12 Word Cartographer – my process for drawing maps

[gestaltist]

Hey fellow conlangers. Over the last months, I've been working on a process for map drawing that would be simple (my personal target was: a procedure that can be expressed in 12 words) but would still implement some basics of plate tectonics and create better maps than something completely random or fractal-based.

You can download it for free here if you want: https://gestaltist.itch.io/12-word-cartographer

Would love to hear some feedback. :)

[Creyeditor]

I really don't understand the purpose of this (and I would like to understand it before downloading anything). Is this just a twelve word sentence that defines the plate tectonics of your conworld?

[gestaltist]

Hey Crey. No, it’s a procedure for drawing your own maps. It’s inspired by tectonic processes but distilled into a couple simple steps

[Creyeditor]

Sounds interesting. I'll take a look when I find the time. I was just thinking about Fredauon's plate tectonics last night.

Edit: Just had a first look and it looks promising. Have you thought about sharing it on the Carthographers' Guild?

[gestaltist]

Sounds interesting. I'll take a look when I find the time. I was just thinking about Fredauon's plate tectonics last night.

Edit: Just had a first look and it looks promising. Have you thought about sharing it on the Carthographers' Guild?

Thanks for the kind words!

What is the Cartographers' Guild? Is it a forum?

[Creyeditor]

Yes, a map-making forum, including some parts of conworlding

[gestaltist]

Indeed thanks. I think I won't do it. People who join communities only to peddle their stuff always irk me, and that would be what I would be doing in that case. :)

[sangi39]

I'd agree with Crey's recommendation of going to the Cartographers' Guild. I've not posted there in a long while, but do lurk, and there's a fair few people there who are really into world-building as a ground up process, and seem happy to share resources where they can

I would say that if you have a concrete example of your process being applied, i.e. being used in the actual creation of a world, I'd take it there and present it as "I'm creating this world, and this is the process I'll be trying to use", and use it in a similar way to a "scratchpad" thread where you can go back and forth on your own work, have people look over it step by step over some period of time, etc.

That, at least to me, wouldn't be "peddling", really, and more like "showing off work" which is, at its core, the entire point of the Cartographers' Guild, and you'll likely get responses from people over there with much more experience in bottom-up world-building and map-making

[gestaltist]

I'd agree with Crey's recommendation of going to the Cartographers' Guild. I've not posted there in a long while, but do lurk, and there's a fair few people there who are really into world-building as a ground up process, and seem happy to share resources where they can

I would say that if you have a concrete example of your process being applied, i.e. being used in the actual creation of a world, I'd take it there and present it as "I'm creating this world, and this is the process I'll be trying to use", and use it in a similar way to a "scratchpad" thread where you can go back and forth on your own work, have people look over it step by step over some period of time, etc.

That, at least to me, wouldn't be "peddling", really, and more like "showing off work" which is, at its core, the entire point of the Cartographers' Guild, and you'll likely get responses from people over there with much more experience in bottom-up world-building and map-making

This is a good suggestion. I wasn't planning on creating a new setting but it may be a good idea to think of something.