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Software for world building?

JadedSidhe

Minstrel
Oh, I am so going to burn for admitting this.

Create A World can be used for creating a map/world. You have to have Sims 3 to use CAW. There are a lot of free mods and terrain paints, etc, almost anything you'd want. And there is a great community, Mod the Sims 2, that has extensive information/forums/mods base to help with using and modding for CAW.

As for the writing, I frequently send what I've written to myself and my best friend. I love OneNote and have used it extensively for ideas, histories, outlines, pictures, etc.

I have downloaded ywriter and I'm tinkering with it. Definite possibilities there.
 
I use a program called Masterplan, its originally meant for D&D and other roleplaying but it has a great encyclopedia feature which you can add as many articles or categories as you want. It also allows you to put in a fantasy calendar, plot organizer and apparently make maps, But I rather use Photoshop for that. It also has some other features but I just use the encyclopedia, plot and calendar features.

I believe they have an add-in option for people who want to program something into it.

its also free, google it or go here: Masterplan
 

Aosto

Sage
For those interested in creating an entire world in 3D: Bryce 7 is free to download, for both Mac and Windows. For more info, feel free to check out:
What is Bryce

I am certainly going to check this out as soon as I set my desktop back up. I'm a blender fan, but it's not very intuitive. I also like using gimp for a lot of my stuff.
 

Gurkhal

Auror
To be honest I find the best software to be my mind and everything else is just a choice of medium in regards on how to express it. But if you're looking for some medium a couple of good ones have been suggested so far.
 

Homicida

Dreamer
I use Autodesk Sketchbook, which I got with my Bamboo tablet. I also use 3ds Max If I need a good 3d representation.

Hope this helps.
 

Giant

Minstrel
I have used the Fractal Mapper program in the past. They have a free version you can download. This enables all the map making features, you just can't save the map. But this lets you mess around with the program and see if it something that may suit your needs.
 

Jadon Baldwin

New Member
Terrachronica has been a good help for me on the computer. It took a bit to get a handle on it, but it's a really good organizational tool for me. Mindly (an app) has been a good one too.
 
Used to use a free program called The Guide until I bought Scrivener and switched to that. Both have basically the same functionality when creating an encyclopedia for your world, but Scrivener has a few more formatting options, is probably more user friendly and has other functions. For example, they both allow hierarchical "tree" sorting of pages and internal/external links.
 

Thoras

Minstrel
Used to use a free program called The Guide until I bought Scrivener and switched to that. Both have basically the same functionality when creating an encyclopedia for your world, but Scrivener has a few more formatting options, is probably more user friendly and has other functions. For example, they both allow hierarchical "tree" sorting of pages and internal/external links.

I haven't used Scrivener yet, but I just checked it out at it seems pretty damn sweet! Just wondering, is it a one-time cost for a license or is a yearly cost? I have been googling for a while now and every page that pop up answers everything but my question o_O
 
I haven't used Scrivener yet, but I just checked it out at it seems pretty damn sweet! Just wondering, is it a one-time cost for a license or is a yearly cost? I have been googling for a while now and every page that pop up answers everything but my question o_O

I believe it's a one-off payment
 
I don’t think software for world building in general has been made, and if there is I have a feeling it’d be more on the limited side. You’re better off having a mixture of word documents, spreadsheets, map making programs and whatever else might be required.

I think what you might actually want is premised formats which I’m sure you can find.
 

Saigonnus

Auror
I've used yWriter for note taking and story organizing. It's free. yWriter5 - Free writing software designed by an author, not a salesman

For brainstorming, I like FreeMind Main Page - FreeMind

I use ywriter as well, but only for the writing itself and the characters. It is easy to use and free.

For world-building and organizing places and cultures I actually use PowerPoint. Like OneNote (which I have tried and didn't like) you can have text, pictures and HTML links. If you know how to use it (I still have to figure it out), you can even make a table of contents at the beginning, so you can immediately jump to whatever section you want to look at. I have one for each of the worlds I create and others for societies, or scenarios I want to work with.
 

stormydale

New Member
I have been using something called worldographer. It's free to use, but premium unlocks features. I went ahead and bought it when it was on sale. They do hexes, but have tools to soften them so that it looks more realistic. Also, you can create custom designs for it.
 

World Anvil

Acolyte
I am really dubious about replying to this post, but this is really why we ever created World Anvil, so I would say
So I would say come and give us a try :)

If you are interested into caraftography
- Inkscape
- Fantasticmapper
- Hexographer

If you are into RPGs you can also check
- DungeonFog
 
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