as they're free 'equivalents' to Ps & Ai) or draw a sketch and commission someone to draw them for you.

[Mark Oliva]

I think CC3 (if they do sci-fi objects) would be your best bet, but it too has a learning curve.

Nothing against CC3+. I have it with most of its add-ons, and though I seldom use it. I rate it high.

However, the learning curve is not merely high but steep. And I think a better tool to do what you want to do is Heruca's new MapForge program. There also is a free trial version. And the learning curve is neither high nor steep. You can check it out at:

https://www.mapforge-software.com/

[loogie]

I'd say that looks like Gimp or Photoshop using some simple stamped objects. Either the author created his own artwork for the objects inside, or he had a map-pack of objects from similar authors. You could easily do something similar with Illustrator or Inkscape as well, with the added benefit of a vector. either way the output with be an image of some sort.

The problem you're seeming to run into is a fairly common one, art. If you're not able to draw all the bits yourself you have to find them somewhere, which can be a pain. I've had trouble in such things as well, there are a ton of collections of art both pay and free, but if you're like me and prefer uniformity.. it can look at little odd if you mix and match images from different map-packs or artists. Not sure there's much of a 100% solution there other than being ok with placeholder art, getting good at quick sketching, or modifying maps to contain only the stuff you have art for.

For a game I find speed is the most important part, you need to be able to create a full on map with limited time (a couple hours usually) since if you're playing the game regularly, you don't want to burn out trying to make complex and beautiful artwork that will take hours upon hours... I find that while I love pretty maps for my tabletop games I always run into a huge bottleneck, I'm not able to keep up the quality of maps for more than a few sessions... and I also find that if my quality degrades over the course of a game sometimes players interest wanes as well, so keeping up a simple-but-consistent flow of maps is important.

My best suggestion is either get good at quick doodles in inkscape or another vectorized art program save them as objects, and make another inkscape file (the map) to import them into that you can export as an image (png etc). Might be slow at first as you build an object library, but you'll be able to reuse objects after you've created them the first time.. and as a vector, you can scale, resize, rotate, slant and shift them as needed. If you really have trouble making doodles, you can go even simpler and just create simple shapes with text descriptors... for most people a map is more for spatial awareness than visual stimulation anyways, and it should do fine... you're already using your imagination to play the game, having to imagine what a box labelled "console" looks like isn't really a stretch.

[Azélor]

Check this thread, there is a lot of stuff : https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=16821

[heruca]

Thanks for the MapForge mention, Mark.

Just wanted to add that I am currently trying to get some great sci-fi and modern content ported to MapForge's Add-On format via a new Kickstarter campaign. That should make the app for more useful for games like Starfinder, Traveller, and Shadowrun (to name a few).