Random city generator and editor for role-playing games of multiple genres & systems. Runs on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

More than just map software!

Do your players ever take a game session in a different direction and you need a quick city or village? Or maybe you want to cut down on your game's prep time by getting some help creating some of the cities or villages in your game's setting? (Whether you want the system to do 90% of the work or just 20%--customize the results as much as you want.)

Cityographer is the perfect solution for these situations! You set some preferences for the city you want (technology level, population size, whether the city has a river, if it is on the coast, etc.) on a setup screen and it will randomly generate an entire village or city for you. (You can also start with a blank map/city.)

Not only will the program generate the city's map, but it will generate simple floorplans of the buildings, and each building's residents and any important belongings. If the building is a business you'll also get a list of the staff and a menu or price list of products available.

Further, everything and anything can be fully or individually re-generated or hand edited! So if you don't like the whole city, just start over. But if you simply don't like the placement of a few buildings, move them or delete them and add new ones. If you don't like a particular building just regenerate it or an aspect of it. For example if the building is an inn, regenerate it or regenerate just the staff or just the price list or hand edit any particular item!

Note: Although the backer rewards list a delivery timeframe of October, we hope to have a beta available in September and perhaps earlier.

Take the city with you

Like sister-products Hexographer and Dungeonographer, Cityographer will be written in Java and can easily be run from a laptop running Windows, Mac OSX or Linux. But Cityographer will also let you export your city/village to a set of webpages which you can ZIP and transfer to another computer or post to a website to view via a hand-held device. An RTF export will also be available. There will likely also be a PDF export which will make your city into a PDF document for viewing on anything with a PDF viewer. Maybe an MS Word export too.

For any building, view/re-generate/edit the residents and a mini floorplan. For a business, you can also view/re-generate/edit the staff, products available, prices, etc. Note that the data will be configurable based on the city's technology level. Further, you'll be able to customize the configuration files for specific game systems as desired.

Regarding Betas & Prototypes

We'd love your feedback and input on the project! Please post comments here or on the Inkwell Ideas website. Every backer who backs for a Cityographer license will have access to early versions when they are available. Because we want your input, it didn't seem right to make this only available as a premium backer reward.

Special Note for Hexographer/Dungeonographer Owners

If you have a license to both tools, you'll get one free art pack (see below) when you pledge for Cityographer. (So for $25 you'll get a copy of Cityographer and an art pack of your choice. Since the art packs are $20 each, if you back for $65 you'll get Cityographer and three art packs instead of two..) We'll ask you if you have a license for the other two tools (and which art pack you want) in the end-of-project official survey.

(Yes, you can order Hexographer and/or Dungeonographer now to qualify for this bonus. See the links to those websites elsewhere on the page.)

Feature List

Easy to use User Interface. Making a tool for a specific purpose allows most of the complex options to be hidden.
Software generates a city/village map and information on the residents, floorplan, and belongings of each building. If the building is a business, it will also generate information on the staff, products available, prices, etc.
120+ building graphics will be built in. Nearly half will be fantasy/medieval, with the next largest set being modern, then some futuristic, some more primitive, and probably some steampunk and some western.
100+ other graphics will be built in. (Road textures, trees, other plants, streetlights, mailboxes, etc.)
Export to HTML, RTF, probably PDF and possibly MS Word.
Import your own PNG, JPG, or GIF graphics.
Art Packs

Each art pack will have 150+ graphics, mostly buildings.
The final list of art packs is still to be determined, but there will be at least a medieval/fantasy set, a modern set and a futuristic set. If there's enough interest (we'll post a survey shortly) we hope to add a western set, steampunk set, a"primitive" set (huts, tee-pees, etc.) and maybe a second medieval/fantasy set.
The graphics will be transparent PNGs so you may use them without Cityographer if that's your preference.
You may publish maps you make with the artwork.
Who is behind the project?

Inkwell Ideas hopes to make this product with your support. Inkwell Ideas is the RPG Tools company of Joe Wetzel and as mentioned above the company has a couple of related products: Hexographer and Dungeonographer. Inkwell Ideas also works with a number of freelancers to do documentation, artwork, etc. Most of the map icon work is done by Keith Curtis. (Who is very honest and reliable and highly recommended.)

Making tools that make your games easier and better is what Inkwell ideas is all about, and I really hope you can support us further while getting something very useful in return.

Inkwell Ideas has also done two prior Kickstarters: DungeonMorph Dice and Monster Stock Art & Minis. The dice (and related products: cards, a font, etc.) took a while due to pushing the limits of what is possible with dice manufacturing, but backers were updated regularly and the products were sent to backers last December. The artwork for the stock art & minis is being completed now, but backers have already received a sample of the PDF if that reward was chosen.