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Dungeon Scrawl: Old school maps in minutes

dungeonscrawl.com

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Re: Dungeon Scrawl: Old school maps in minutes

#21

Post by aidenn0 »

jjice wrote: post #8

My dad has always talked about how much he loved having to draw his own maps for games like Labyrinth [0] and Asylum [1]. He just recently played Breath of the Wild and while he loved it, he mentioned how cool it would be to have to draw the map there. I love the spirit in this, great job! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_(1980_video_game) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_(1981_video_game)

If your dad hasn't played them yet, check out these games; aside from the lack of feelies, it's as close as you'll get to old-school games:

http://excelsior-rpg.com/default.htm

Re: Dungeon Scrawl: Old school maps in minutes

#22

Post by aidenn0 »

richard_mcp wrote: post #13
probabletrain wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, development started before Dyson's Photoshop product, and sure it leans on his style, but the hatching existed before and was popularised by him. It's a common style across many existing dungeon mapping tools, and just one of the styles offered by the tool.

I'm glad to hear that! The style is very popular in the drawn maps I've seen. I haven't been interested in maps for long and don't pay too much attention to digital map programs. I associate the style with Dyson, as that what I've heard other people do. I first saw you tweeting about the program after I saw Dyson's tweet and the Dungeon Scrawl site says the development began on May 8th, which is why I thought the tim…

FWIW, I just pulled open my red-box era OD&D books and the maps are all hatched in various styles when underground, but stippled (kind of a grassy texture) to indicate exterior; so e.g. a for a keep in the side of a mountain it would be clear which walls abut solid matter and which are stone.

The maps in the basic set use circles rather than lines for the hatching though.

Re: Dungeon Scrawl: Old school maps in minutes

#24

Post by lakkal »

kemayo wrote: post #5
e12e wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this somehow distinctive from Dragon Magazine / Dungeon Magazine from the late 80s in a way I'm not seeing? Or eg. the various TSR boxed settings with dungeons?

That cross-hatching-in-the-walls thing is fairly distinct, and I saw it immediately on Dyson's blog but not on a quick survey of old Dragon/Dungeon maps. That said, Dyson is clearly going for that aesthetic mostly, so it could be convergent evolution, and I'm hardly up to date on current styles for maps in other places.

The style really reminds me of old Chaosium maps, from the 1980s.

Re: Dungeon Scrawl: Old school maps in minutes

#25

Post by e12e »

sbarre wrote: post #19
richard_mcp wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad to hear that! The style is very popular in the drawn maps I've seen. I haven't been interested in maps for long and don't pay too much attention to digital map programs. I associate the style with Dyson, as that what I've heard other people do. I first saw you tweeting about the program after I saw Dyson's tweet and the Dungeon Scrawl site says the development began on May 8th, which is why I thought the tim…

I was hand-drawing cross-hatched style maps on graph paper in the early 90s when I was a teenager running my own campaigns, and I certainly don't claim to have invented it either.. Mine didn't look quite so good though. ;-)

Yeah, this was kind of my mindset, too. Hatching is certainly an old trick, and I see the "Dyson hatch" is somewhat distinctive - but for me, knowing "old school" maps, it didn't stand out from the other offered styles - and certainly lived up to the promise of "old school" look and feel :)

Re: Dungeon Scrawl: Old school maps in minutes

#26

Post by azhenley »

rgovostes wrote: post #23

I've been kicking around an idea that would also require a similar sort of browser-based drawing tool. Is there a good library for building these, or do I start with a blank ?

There are a lot of graphics libraries out there, but I’ve been using PixiJS.

https://www.pixijs.com/

Re: Dungeon Scrawl: Old school maps in minutes

#27

Post by e12e »

jjice wrote: post #8

My dad has always talked about how much he loved having to draw his own maps for games like Labyrinth [0] and Asylum [1]. He just recently played Breath of the Wild and while he loved it, he mentioned how cool it would be to have to draw the map there. I love the spirit in this, great job! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_(1980_video_game) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_(1981_video_game)

I always liked Richard Bartle's take on this from a game design perspective, in his:

"HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES: PLAYERS WHO SUIT Muds" http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm

Essentially: exploring is one dimension of fun, and some people enjoy it even more when it's hard (ie:no automap).

I remember playing Eye of the Beholder with a friend, one of us on map duty, the other controlling the game...

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