====== World Building ======

**Mapcraft** is a suite of applications for creating and generating maps for use in roleplaying games. In this case //creation// refers to the creation of maps by a user who builds using graphical design tools. //Generation// refers to the automated random generation of maps by a server application.

Initially, [[Mapcraft]] was just a Java Swing based GUI editor which allows tile based (hexagonal or square) maps to be //created//. As with [[http://yagsbook.glendale.org.uk/ | Yagsbook]], these maps are stored in a way that preserves information about their 'mappiness'. This editor is designed for the creation of maps in a fantasy or historical game, where at most a single world is being developed.

Recently a new application - [[WorldGen]]  has been added to the project which provides the facility to //generate// world maps for a Science Fiction universe. It can randomly generate thousands of star systems, then create a unique map for every world and moon according to their type. It is based loosely on the //Traveller// universe and method of mapping star systems. Currently, this is where most of the development is focused, in particular in modelling the economics of the universe that is mapped.

:!: Work on //MapcraftWeb// has started. This is a port of the original Swing based Mapcraft application to the web. Currently, it is possible to create, edit, retrieve and draw very basic maps. However, there's currently no interface other than the Java API, so editing maps is currently very painful.

===== Contents =====

  * [[Mapcraft]]
  * [[WorldGen]]
  * [[MapcraftWeb]] :!: