Information Grid Cartographer, New Tool for Drawing Classic RPG Maps

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Grid Cartographer

If you're like me and play a lot of old(school) dungeon crawlers that don't have an automap feature, you might appreciate this new program by David Walters called Grid Cartographer, currently in v1.0.8:

Grid Cartographer is a helpful companion program designed to assist you in playing classic grid based RPG series like Wizardry and Might & Magic.

It improves upon hand drawn paper maps with a number of useful features such as: unlimited map area and floors stored in one convenient place and unlimited notes per tile (pro only).

Grid Cartographer is available in two flavours. The free version provides a good taste. If you like it, why not upgrade to the pro version to experience the full range of features​

Naturally, you should give the free version a try to see if it suits your needs before you buy the full one (which costs $5). Official website can be found here.

 

[JarlFrank]

Looks like it might be mighty useful for designing dungeons for P&P sessions, too!

 

[Jack]

Neat.

 

[felipepepe]

I like doing maps on paper, it's always a great lesson in humility...

 

[FeelTheRads]

Cool that it exists I guess, but would require Alt-Tabbing and ruin my immersion.

Real men engrave maps in pig leather.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I like doing maps on paper, it's always a great lesson in humility...

I love doing that too, but when you move around from place to place it gets a bit hard to store, organize, and update your maps. A digital program like that is just what I've been looking for, personally.

(Decline, and all that...)

 

[tuluse]

Cool that it exists I guess, but would require Alt-Tabbing and ruin my immersion.

Real men engrave maps in pig leather.

Dual monitors, one screen is game, one screen is map.

 

[Alchemist]

I tinkered around with this a bit yesterday and think it will be very useful when graph paper (or woodblock and chisel, etc) isn't close at hand. And he's adding features / tweaks at a very rapid pace - I especially like having a choice of color themes.

 

[Delterius]

Cool, looking forward to using it.

I like doing maps on paper, it's always a great lesson in humility...

Modern world has already relinquised diskette drivers, think you they still have paper?

Real men engrave maps in pig leather.

EDIT:

 

[FeelTheRads]

Hmm.. DarkUnderlord, why is my pig still zoomed in? I thought this was supposed to be fixed or smth?

 

[evdk]

So far it works pretty smoothly, will probably buy the pro version.

 

[Crooked Bee]

So far it works pretty smoothly, will probably buy the pro version.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

Helps me a lot in my current Silvern Castle playthrough.

 

[CappenVarra]

Pretty nifty (judging by the random "dungeon" floor I cooked up with the free version), and at $5 it's a no-brainer if you're interested in this kind of functionality...

 

[felipepepe]

Tried it a bit, works very well but I miss having a handy icon toolbar...

 

[CappenVarra]

Alright, bought. I can amuse myself all day by making random maps with this - it beats a bunch of "games" at providing fun. Now excuse me, teleporters hidden in dark areas won't place themselves...

 

[Alchemist]

Tried it a bit, works very well but I miss having a handy icon toolbar...

Yeah that would be a great addition I agree!

 

[evdk]

Tried it a bit, works very well but I miss having a handy icon toolbar...

The keyboard shortcuts are easy and quick to use (not that I completely disagree).

 

[Hidden Asbestos]

Hey, my own thread! cool I'll try and post here as I make more updates.

Tried it a bit, works very well but I miss having a handy icon toolbar...

I'll have a think about adding a toolbar or some kind of popup-menu - it would be nice to move away from those boring looking Windows menus. Now things have settled down a bit I'm more cconfident what the requirements are for it.

Real men engrave maps in pig leather.

Yeah this is just a draft tool before you ink it onto vellum.

Helps me a lot in my current Silvern Castle playthrough.

Let me know if that game has any special tile types you might find useful. I like drawing them

Looks like it might be mighty useful for designing dungeons for P&P sessions, too!

I'd be keen to see what I'm missing to help with that. I guess exporting to BMP would help here? I'm hesitant to add my own printing support since so many variables come into play and I suspect most people would probably want to use this as a first pass and detail things further.

ps. Thanks to everyone for the kind words!

