default header

Development

Cult Engine 1.5 (internal codename: World Anvil)

Moderator: JC Denton

Cult Engine 1.5 (internal codename: World Anvil)

Unread postby icycalm » 06 Dec 2020 00:53

Image

https://www.worldanvil.com/
https://www.patreon.com/worldanvil

This is a tool that does various jobs, but right now the most interesting to me is the interactive overworld. Up to now, I've been using a vary basic interactive image creator that Hanged Man found for us back in the spring (https://interactive-img.com/), and that's what you've been seeing on the Battlegrounds site so far. It looks great, and the pop-up attachments are sleek, but the functionality is limited. For example, I can't place different kinds of markers on the map, for the groups' locations, adventures, location-based source books, the different empires you will create etc. I only get one type of marker, and once the map has 200 points of interest, it will get confusing, as you'll have to click on everything to find what you want. It works but it just isn't immersive enough. And this is where World Anvil comes in. Check this video. It's insane.

Interactive Maps | A World Anvil Quick Guide Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJbcT22pq9g

Btw the creator of the software is Greek, and the woman in the tutorial is the best presenter ever.

This tool is so awesome, that it can seamlessly MODIFY the map. Like erasing entire empires and replacing them with new ones, all with assets IDENTICAL to those already used on the map. This turns every D&D map into a fully interactive videogamey overworld that can evolve forever, which will be brilliant for our Empire phase. Moreover, it can zoom in from planetary level all the way down to a room. So as we play, and the various groups uncover more locations, the world maps on the site will be getting populated with them until we have the entire D&D universe mapped down to the last room and corridor!

This tool also includes a bloodline tree designer, which will be perfect for our bloodline mechanics:

Image
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby icycalm » 11 Dec 2020 10:57

Here is the complete range of pin images offered currently on WA:

Image

I am already using two of them, the city and capitol ones, and I hope we'll get to use a lot more on Sunday.

The great thing though is that with my Grandmaster subscription we can upload our own images. So say you come upon a magic lab. We just google "magic lab icon", and we have a custom pin up in seconds: https://www.google.com/search?q=magic+l ... AXoECBAQAw

For a more coherent look there are people on Fiverr who'll design whole series of great-looking icons for you for reasonable prices. So we just use the Google-sourced ones until enough of them have been accumulated, and then I hire someone to turn all of them into a set with a coherent style, ideally similar to that of WA's default pins. The bottom line is there won't be a SINGLE location written into D&D's 46-year-history that we won't be able to feature with a suitable and unique icon on the map.

In short, the overworld will look majestic. We just need to PLAY goddamn it to start enriching it!

Can't wait for Sunday.
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby Some guy » 13 Dec 2020 12:12

Anyone else unable to zoom out onto another map/layer once they've zoomed in? For example if I go to Varisia from the Inner Sea Region map I can't zoom back out from there, my only option is to go to the D&D Battlegrounds homepage. There is a menu under that option in the top right but clicking it doesn't do anything.
Image
User avatar
Some guy
 
Joined: 24 Nov 2010 14:21
Location: UK

Unread postby icycalm » 13 Dec 2020 15:29

I haven't found an elegant way to zoom out onto the previous map. You just have to hit "Back" on your browser. Of course, if you're on the Battlegrounds frontpage and you hit back, you leave the site, so that won't work there. However, maybe it will work if your mouse has a back button and you're hovering over the embedded overworld window when you hit it. I lost my good mouse a few weeks back when moving apartments, so I have a spare now that doesn't have back so I can't check. Maybe someone can check and let us know.

As for the layers icon at the top-right, that's for say a building with multiple levels. We don't have anything like that in the overworld currently, so I haven't used that feature yet. The program treats "maps" and "layers" as different things: layers are WITHIN a map.

I'll post on the World Anvil Discord to ask if there's some more elegant way than hitting back to zoom up to previous maps.
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby Some guy » 13 Dec 2020 16:09

I can't believe I didn't think of this before... Right-click the map you are on and then select "Back", problem solved.
Image
User avatar
Some guy
 
Joined: 24 Nov 2010 14:21
Location: UK

Unread postby icycalm » 01 Jan 2021 19:15

Image

He forgot to mention 10 GB file storage instead of 5, which is a huge boost for our world. Here are all the pricing plans, I am currently on Grandmaster (one step below the ultimate step that he's discounting): https://www.worldanvil.com/pricing

I am thinking of going for it.

If I stay with WA for a whole year, it's an incredible deal. I'd be paying that much, more or less, on my current subscription anyway. So I'd definitely get it.

It's just that I am new in this field, and I don't know if better products exist, or might appear in a few months, and I'd hate to be locked into an inferior one for a year.

That said, I haven't seen anything remotely as good as this, and the fact that the dev is collaborating with Project DEIOS on its creation, and that Project DEIOS will have World Anvil integration, tells me that WA will probably be the industry leader for a long time, and certainly for a year.

I'm probably getting it. Got less than two hours to make up my mind.

Goes to show that getting in your favorite projects' Discords and paying attention to the announcements pays off.
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby icycalm » 01 Jan 2021 22:32

I got it.

Image

So for the next year we're all paid up at the highest level at World Anvil.

The even better news is that they've upped the Sage tier storage limit to 15 GB. So we've tripled our storage today. That's fantastic news for the amount of content I can cram into the overworld, and I am hoping that before the year is out he'll increase the limit further.

And the coolest thing is that I can keep the annual price at $150 forever (it's actually in euros for me, but whatever).

And it's back up to the normal price now:

Image

I'll need to put a lot of work into WA to take advantage of the extra features. I'll be doing that next week.
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby icycalm » 20 Jun 2021 00:21

In their March update they added 200 new map pins that include practically any type of medieval fantasy establishment you might need, from all types of shops to temples, libraries, theatres etc. Previously you could add these yourself if you had an expensive subscription tier (which we do, we have the highest), but it was work and it would have been pretty much impossible to get a consistent art style among all of them unless you commissioned the icons from an artist. Now it’s all in the program and in a consistent art style. In short, our overworld will look fantastic very soon. Bringing it up to date with everything that’s happened is my first order of business.

END-OF-MARCH 2021 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE ROLLUP
https://blog.worldanvil.com/2021/05/09/ ... te-rollup/

If you scroll down you’ll find the little video that shows all the new pins. They fly by very fast though so if you want to peruse them at your pleasure use the pause.

Eventually we WILL need custom pins, by the way, for example for all the regions of Golarion, and for many other things, but that work is low priority at the moment. I am leaving it for when everything is running smoothly and I have some free time.
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands




Return to Development