Incline Grid Cartographer - Best Tool for Drawing Classic RPG Maps

Hidden Asbestos · Jun 5, 2017

Reapa said:
so i can download skse for skyrim for free and use it to mod skyrim with thousands of mods from the nexus and hundreds from loverslab but if i want an automap mod for wizardry 6 i have to go through the whole process of payment + the money.
good job promoting good old games! keep at it. you're doing god's work.
good thing new games come with automap. seriously, you could have asked for financial support from gog instead of making people pay for your "mod". since gog sells old games that don't have an automap feature it would be in their interest to include this feature so more people will buy them.

I did. They weren't interested. Try to convince them otherwise here: https://af.gog.com/wishlist/games/grid_cartographer?as=1649904300

edit: Also, don't forget it's not an auto-map, you still need to draw the map yourself.

Reapa · Jun 5, 2017

Hidden Asbestos said:
Reapa said:

so i can download skse for skyrim for free and use it to mod skyrim with thousands of mods from the nexus and hundreds from loverslab but if i want an automap mod for wizardry 6 i have to go through the whole process of payment + the money.
good job promoting good old games! keep at it. you're doing god's work.
good thing new games come with automap. seriously, you could have asked for financial support from gog instead of making people pay for your "mod". since gog sells old games that don't have an automap feature it would be in their interest to include this feature so more people will buy them.

Click to expand...

I did. They weren't interested. Try to convince them otherwise here: https://af.gog.com/wishlist/games/grid_cartographer?as=1649904300

edit: Also, don't forget it's not an auto-map, you still need to draw the map yourself.

then please accept my apology. i sometimes assume the world follows basic logic.
after all they do rely on dosbox to sell lots of their games, so it seemed logical that they would be open to stuff that makes their games playable.

Hidden Asbestos · Jul 1, 2017

Hoping to release v406 in a day or so. Has new features you might have seen on my Twitter such as file merge and hiding regions (really eye catching features there). Also a right-click menu for the region bar.

Biggest new feature though, is the long awaited ability to create your own custom tile groups:

Still need to code the spanner options menu (drawing a cog or a burger looked bad, so spanner it is) to let you disband groups or rename them. Also fix bugs...

Hidden Asbestos · Jul 2, 2017

v4.0.6 free update is now available for all platforms: http://gridcartographer.com/download/

Key new features are:
* Custom tile groups - select multiple with CTRL and right click > New Group.
* Merge files / Export single regions.
* Hide tabs on region bar with new right-click menu
(very useful to reduce clutter in the 'Might and Magic' series, etc.)

- enjoy!

Siobhan · Jul 3, 2017

Reapa said:
after all they do rely on dosbox to sell lots of their games, so it seemed logical that they would be open to stuff that makes their games playable.

GOG only uses 3rd party stuff if they get it for free, e.g. the DarkMod, and even then they're usually pretty sloppy with proper attribution. The firmware for GUS or MT-32, on the other hand, would cost them licensing fees, so they don't ship them, despite their claims that they want to deliver the best, most convenient user experience. Same for GridCartographer, I presume.

Hidden Asbestos · Jul 3, 2017

*WARNING* I've just released a patch v4.0.6b. This fixes a crash bug when loading certain old maps with custom tiles smaller than 32x32 pixels. Hopefully I've caught this in time but if you're running v406 build 1592, please update to v406 build 1595. Sorry for any inconvenience.

udm · Jul 5, 2017

Hmm I'm wondering if I can do some basic city maps with the new custom tiles feature, using black and white icons... :D

CptMace · Jul 20, 2017

Hey,

I own a license of Grid Carto v3 Pro. Is there a way to download the V3 somewhere ?
Or does my license serves no purpose now ? I don't remember the license being sold as limited in the time.
You were like a brother to me. I feel like I've carried Griffith to the top of this fuckin hand right now.

Hidden Asbestos · Jul 20, 2017

CptMace said:
Hey,

I own a license of Grid Carto v3 Pro. Is there a way to download the V3 somewhere ?
Or does my license serves no purpose now ? I don't remember the license being sold as limited in the time.
You were like a brother to me. I feel like I've carried Griffith to the top of this fuckin hand right now.

V3 is no longer supported but you can download it here:

Windows: http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/files/grid_cartographer_v3_1_3.exe
Linux: http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/files/grid_cartographer_v3_1_3.tar.gz
macOS: http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/files/grid_cartographer_v3_1_3.zip
Android: http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/files/grid_cartographer_v3_1_3_arm7.apk

Your license can fly again, brother.

CptMace · Jul 20, 2017

I'm so sorry I doubted you.
This will never happen again.

Hidden Asbestos · Jul 23, 2017

"Grid Cartographer 4 Pro" is coming to Steam!

Here's the plan:

* I'm now a Valve partner but I'm still preparing for release - it's important to me to make a good first impression with this new audience so I don't want to rush. (I appreciate that this has been a long time coming, thanks for your patience.) A specific release date has not been set. Realistically I would expect 'during the autumn' would be an achievable target. I will be sure to announce the actual date when it has been decided/approved.

* Only the Pro Edition will be coming to Steam. It'll match the features of the website version and be compatible with map files, scripts, etc. Similarly it will be available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

* The Gamer and Pro Editions from the website will continue to be available and supported (I'm taking time out from working on v407 to write this). Updates will be submitted to Valve at the same time as the website versions (with the possible exception of specific hotfixes, etc.) and everything will be kept in sync.

* I intend to support v4.x (which launched in October 2016) with free updates until at least 2018.

