Utility: Snodmapper, random map generator, proof-of-concept release

[Snoddasmannen]

Hi all!

Largely since the good lch thought he might want to have a look, I have uploaded source code and some instructions on how to play around with my random map generator.

Have a look here:

http://www2.onyx.nu/pb/snodmapper/snodmapper.html

As the page explains, it is not a complete map generator yet, even though it can generate functional maps (or at least could a while back ), so don't get too excited. But it might be interesting for some to have a look at. I've had a lot of fun playing with it at least (I know what ol' Slarty meant about his fjords now!).

[Gandalf Parker]

Very nice. You are over some of the big hurdles involved in such projects. It will be useful to people who want to create a wrap-around map. Shouldnt be too hard to use a paint program to color some areas as swamp and such, paste in some mountain icons from Kristoffers MapStuff file, then edit the .map file to update the terrains. It will be a good tool for people to generate a starting point on making a map to call their own.

Since its Linux code maybe I will generate a page or two on my server like to do the other random map generators. Some people prefer to shop thru a page full of generated maps rather than generate hundreds of their own.

Did you look at some of the others? ParadoxHarbringer's is pretty good altho I cant follow his math for making it work well. Results are kindof hit-or-miss for me.

And there is the old DomMap open source project from Dom2. Its not as pretty as yours. But it does do more terrains and is available as various bits of raw C code you could take a look at.

Kristoffer's Map Stuff file
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...7&d=1181130371
ParadoxHabinger's MapGen which also supports wrap
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=33819

Dom Map community created dominions map generator
http://www.dom3minions.com/~minion/dommap.shtml
doesnt include some personal enhancements I made to if. PM me if interested.

access to some Randomly Generated Maps pages on my site
http://www.dom3minions.com/maps.htm


Gandalf Parker
--
To some people, unlimited options seems to them to be zero options.
Without a menu of choices, they are lost.

[Snoddasmannen]

Thanks for the links Gandalf!

I have seen the ParadoxHarbinger generator before, that's pretty sophisticated stuff if I remember the maths right. For me those kind of exercises inevitably lead to doom, so the underlying mechanics of mine are much more humble

Please feel free to put up a page on your server with generated maps, that's a really neat idea (especially considering that my generator is in such an unfriendly distribution form right now). Let me know if you need any help with the code, or if you have any useful patches.

For the record: I toyed around with more ideas on making the provinces better this past weekend but wasn't really satisfied. I will obviously post any updates I make to this thread.