The map shown was generated by Autorealm, a piece of open source software (for Windows). It is currently being rewritten to use a cross platform windowing library called WxWidgets so will eventually run on Mac and Linux.
It’s a credible piece of software, only a few MBs download and installation is very easy. There are a number of examples and it’s very easy to use. So if you’re a fantasy author needing to draw maps or a role playing game designer doing dungeons etc, or even just a game designer this is excellent. It even generates names.
To give you some idea of the power- consider the humble grids- ie the type of paper you would have drawn this on. There are Square grids, Hexagonal grids, Triangular grids, Diamond grids, Polar grids, Rotated Hex grids, Half-Diamond grids or none. The grids can be of any colour or size and are fully scalable and designable with secondary grids. Styles for the grids as well for the secondary grids. Grids can be drawn on top of objects. There is a list of features as long as your arm
The present version is 2.21 - but use the downloads link for 2.00, not 2.1 as that’s broken.
Popularity: 10% [?]
If you find yourself in London and witness people being soaked by water pistols in a determined but fun way, don’t be alarmed. It’s probably just players from Streetwars doing a hit on someone.
Streetwars is a live game that can take place any time during a three week period. Players have a nominated target who they attempt to soak (”a hit”) to eliminate them from the game. Some basic information and photo is provided for the assassin who then has to stalk, confront or otherwise ambush their victim. You can see more info including videos and news items about the game.
This has been running for the past three years, in the USA, Canada and a couple of European cities. I have a vague notion that the concept is quite old and started on U.S. University campuses back in the 60s or 70s.
After London there is Paris and then Toronto, so if you fancy entering it…Mind you with the present soggy British weather, getting soaked isn’t much fun!
Popularity: 5% [?]