RPGMapMaker 2.5, a new version of the tool for drawing maps with polygonal grids, has been released by the France-based MIPSYS.
The application has many of the capabilities of a real painting program (such as lines, rectangles, ovals and round rectangles, drawing and filling with color and pattern, text, rubber, pipettes tools, etc.), but also has the ability to build a static map with seven layers, interactive maps, various kinds of grids, and a variety of dimension units. RPGMapMaker has a layers manager that lets users allocate and free the three extra layers, to choose which layer is visible and which layer is not, and select which layer is active.
It also offers grid polygon color filling, predefined terrains tiles, a terrains editor, a terrain organizer and a random terrain generator. RPGMapMaker’s Notes Window lets you add notes to your map. You can make comments about specific areas, store information such as statistics and more.
With version 2.5, RPGMapMaker now uses a compact generic extensible single fork file format for all its files (preferences, maps, and libraries). This means that when you open an old file with RPGMapMaker 2.5.0, it’s converted into the new file format. There’s also a new “Open Recent” menu item that allows you to remember the path to up to 10 maps.
A new option lets you specify whether RPGMapMaker must display the full path to the recent maps or just their names. Font and background colors are directly selectable in the Font Information dialog; in other words, they’re now independent of the current foreground pen color and fill color. There are other enhancements and tweaks, as well.
RPGMapMaker 2.5, which is made with the REALbasic editing environment from REAL Software (http://www.realsoftware.com), runs on Mac OS 8.1 and up, including Mac OS X. You can download it at the product Web site. Registration is US$34.