Writing Do you create a map for your story?

[BlackKnightX]

Do you create a map of your world, nation, town, city, or dungeon? How do you do it?

 

[Motsu]

I usually do it like this,

import pygame

MAP_WIDTH = 800
MAP_HEIGHT = 600

pygame.init()

screen = pygame.display.set_mode((MAP_WIDTH, MAP_HEIGHT))
pygame.display.set_caption("Map Example")

# Create a 2D array representing the map tiles
map_data = [
[1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
[1, 0, 0, 0, 1],
[1, 0, 0, 0, 1],
[1, 0, 0, 0, 1],
[1, 1, 1, 1, 1]
]

tile_width = MAP_WIDTH // len(map_data[0])
tile_height = MAP_HEIGHT // len(map_data)

running = True
while running:
# Handle events
for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
running = False
for row in range(len(map_data)):
for col in range(len(map_data[row])):
tile = map_data[row][col]
tile_rect = pygame.Rect(col * tile_width, row * tile_height, tile_width, tile_height)

if tile == 1:
pygame.draw.rect(screen, BLUE, tile_rect)
elif tile == 0:
pygame.draw.rect(screen, GREEN, tile_rect)

pygame.display.flip()

pygame.quit()

 

[Lorelliad]

It's more of a thing in my head. I mulled on whether I should put my time into those map making sites, but I could never find said time

 

[ArchlordZero]

Yep. De dust 2. Or maybe Nuketown

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Yep...

I use Inkarnate, Photoshop (for added effects), and a graphic pen tablet.

Free Inkarnate is already enough, usually.

 

[Syringe]

Use a map making tool. There are lots of amazing free software out there to help you out. Inkarnate and Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator come to my mind.

Made with Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator:

For paid, Wonder Draft is pretty good and what I now personally use.

The trick is to either make the landmasses and populate it, or know what you want and shape the world with them in mind. Just throw whatever at the screen and build off it. It'll shape itself as you want to add/remove stuff. For beginners, map making is more like a sculpting process.

Chuck one big blob on the screen and start chipping away.

Also you can always use other maps for reference. No harm in that.

 

[Bobple]

I haven't, yet. But I might do for a story where the locations are more relevant.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

Take a whole bunch of dice and roll them out on a paper. Draw around the big clumps. High rolls are mountains/buttes while low rolls are valleys. Mid rolls are plains. Simple, easy, works well every time.

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

I am as directionally inept as in real life. Do you think that I won't get lost the moment I would go outside and touch grass? Most of my adventures actually came from me constantly getting lost.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I DM'd D&D for 25 years. I could wake up after a three day bender with a sewage filled baby rattle and missing a sneaker and with a full set of dice I'd be ready to wing an entire campaign from scratch. I have everything from the cosmological arrangement of interdimensional planes of existence and how they interact in higher dimensions right down to the layout of the starting tavern where everyone meets for the first time worked out by the time you have finished choosing your dump stat.

Maybe I'll sketch out a few notes here and there if I think something is important, but I just know where everything is reflexively at this point. Running once a week for decades will do that.

 

[georgelee5786]

Nothing more than a vague outline

 

[Jacks]

Yes, I made a map for the fantasy world of the story I'm writing. It makes it easy for myself to imagine how the characters have to travel/ territory/ nearby landmark. I think it would make the world feel more authentic and real.

In my novel, I include pictures to help better illustrate my story.

So somewhere in the future, I would include the map I've made when it becomes relevant.

 

[Corty]

Yep

Spoiler: big resolution image

It was generated by Nortantis Map Generator and then edited in PS.

 

[J_Chemist]

I originally did not have a map. However, when I realized the scope of my project of a story, I discovered that having a visual representation of the world so I could not only pinpoint my Character's current location but also where they've been, and solidify world details, would be critical to continuity.

 

[ElliePorter]

I havent thought of it but i wrote it down on the glossary section, i think.

 

[BlackKnightX]

I originally did not have a map. However, when I realized the scope of my project of a story, I discovered that having a visual representation of the world so I could not only pinpoint my Character's current location but also where they've been, and solidify world details, would be critical to continuity.

That looks awesome. How did you create that? Did you commission?

 

[Lloyd]

No offense but all these maps suck.

 

[J_Chemist]

That looks awesome. How did you create that? Did you commission?

No, I made it using Inkarnate.

No offense but all these maps suck.

Didn't ask.

 

[SummerSweetTea]

No offense but all these maps suck.

We are all waiting for you to post yours.

I think these maps look awesome! I have a very rudimentary one that I basically made in Paint lol but nothing cool like these maps. I love it.

 

[AliceShiki]

I don't because my stories don't need it.

If there was a lot of traveling, I'd probably consider making one.

If the story stays mostly focused on one location though, then a map is absolutely unnecessary.

And even if it happens in multiple locations, if the relative distance between one location and another is also unnecessary, then a map is unnecessary. You can just say "This place is close/far" and that's enough.