Previewing a New World Building Tool/Plugin
[Updated: Try the tool by reading this post.]
It’s not that my map generation algorithm in Hexographer itself is *BAD*… instead, that approach is just meant to create a map for a kingdom, island, partial continent or at most a single continent. But I know creating the top level map of the world is also fun, and I needed an approach for world map creation for a new project I’ve begun. (However, I do expect this feature to also be added to Hexographer.)
So below are a few screenshots from one aspect of the new project which show creating an icosahedral projection of a world map. As you can see, you can change the amount of land on the world, frequency of mountains & vegetation and the temperature of the world each time you click “Recreate”. You can also do limited editing of individual hexes. For full editing, there will be a way to export the data to Hexographer. (And as mentioned above, a similar feature will be added within Hexographer.)
Let me know if there is a particular hex orientation (true rows vs. true columns) or map size that is particularly useful. I do plan to allow for setting the map to match the classic Traveller icosahedral planet template. But aside from that and what you see below, please link me to other common examples.
Looks good, Joe.
I tend to like vertical hexes for icos’ maps – maybe that’s the influence of TSR’s old World Builders’ Guidebook.
Happy to beta test, if the need arises.
That looks awesome. Were I to change anything, it would be to increase the number of hexes used. As it stands, the “resolution” is so low that each hex covers a lot of ground. The resulting coastlines seem very “chunky” with more of a suggestion of the continental outline rather than an actual usable map. If I was using this plugin, the map would only be a vague reference for remaking sectional maps at a higher level of detail.
I second the ‘higher resolution’ suggestion. Looks like a really cool start, though.
Actually, the math for the icosahedral mask and making the half-hexes match (change one half hex and the corresponding one also changes) is easier with the “true rows” look. Especially when making the overall number of hexes configurable. (For higher resolution.)
Thanks for the feedback.
Looks great! I can see using this for Traveller in a big way. Just need Craters and more dust and sand terrain tiles