Steam is a treasure trove of games, tools, and other software. There are hundreds of games out there with beautiful graphics that come with built-in level editors, or allow you to build entire worlds. However, today we want to hone in on software intended for map-making specifically.
If you’re like me, maps serve as a particular fascination that transcend the games themselves. Seeing the intricate details of the setting how cities connect, and how civilization and wilderness relate to each other brings a level of joy. If you’re a worldbuilder, dungeon master, game developer, novel writer, or fantasy/sci-fi enthusiast, then doubly so!
Today, I’m diving into a short collection of map-making tools that you can find on Steam. While tons of games come with level editors and map-making mechanics, this list contains explicit mapping tools and not games in and of themselves.
Without further ado, let’s get into the list!
World Map Makers
Your bread and butter maker for worlds, continents, regions, and large scale areas. There are three apps I want to dive into that have grabbed my attention.
Release Date: August 2023 – Cost: $18.99 (Sept 2024)
Platform: PC, Android, iOS – Developer: Hannes Breuer
Described as a “minimalistic mapmaking tool” that leverages auto-generated elements using pathing and plot points that can be adjusted and changed as the user sees fit. When placing and drawing assets, Canvas of Kings randomizes the properties of each object as to better create a more organic-looking map, and in far less effort.
Originally created as a tool for the development of a medieval trading simulation game called “Might of Merchants”, the developer thought it would be a great idea to offer the tool as its own purchase to help the funding and development of the main game, taking feedback into close consideration. You can tell from the feature-set that the developer knew exactly what the most popular uses of the tool would encompass.
While not necessarily a “world-scale” application, it nicely fits the middle-ground of maps that focus on specific locations. At the same time, it does allow export onto grid or hex maps so you can leverage it for a battlemap experience. You can even export it into your favorite VTTs!
Furthermore, verbatim: “an additional license for the commercial use of maps created with Canvas of Kings is not required”. .. So, dream big by map creators and TTRPG designers! … Go forth and prosper!
Release Date: September 2024 – Cost: $7.99 (Sept 2024)
Platform: PC – Developer: The Stranger
More than a world map generator, this tool allows you to simulate the relations and changing borders between kingdoms and nation states, whether it be diplomacy, colonizing, or war. … Even from your desktop wallpaper!
Fantasy Map Simulator lets you spawn a world with various nations, and watch them interact with each other. You can see provinces and their capital cities, army units prowl the screen, and battle fronts being waged right before your eyes. Its fun to sit back and watch imaginary kingdoms duke it out and watch their battle strategies unfold.
At the time of release, it allows you to plop other nations onto a canvas and see how the geo-politics change. While features like intricate border drawing, biomes, province and city renaming are not present at time of release, the app does provide a section that lists future developments, promising a lot more from the current state, so we will see just how expansive the app will get.
Still, its an incredibly useful tool even in current release! One of the biggest challenges for fantasy maps; they are often static. You never get the chance to see how they may change or evolve over time, and this can provide a false sense of “foreverness” to the fantasy worlds you create. Fantasy Map Simulator shows you how relations between nations evolve, and borders change.
Looking to receive updates on NEW articles, NEW resources, and NEW random name generators from Chaotican Writer? Subscribe to the weekly newsletter and get a FREE 11-page Fantasy NPC Generator PDF!
Release Date: April 2021 – Cost: $5.99 (Sept 2024)
Platform: PC – Developer: Danial Rashidi
While this tool flew under the radar, and was unsupported shortly after launch, it’s a noteworthy addition to a worldbuilder and map makers digital toolbox. Even in its final state, it can pump out some pretty cool stuff!
If you’re looking for something that can cook up a regional map quickly, Atlas Architect is a fun tool to test your creativity while providing you a great-looking procedurally generated map for whole areas. Place parcels of land, and trees pop up. Place city tiles, and it’ll auto-generate the walls and interior.
It can be as much of a productive tool as much as a relaxing, cozy experience in island making, forest growing, and mountain placing.
Battle Map Makers
Your bread and butter maker for worlds, continents, regions, and large scale areas. There are three apps I want to dive into that have grabbed my attention.
Release Date: March 2022 – Cost: $44.99 (Sept 2024) – Demo Available
Platform: PC – Developer: Briganti
I’m a HUGE fan of Dungeon Alchemist. Not only is it a fantastic 3D-style map maker for fantasy tabletop RPGs, but its built with algorithmic procedural generation in mind. In other words, it takes the rooms that you create, and it fills them automatically with the essentials for that kind of room, saving you a ton of time it would normally take to fill the interiors of those rooms. And it all looks amazing!!
Draw rooms on a tiled canvas, hit the button, and the app will auto-select the wall and tileset, and populate the room with furniture, props, and fixins! You can move individual props, reroll the room, or decorate from scratch. Adjust the size, properties, and appearance of those props. There are themes for castles, towns, dungeons, deserts, snow, and other biomes. Mold the terrain to your liking. Mix and match to your desire!
Its so versatile, it caters to both the “I need a quick map” crowd, and the “I want to design something intricate” audience. I’ve created countless maps using this tool and ran multiple sessions leveraging its features
Whats even neater is the ability to explore your maps in first-person, and take video/photos of your creation from a different perspective!
The developer is highly community and feedback focused. (They’ve even popped into our streams every now and then.) It shows that they put a ton of TLC into the updates and development of this tool, adding new map themes, designs, assets, and features over the past couple years. A good developer can perform the magic of making you feel like anything is possible.
Release Date: February 2023 – Cost: $34.99 (Sept 2024)
Platform: PC – Developer: Dragon Maps Ltd.
Fantastic at creating top-down digital maps, Dragon Map Maker is what you get when you take all of the dungeon masters map needs and give them a beautiful finish.
When scouring digital maps online, you’ll notice fairly universal art conventions when it comes to buildings, structures, caves, etc. Something textured, precise, and a detailing which is clearly digital, but organic, colorful, and well-shaded. Dragon Map Makers art style fits that design neatly.
It allows you to pivot between Layout mode for placement and Beauty mode for tweaks and refinement. The maps can be created for either VTTs or for print. You can create maps to a maximum of 100×100 squares, control map height, and blend terrain and rooms seamlessly.
Once you have the final details, you can render the results, providing you a map with beautiful terrain texture, smart lighting, and blending of placed objects and rooms to bring their character to life.
If you need a stylish and practical tool for building your world, Dragon Map Maker can help you assemble it one battlemap at a time.
Every explorer needs a map, and every scribe needs a journal. Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, please consider subscribing to the weekly newsletter!
DID WE MISS ANY MAP MAKERS? Do you want to tell us about your favorites. Feel free to reach out and suggest some others. And check out some other software and tool guides here:
- How the IGDN Supports Diverse Voices in Tabletop Gaming - November 13, 2024
- Storytelling: Three Act Structure, and How it Works! (Act Two) - September 30, 2024
- 5 Awesome Fantasy Map-Making Tools on Steam - September 9, 2024