* I'll be requesting the same $49.99 price point as my website. Note: this must be converted into your local currency and the rates may vary vs. buying from FastSpring. I intend to do an initial launch discount and take part in Steam sales.

* I plan to request a batch of Steam keys so that *prior to launch* all Pro Edition customers (either new or upgrades from v3 or v4 gamer) will be entitled to request a free Steam copy if you would like one - as a thank you for supporting the project. Note: This hasn't technically been confirmed with Valve and I may have to withdraw the offer if something unforeseen comes up. I'll provide more information about this at a later time.

* After launch, new copies or upgrades bought from my website or Steam will not be automatically entitled to a key from the opposite distribution channel. I'll add a Steam store page link on my website buy page so the choice is clear.

Thanks for reading, happy to answer any questions.

Hidden Asbestos · Jul 23, 2017

Oh and if you don't care about Steam but still want some news, here's the new multiple viewport feature I'm working on for v407:

I'm currently working on having four independent cameras (the gif below is prior to starting on that) so you can look at and jump between 1 - 4 different places at once, or use a view for Game Link or the 3D Engine instead (which can now be resized as needed)

Alma Elma · Aug 1, 2017

Thanks for this! Real hyped to see what it can do.

calgary.alberta · Aug 3, 2017

die inside all the time that this still may never see a IOS release even a small scale one. Apple Pencil and IPAD Pro are amazing

udm · Aug 17, 2017

Hidden Asbestos Not sure if this is a glitch: when I press ALT+ENTER (I use the right ALT) in GC to enter full-screen with the game link view, I have to press the left ALT after that or the game won't let me use the keyboard to move (playing Wizardry 6). Something on my end or bug?

Hidden Asbestos · Aug 17, 2017

udm said:
Hidden Asbestos Not sure if this is a glitch: when I press ALT+ENTER (I use the right ALT) in GC to enter full-screen with the game link view, I have to press the left ALT after that or the game won't let me use the keyboard to move (playing Wizardry 6). Something on my end or bug?

That might be a bit from column A a bit from column B -- ALT on Windows is kind of a dick and, on my keyboard (potentially all UK keyboards?) right alt is actually "ALT GR" which isn't really a true ALT because of .. reasons. I'll make a note to look into this though, don't want it to sound like I'm waving this one off. For now, try and use left alt to maximize the view.

In v407, which I apologise for not having released yet - I've rewritten a tremendous amount of code relating to viewports and the split screen modes now have little maximize buttons on them to make them fill the editor. It's not quite the same as ALT-ENTER but it may render the problem less of an issue.

udm · Aug 19, 2017

Hidden Asbestos I do hope you're still making it possible to scale the grid size to inches, but otherwise I did finally get around to making some maps for a Scarlet Heroes session today. Basic stuff, nothing too complex, but the fact that I managed to create 4 basic maps within 10 minutes is a miracle. Grid Cart might not be as pretty as some of the other editors I've used (MapForge, Dungeon Builder and Dundjinni), but it is a heck lot easier and more intuitive (and I stress intuitive again).

When I get some time in September, I'm going to try and see if I can do something more elaborate with icons from Game-Icons.net.

Hidden Asbestos · Oct 7, 2017

v4.0.7 is finally available. As usual it's a free update for all v4.x customers.

407 has the following major changes ... which sound like nothing when written in a list, oh well

* New resizable split view-port system.
* Improved console display with colour support. [PRO]
* Updated Game Link protocol - DOSBox R15 required.
* Many fixes and tweaks.

Download: http://gridcartographer.com/download/

Also: I'm calling this the Steam release candidate. If you find any bugs then it would be awesome if you could report them. It will help make sure the Steam launch goes well and makes a good first impression. My next task is to do all the admin and writing English words about GC and then putting it up on Steam. Then I can carry on with GC4 on both distribution channels.

Grauken · Oct 8, 2017

Btw, if you guys need more custom icons, most of the one I've done you can find here

udm · Oct 9, 2017

Whoa there's a repository for custom icons and tiles? Didn't know that, thanks Grauken!

Grauken · Oct 9, 2017

Well, while everyone could put info on the GC wiki, right now that's mainly me. It's basically my online-repository for all things GC, as you never know when your own computer has a fatal breakdown, and I'm working with a five-year old laptop that is always a second away from heat death.

Mostly I dump stuff I'm working on there, most recent the world map tiles for Dragon Wars, whose profile for GC I want to finish. But as you can see from all the WIP stuff, I like to start projects more than finish them, but at least that keeps me busy. Lots of old dungeon crawlers I can do profiles for (more obscure ones like Spirit of Adventure), even platformers (if they are expansive enough, I just did one for Metroid 2 for Gameboy) and working on Wasteland showed me that even non-blobbers are viable (but maybe I focus there only on world maps, think profiles for early Ultimas where you have a worldmap in GC in the background, could be useful).

Anyway, if any of you create tiles, and you want to share them, you could upload them on the wiki as well, don't even need to register there.

Hidden Asbestos · Oct 14, 2017

I'm just putting the finishing touches to the Steam release now and all being well (which includes Valve's approval process) it'll be on sale early next month.

As mentioned long ago, as a special offer, if you've purchased (or upgraded to) Grid Cartographer 4 Professional Edition prior to OCT 31st 2017 then you can claim a complementary Steam key for your personal use (accessible after the Steam release date). After this point the web store and the Steam store will continue along as separate entities.

Go here to buy/upgrade/claim: http://gridcartographer.com/buy

Hirato · Oct 14, 2017

That was fast!

Hidden Asbestos · Oct 14, 2017

edit: Yeah it's been my priority to work on this since 407 released and I've been able to put the parts together fairly fast. just the 'trailer' to go now.