Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Map Tiles

I've been working on some map tiles for science fiction and post-apocolyptic settings.  Here's one I've done...

    

I can't decide if I want the grid lines thicker or not.  I like the look, and I'm going to make several tiles for a factory complex, and a set for star ports.  Once a basic tile is "constructed" it's easy to customize them.  I plan on either printing them out myself, or using one of those Print On Demand places.  I found one place that seems reasonably priced,  The Game Crafter .  They will print map tiles, ( they call them game boards ) in quantities as small as one, and even have templates you can download to layout your boards, in whatever graphics program you use.

If I print them out myself, I will mount them on either foamcore, or the thinnest MDF I can find.  However, I may laminate them, but this may not be a good option, largely due to cost.

Gaming!

Here's a fun write up of a gaming session over on Asshat Paladins , it seems to be a Gamma World setting using Savage Worlds rules.  I am unfamilair with Savage Worlds, but I may need to check it out.

That's it for now, Zanazaz OUT!

3 comments:

  1. Oooh, like the tiles. Are they scaleble? I'm slowly getting texture pdfs together to print out for a faux-Space Hulk type game (clear the pirate base) with 15mm figures. I wondered about using plastic card to attach the textures to as that's thinner than mdf, or even cork tiles from the local hardware as these are cheaper than plastic card.

    As is, the grid looks good in the example you've given.

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  2. Thanks! Unfortunately, it's a jpeg, and not a vector graphic file. Not scalable. In my experiments, it shrinks okay, but enlarging them causes some pixelation, it looks somewhat fuzzy, but not too bad. I use a "Sharpen" feature, and it helps. I have to create the graphics on the "canvas size" I want them in.

    If I had a more expensive graphics program then I'm sure I could make them scalable, but until that day I work with what I have...

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  3. Have you looked at Artweaver as an alternative to the more expensive graphics programs? It is primarily meant for digital painting, but it will do wonderful textures. We use still use Artweaver for some stuff even though we have Photoshop.

    What dpi are you building your tiles at? If you start bigger, you can always scale down, but scaling up is not a good idea, unless you want the pixellation-effect...which could work for some games.

    Definitely take a look at Artweaver. They have a free version and the full version is really cheap, and does an excellent job.

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