Saturday, June 30, 2012

Hexmap in Progress

This is another iteration of my hexmap random generator project. I decided to throw this out as a work in progress, so you can see how things have been working out. This map is about a third-done, and I've changed up the process I'm using a bit.

When building the last few maps, I took a very center out approach, circling around the developed area to build out the empty hexes. This time I used a slightly different approach, choosing the next hex to visit with a random die roll. I also followed any road or waterway generated until it hit an obstacle or the edge of the map. You can see the results below.
As you can see there are a few new features on the map, fortifications, points of interest, settlements, roads, and waterways. Here's how the revised process works (mostly -- there are still some gray areas). There are seven base terrain tables (I - VII), each with an associated features table. When generating a hex:

  1. Use the most common table from surrounding hexes, favoring low-numbered tables over high.
  2. If there is no neighboring hex, use table I (the random terrain table).
  3. Roll on the table and record the resulting terrain and table number for the hex. If the terrain indicated is Coastline or Shoreline, see below.
  4. Roll on the features table associated with the newly generated terrain and record the results.
  5. Select a new hex and go to step 1.
Coastline and Shoreline define the borders between Ocean and land terrain, Coastline being a land to water transition, Shoreline being water to land. They're handled a bit differently to build a solid-feeling coast.
If Coastline is indicated:

  1. Place two Ocean hexes in adjacent locations (if possible), and as far from the entry hex as possible.
  2. Restart the terrain process, ignoring all Ocean hexes when choosing tables, and rerolling any Ocean or Coastline results.
If Shoreline is indicated:

  1. Place two additional Shoreline hexes in adjacent locations (if possible). There should be at least one empty hex between the two additional Shorelines.
  2. Reroll terrain for all Shorelines, ignoring Ocean and Shoreline hexes when choosing tables, and rerolling any Ocean or Coastline results.
The features tables produce the various settlements, roads, waterways, dungeons, and ruins. I've been working out how to deal with rivers and roads, using a rule of thumb that any roads lead toward or away from settlements or points of interest, and rivers lead from high to low to Ocean. The rivers and roads shown on the map so far were tweaked slightly as I went, since some of the destinations weren't on the map yet. The river is a little broken, as it's flowing away from the Ocean to the west, but maybe that's a peninsula.

I built this map with the idea of five-mile hexes in mind. It doesn't look too bad for that scale. What do you think?

1 comment:

  1. I really like it. It is the best of the bunch, and I enjoy reading your methodology. I'm looking forward to the finished tables. :D!

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