Has anyone ever used a video game to make a map?

[swiss]

Some video games have map maker tools...not for cartography, but for just making a map to actually play in-game. Considering some of these games have really cool assets, I'm wondering if anyone has fallen in love with an asset set in a video game and said, 'screw it I'm just going to use that'. If so, can you share examples, stories, pros/cons?

What prompted this question was looking at some screen shots of Civ5. I've never played the game or used the map feature, but the asset sets look amazing.

[meldryn]

I used to play to the firsts game "Heroes of Might and Magic" so i did a lot of maps at that time with the editor included. It was for playing the game itself and not to do a map to use for a book or a rpg. Unfortunalty it was lot of years before and i did not saved the maps.

[usivius]

LOL. Sounds like a no-brainer, but I have actually not tried. What I HAVE done is make maps off of movie scenes I wanted to make an adventure from (D&D).

[Diamond]

I still play Civ 2: Test of Time (I know, I'm old), and every now and then I'll get a really interesting looking world map. I take a screen shot and use it as a base for a Diamond map. The first iteration of the Peacock Throne map (not the final map, but the one in the first map post) is directly copied from some land forms in Civ2:ToT.

[Blaidd Drwg]

I used to play to the firsts game "Heroes of Might and Magic" so i did a lot of maps at that time with the editor included. It was for playing the game itself and not to do a map to use for a book or a rpg. Unfortunalty it was lot of years before and i did not saved the maps.

Yes! I played with the editor for HOMM3 for a while. Fun stuff ^_^

I still play Civ 2: Test of Time (I know, I'm old), and every now and then I'll get a really interesting looking world map. I take a screen shot and use it as a base for a Diamond map. The first iteration of the Peacock Throne map (not the final map, but the one in the first map post) is directly copied from some land forms in Civ2:ToT.

I played that one too. Religiously, and for a long while. I used the map editor a lot as well, but to recreate maps I made on paper for use in-game.

[Larb]

No but if I needed a modern city map, I can see myself just playing Cities: Skylines and then taking an overhead screenshot.

[KMAlexander]

Not professionally, but many an hour was wasted in my youth playing with map editors in videogames.

[Falconius]

I started a city skylines game specifically to make a map, but it petered out. It's really just easier to make a map. I've long been considering drawing a map made from a game I already played, like a finished Dwarf Fortress (actually that's the only game I've considered doing it (also none of my dwarfs ever finish anything they start )), but again, it's easier to just make a map from scratch.

[Naga]

Like some of you said, I used HOMM, but specifically Heroes 3 was the best choice to use the map editor, and I think Heroes 4's aesthetics was so pretty too.

I always thought about using HOMM as a map designer for a book I was writing long ago, would've been interesting. Many game objects can pertain to so many landmarks for a story.

What no one here as mentioned was Age of Wonders (AOW) 1 and 2. Those two games were really beautiful as well, with the music to. Especially with a terrain editor and for the first game two subterranean levels? Amazing.

[Diamond]

I started a city skylines game specifically to make a map, but it petered out. It's really just easier to make a map. I've long been considering drawing a map made from a game I already played, like a finished Dwarf Fortress (actually that's the only game I've considered doing it (also none of my dwarfs ever finish anything they start )), but again, it's easier to just make a map from scratch.

We had a monthly challenge a few years ago where you created a map based on a DF map. Maybe we should revisit that...