Since nearly the beginning of Dave’s Mapper, a vocal few had been requesting separate options for dungeons, caverns, and mixed maps. For the longest time, that was really not feasible. The original mapper code had been based on a single JavaScript array, then additional arrays for city tiles, edges, and corners. It was a fine system for a bunch of tiles by one cartographer, but for this large-scale app it was beginning to be a major pain.
Category: Development
Things I Have and Do Not Have
Today’s post is going to be about things I have, things I do not have, and some future plans.
IBD Tile Drive, and Other Recent Happenings
Hey all. It’s been a while since I’ve done major updates, whether on the blog or the mapper in general. This weekend starts a big new charity event, though, which I hope to do yearly as long as there’s interest.
Continue reading IBD Tile Drive, and Other Recent Happenings
Save Whatever You Want, I Don’t Care
It’s been a while since my last blog update, but I think tonight’s updates warrant a bit further reach than my usual Facebook and Google Plus postings.
Tonight I pushed live a new export feature that uses HTML5 Canvas to do its job, rather than PHP. That may not mean much to non-techie mapper users, so here’s the gist of it: You can export any map type now, and it should allow you to save it to PNG just fine. All the work is done on your computer’s side, so you’ll need a modern browser to do this. Large maps might hog memory and crash your tab, window, or even the full browser. You’ve been warned! (PHP export is still supported – hover over the export buttons to see which is which.) At the very least, this now allows export of side-view maps, staggered-mode maps, and cubes.
In addition, I’ve been working on a whole mess of new tiles in my gridded steno pad. I don’t know what it is about a fresh notebook that gets my creative juices… all… juicy… but it happened. I’ve been sharing some snapshots of the tiles in progress on Facebook, and after the cut, here they shall be too.
A Hole-in-One
A few important news bits to share:
- Your calendar just got 1/7th of 100% cooler. Thursdays are now #TileThursday where you can draw a new tile for the mapper, post it on social media (e.g. the blue F, short update bird, and positive plus sign guy) with the hashtag #TileThursday, and my favorite tile will win a prize. This week: A postcard. Next week: The world? You’ll have to win to find out.
- As a joke I mentioned adding a mini-golf course generator to the mapper. But some people on Facebook can’t take a joke, so expect this new mode to be added sometime in the next month.
- I’m now on Twitter – @davesmapper. If you follow me, you might read an insightful tweet or two*. (*Hint: not from my account.) I’m also coining some new Twittery words to go along with my tweets: Twittermorphs, Dave’s Twapper, and Twatterfall.
Thank you for reading and please keep writing nice comments about my mapper; your compliments are like French kisses from a rainbow to my soul. (Or some less awkward metaphor.)
What’s New in Summer 2020
Howdy, friends of the mapper. A recent blog post over at GeekNative inferred some worry due to the lack of blog updates, so I’ve decided to write one now.
2021 Q1 Quick Update
Hello Mapperinos! Quick update on the mapper:
Still Here
Yes, the app is still alive and kicking! Things have been quite busy so uploads and maintenance haven’t been top of my list for a bit. I hope to change that in May or June 2021.
More Tiles
I’ve received batches of tiles from new and existing contributors and plan to have time to format and upload them in June.
Shell Game
A few things will be moving around in the near future, or possibly already have moved! If you’re reading this, either you’ve found the new location of the blog or my redirect went smoothly, and I’m happy either way.
In addition, I’m planning to move the tiles directory out of the GitHub repo and start serving it from a new location separate from the codebase. If you’re hotlinking to any tile images, those links will break. (Please don’t do it anyway.) Otherwise, that’s mostly a heads-up if you plan to try contributing to the mapper codebase.
Development Roadmap Backlog
With all the projects I’ve been juggling, it’s hard to nail down exact dates for things. In May, I plan to overhaul the Development Roadmap page on the blog and turn it into more of a prioritized backlog of things to do when I’m able.
If there’s something you think the mapper should have or do that isn’t there currently, let me know! I can be reached here on the blog, by e-mail at “dave” at the app’s domain, or on Facebook, Twitter, or Mastodon/activitypub federated social media.