TFT Map Maker

[Shadekeep]

Oo, got a mention on the KS page! Now I really have to ramp up development so that people can save their work. ^_^

[Terquem]

I think this tool is pretty nice. I played a bit with it this past weekend. But, I'm still confused

The tool links together hexes, which connect on their flat edges.

The hexes are supposed to represent Megahexes?

Megahexes do not connect on their flat edges

So what am I linking together here?

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by Terquem

I think this tool is pretty nice. I played a bit with it this past weekend. But, I'm still confused

The tool links together hexes, which connect on their flat edges.

The hexes are supposed to represent Megahexes?

Megahexes do not connect on their flat edges

So what am I linking together here?

Sorry for any confusion. The hexes are in fact individual hexes. I plan on adding a Megahex overlay eventually. But even when that is place, drawing will be at the single hex level. Hope this makes sense!

[Christopher R. Rice]

Very cool stuff! I look forward to seeing where this program goes. Being able to "hexify" existing maps could be darn useful feature (if it's possible).

[CON_Troll]

OMG! Between TOMC providing us his nifty OGREmap tool and your fantastic ITL mapping tool, you guys are absolutely spoiling us. Naturally, we want MOAR!

I don't know if this has been already mentioned, so my apologies if everyone is like "Well, duh. We all knew that already." But you can save this to your HD and it seems to function perfectly. So it's nice that you don't have to be online to use it.

Request: Is it possible to get custom levels of zoom rather than just the stepped ones?

[Anaraxes]

Perhaps an ambitious feature, but I found myself wishing for a line drawn with the partial-hex options (like Flat Half or Point Half). It's slow to do manually, as you have to alternate direction on every hex (or draw every other hex, then come back). It Would Be Nice if the line tool understood the partial hexes and could properly flip every other one to make nice smooth partial-hex-thick lines.

A related observation: the new rotate/flip tools for the partial hexes save a lot of menu space. But you can't see their effect -- in fact, they apparently do nothing -- until you move the cursor back over the hex map proper. Perhaps the cursor should keep its partial-hex shape even over the menus, so you could see it rotate around as you click those buttons?

[larsdangly]

I'm not sure where you are headed next with this project, but if you pm me the relevant contact info I would be happy to send you a set of hex-based icons I developed for creating TFT maps of various scales, from tactical (1.5 m per hex) to regional (multiple km per hex).

[larsdangly]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

Sorry for any confusion. The hexes are in fact individual hexes. I plan on adding a Megahex overlay eventually. But even when that is place, drawing will be at the single hex level. Hope this makes sense!

Your tool should be equally useful for all scales, given that one hex at labyrinth map scale is suggested to represent 1 MH at tactical scale (and similar 'nesting' presumably could apply at progressively larger scales). On the other hand, there is a fundamental inconsistency with this approach, as a lattice of megahexes actually doesn't have exactly the same orientation as the lattice of hexes it contains, so there are some peculiar distortions that occur as you go up and down in scale. I don't think it is 'fixable', so this is just a sort of loose end of the whole hex/megahex system.

[WhiskeyVictor]

Being able to print in 1.5” scale would be golden.

The ability to scale the size of hexes would be a very nice feature.

As it is currently, it's functionality is quite high. Wonderful work! :)

EDIT: Being able to make Traveller (8-column, 10-row) star charts with this would augment its utility for other gamers. Only a few symbols would be required (arid world, water world, gas giant, naval base, etc.)

[Steve Jackson]

Shadekeep - I'd like to give you an advance look at an actual TFT labyrinth map. Your app looks like it's only a few short steps from being able to generate maps that look just like ours, and those steps could go faster if you knew what ours looked like. Contact info? sj@sjgames.com