Sunday, July 29, 2007

Out of Character: Map Generator Online

With Henry Hyde's kind permission, I've taken his random terrain generation system and built it into a web application, which is now the first significant tool of interest on my new wargaming website. Simply choose a height and width in "squares", and the generator will display a grid of the chosen number of squares, with each square assigned a major terrain type based on the die rolls in Henry's system. I'm hoping, later on, to modify this to generate a single image instead of the HTML-based grid it generates now, but I'm hoping this will help those of you struggling to come up with terrain for your fictional states.

I have another couple of tools already planned, including a web-based spying system to use instead of the little app I found, because I've had a number of ideas I'd like to implement to make the spy system fit our situations on the Emperor vs Elector blog a little more closely, with several more options and a wider range of possible outcomes.

The new website: http://www.MusterTheTroops.com Check it out and let me know what you think.

Jonathan

3 comments:

MurdocK said...

Interesting, very basic and functional.

Could be of some use for the 'planning' elements where ispiration is needed.

tradgardmastare said...

I enjoyed the new site,tried the random terrain generator ( very handy ) and look forward eagerly tothe spy software.Thanks for a useful addition!

Snickering Corpses said...

Thank you both. I don't know if you've seen Henry's article series in Battlegames, Murdock? The present generator just follows the first step or two of his system. Eventually (read as: when I learn to generate hex grids and graphics on the fly), I hope to actually automate more functions of his system. In the meantime, it's well worth reading.