 

[felipepepe]

Let me know if that game has any special tile types you might find useful. I like drawing them

Not mandatory, but since you like doing them, Generation XTH has Shock (yellow & black), Dispel (green) and "foward" (the arrows) tiles:

I really like this map.

 

[CappenVarra]

Hey, my own thread! cool

A few suggestions, but be warned I'm not sure if they'll fit the project scope

- Any particular reason why the horizontal axis isn't labeled with letters? Saying "G12" to identify a tile somehow seems much more natural to me than "<7,12>". You'll run out of latin letters after 26 tiles, but I think you can just take the Excel option and continue with AA, AB, AC, etc.

- Some way of visual pairing between functionally paired elements would be great. I'm talking about teleporter entrances and exits, as well as keys or switches or pressure plates and locked doors. When there's only one key/locked door pair on a map, it's obvious, but when there are multiple pairs, notes are the only way to distinguish which belong together. My first idea was to have a contextual palette so we could use the familiar "yellow key opens all yellow doors, red switch affects red doors" option - but that would be a big change, and I'm not sure how much would it mess up your palettes... It could also be useful for monsters (different types being assigned different colors), but that's already getting out of hand And I'm not too much bothered with just using notes for everything, to be honest But perhaps the basic idea will be useful to you, so I couldn't be silent about it...

- Keep up the good work!

 

[felipepepe]

Oh yeah, forgot about one more tile... shock walls! Mostly a troll tile, it's really effective in darkness or right after a rotating tile/one-way door.

 

[JarlFrank]

I'd be keen to see what I'm missing to help with that. I guess exporting to BMP would help here? I'm hesitant to add my own printing support since so many variables come into play and I suspect most people would probably want to use this as a first pass and detail things further.

Yes, exporting the bmp would be a good idea.

 

[Hidden Asbestos]

v1.1.2 update has been released. Make browser go here: http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/

The main attraction is, as a treat for Pro edition users, a fantasy 'parchment' theme as you can see below. I'm quite pleased with this actually I'm considering a sci-fi theme too but this took a while and I wanted to upload a version before IRL things stop me from working anyway.

Oh yeah, forgot about one more tile... shock walls! Mostly a troll tile, it's really effective in darkness or right after a rotating tile/one-way door.

Damn these games are just nasty ! I'd advise using the existing Edge Hazard wall type for these. I did add a 'Zap!' tile though for floors that shock you or otherwise spoil your day.

 

[Hidden Asbestos]

- Any particular reason why the horizontal axis isn't labeled with letters? Saying "G12" to identify a tile somehow seems much more natural to me than "<7,12>". You'll run out of latin letters after 26 tiles, but I think you can just take the Excel option and continue with AA, AB, AC, etc.

I used the two number method because it was the most compatible with the games I've played to test it on. I'll consider adding a letter mode though.

- Some way of visual pairing between functionally paired elements would be great. I'm talking about teleporter entrances and exits, as well as keys or switches or pressure plates and locked doors. When there's only one key/locked door pair on a map, it's obvious, but when there are multiple pairs, notes are the only way to distinguish which belong together. My first idea was to have a contextual palette so we could use the familiar "yellow key opens all yellow doors, red switch affects red doors" option - but that would be a big change, and I'm not sure how much would it mess up your palettes... It could also be useful for monsters (different types being assigned different colors), but that's already getting out of hand And I'm not too much bothered with just using notes for everything, to be honest But perhaps the basic idea will be useful to you, so I couldn't be silent about it...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'll copy them down and have a proper read. My main problem with linked objects is inter-floor links (teleports, etc.). I'm not sure how to develop a system that works best for that that isn't totally different from links on the same floor. Lots to think about to solve this one.

- Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

 

[mindx2]

v1.1.2 update has been released. Make browser go here: http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/

I really like the new parchment theme! You keep churning out updates daily that I keep re-downloading and installing... not that I'm complaining! Your dedication and support to a quick $5 program is highly commendable sir!