Mapping programs used by game companies

ronpurvis · Dec 18, 2004

I would really like to know if there are any mapping programs available to the public that the gaming companies use? Or do they hand draw them?

FoolishFrost · Dec 18, 2004

It's a matter of personal preferance.

I like Fractal Mapper 7, myself. I also find hand-drawn maps useful.

ronpurvis · Dec 19, 2004

TheFool1972 said:
It's a matter of personal preferance.

I like Fractal Mapper 7, myself. I also find hand-drawn maps useful.

Thank you for the advice. Unfortuantely I will never be able to draw things by hand or even with a regular paint type program. My wife and children have artistic ability, but I have a hard time drawing a straight line, and that is with a ruler in hand.

I really liked what I saw from Gridsmith but they look like they have gone out of business. Dundjinni seemed ok, but I was hoping to find something with the same ease of use and less restrictive licensing. According to the license for some of the art packs you can't post it on a website even if you are giving it free to the community.

Is there a demo for Fractal Mapper? Is it something that someone with little artistic ability could use? I also have poor hand control, so does it have a feature like gridsmith where it snaps to a grid?

annadobritt · Dec 19, 2004

CC2 Pro is what I use. Steep learning curve, but worth it. Here's a link to their website: http://www.profantasy.com .

It does have a snap to grid feature.

thundershot · Dec 19, 2004

I'm not a publisher, but I have and love Fractal Mapper 7.

There's a trial for it here: http://www.nbos.com/download/download-trial.htm

Chris

Warden · Dec 19, 2004

Hand drawn maps, all the way. There's just something about the skill of translating the written world of text into a visually detailed image that gets my juices flowing.

Clayton Bunce of Morningstar Maps is a real pro at this. He did a city map for my campaign and my players are still drooling over it to this day.

TheAuldGrump · Dec 19, 2004

At least two companies have used Dungeon Crafter ( www.dungeoncrafter.com ) and there is another that is intending to.

Not the highest tech mapping program by any means, but for interiors it gets the job done.

The Auld Grump, winnowing his hard drive...

ronpurvis · Dec 19, 2004

Thank you for the advice from everyone. I did find the Fractal Mapper demo and Iam really impressed with it so far. However I don't see an answer to an important question for me. ON Gridsmith, Dundjinni, and some other programs you can add new collections of symbols fairly easy. Can you do this with Fractal Mapper? Are there collections of symbols that are available in user groups such as Yahoo has for the other programs mentioned?

FoolishFrost · Dec 19, 2004

Yes.

You just create the symbol you want in FM7, then add it to the symbol group you want. Easy to make symbols.

ronpurvis · Dec 20, 2004

TheFool1972 said:
Yes.

You just create the symbol you want in FM7, then add it to the symbol group you want. Easy to make symbols.

are there any collections of symbols? I have looked at two yahoo groups and they have posted a lot of problems creating their own symbols. Since I have no talent in that area, I am hoping to find some collections or a way to import symbols made for other programs.