2015-02-20 Gridmapper Variant Madness

https://alexschroeder.ch/pics/15868444504_66e1472190_o.png

*Gridmapper*

https://alexschroeder.ch/pics/15868444504_66e1472190_o.png

Gridmapper

A difficult decision! Many people had reported using Chrome on Windows and not getting the ` gemini - alexschroeder.ch keypress. Sam’s patch finally fixed that. Now I’ve had reports of somebody using Chrome on GNU/Linux and not getting the ` gemini - alexschroeder.ch keypress. What a mess!

So: Is it possible to get rid of ` gemini - alexschroeder.ch ? Yes it is. But replace it with what? `s` for secret doors? What about `s` for stairs? The solution is to use *variants*. Place a door and cycle through the variants using `v` and you’ll get a secret door, a concealed door, a double door (a gate). Same thing for stairs: cycle through the variants using `v` and you’ll go from a 2×1 stair to a very short 1×1 stair, to a cramped 1×1 spiral staircase, to a large 2×2 spiral staircase, to a broad 2×2 stair fit for an opera house.

It’s a trade off. Any map symbol you are using multiple times on your map are better on dedicated keys. Are traps, pilars and statues valuable enough to have separate keys?

There is one additional problem I have. Such changes also break existing links. To give you an example, the sequence `$` would place a secret door and rotate it to the north wall. That needs to be replaced by `ddv`. Yikes!

1. replace every ` gemini - alexschroeder.ch by a `d` and append `v`

2. replace every `c` by a `d` and append `vv`

3. replace every `g` by a `d` and append `vvv`

I still feel that we’re early enough in Gridmapper’s development to make such changes, but still, it feels unfair to those who have maps with many secret or concealed doors, or gates.

Also, the help screen looks terrible, now.

In fact, I made further incompatible changes to parsing the link’s query string. The trap, pillar and statue no longer advance the position. Thus, if you’re suffering from that problem, you need to append a space (`%20`) to every `t`, `p`, and `b` in your query string.

1. replace every `t` by a `t%20`

2. replace every `p` by a `p%20`

3. replace every `b` by a `b%20`

Why! Why!?

Well, I wrote a section in the README with instructions on how to extend Gridmapper and add variants for existing tiles! The example I gave was for how to add a *well* as a variant of a *statue*.

how to extend Gridmapper

That’s pretty cool, I think.

An update on my todo list:

I decided to drop the PNG export. This would have required canvg to implement, it would have been tricky, people can already take screeshots, and I’m not sure how useful this would have been. It would never have been good enough to link to, for example. Without running some Javascript, this would never have worked.

canvg

If you’re curious about the code and would like to read blog posts about aspects of it, feel free to ask. I might write something up.

​#RPG ​#Gridmapper

Comments

(Please contact me if you want to remove your comment.)

⁂

Example for quarter circles

– Alex Schroeder 2015-02-21 12:27 UTC

---

Trap variants: open pit, trap door in the ceiling, the floor, and a secret trap door. Redrawn from Moldvay’s B58.

Trap variants

– Alex Schroeder 2015-02-21 12:51 UTC

---

I love this thing! And every time I come back here, some great advance is done. I think the variants are a great improvement and it opens space for additional stuff. Thanks a lot again!

To bring my old maps, which I had just as links, back to live, I wrote a simple sed script:

s/\([tpb]\)/\1%20/g
s/%24/$/g
s/\($*\)/\1v/g
s/\(cc*\)/\1vv/g
s/\(gg*\)/\1vvv/g
s/\([$cg]\)/d/g

Save these lines to “gridmapper_convert.sed”, the part behind the ? from the URL in “link.txt” and run: `sed -f gridmapper_convert.sed link.txt`

– Sam 2015-02-22 16:17 UTC

---

I added altars, dais and a round dais. 😄

Next up: curtains!

– Alex Schroeder 2015-02-22 17:45 UTC

---

Done. I *really* should use this tool to write a dungeon instead of improving the tool further!

– Alex Schroeder 2015-02-22 18:21 UTC

---

How to add a layer above layer one?

This worked: Use “Text Export”, Copy the export to a new gridmapper, add “(0,0)fz” to the very beginning, hit “Text Import”.

And I didn’t see any maps created whit Gridmapper yet (expect for the test ones). So here is one of mine: The Aquarium

The Aquarium

– Sam 2015-02-22 17:59 UTC

---

Yeah, I would also use *Text Export* and *Text Import*. Was a simple “z” at the beginning not enough? I think that should have done the job.

And I **love** the Aquarium map!

– Alex Schroeder 2015-02-22 18:35 UTC

---

An interesting discussion on reddit.

on reddit

Some ideas:

1. Better mouse support: left-click on an icon on the right to pick an item and left-click on the map to place it. No dragging, no need to pick it again from a menu if you want to place something multiple times.

2. Better text labels: no scaling, no word wrap, best for one liners and a small number of words (”orcs”). Would that be enough? The alternative would be to link the numberic labels we already have to wiki pages. Since I run Campaign Wiki, it would be trivial. Put the name of your wiki somewhere, and all the numbers will automatically link to it.

3. Above ground features? Trees and mushrooms are the only ones I can think of. Maybe windows, arrow slits, archways.

I’ve noticed another Chrome problem. Assume the following script to draw a round 4x4 room: `nvv nnvv[-1,1]nnnnvv nnnvv`. Paste it into the text area and hit *Ctrl Enter*. One Chrome, this looks messed up. On Firefox, you get a nice round 4x4 room.

another Chrome problem

– Alex Schroeder 2015-02-23 09:15 UTC

---

Added chest, bed, table. We’re getting to a size where I feel like we should increase the tile size!

– Alex Schroeder 2015-02-23 10:30 UTC

---

Added better labels.

– Alex Schroeder 2015-02-23 22:04 UTC

---

Was a simple “z” at the beginning not enough? It got messy and the first layer didn’t work any more, but wen I try now whit a small map, it works...

– Sam 2015-02-25 12:11 UTC