RHINO BUILDER
 

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Rhino Builder
 
Treason
(In development)
 
What is this?



When I began writing 'Treason' (an Ultima-style clone with a few twists - see the link to the left), I was doing so mostly as an experiment in JavaScript. However the game proved catchy enough (for me and for several friends) that I kept adding to it. And it just kept growing.
 
After a while I realized I wanted a larger world map - something MUCH larger than I had originally considered. There were three problems with this: 1) The method by which I created the original world map was WAY too time-consuming and very messy (it required lots of manual clean-up), 2) I don't think I'm very good a drawing world maps, and 3) I didn't want to pay someone to do it for me.
 
I looked around for an application which could create a map for me, but everything I found seemed more advanced than what I wanted and required that I download and install something. Forget that: I wanted something simpler and faster.
 
I decided I could probably write a program to create a world map for me.
 
So I did - and Rhino Builder is the result.
 
Rhino Builder creates a random organic 3-D text map by way of graphics. That is, the end result of a creation is a text array what can be dropped pretty much directly in to the source code of an application. (Okay, the coder has to figure out just how to load the map in to his or her game ... I'm not going to do everything for people.)
 
The map is 3-D because it's literally cut from a block of map levels, each lower level correctly corresponding to the one above it. It's organic because geological functions such as slope and terrain type at elevation are taken in to account and the user can set parameters for these very easily.
 
Please keep in mind this application was developed strictly as a utility. Though I put some thought in to the flow of the UI, appearances were certainly not my first priority. I wanted it to be easy to use. Also keep in mind that I just about entirely developed Rhino Builder while on ferry boats in transit from Larkspur to San Francisco and back (my only real private and available time).


 
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