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Idea: Wikifying the map?

Strangelove

Strangelove

Inactive Member
Remember back when setting info was stored on those old HTML pages instead of a Wiki? While Wes was diligent, he did have a life, so couldn't manage coding everything into HTML pages on a persistent and timely basis. So we moved to a Wiki, and since then we've seen huge amounts of growth in terms of setting detail due to the fact the entire setting wasn't bottlenecked through one person's work.

I think it's time we did something similar to the star map. The question is what to do with it? Ideally it might be best to commission someone to write an easily updatable HTML or Java map, if there is any money left over from the art commission fund. If not, can anyone suggest any alternatives?

One alternative I came across is an interesting gem of a program called "It's Full of Stars", which is used for creating custom star maps. It's an incredibly detailed and flexible map editor, if not perhaps a bit complex. Furthermore, GMs can use this to determine the setting on which their plot may be entering, and anyone designing star systems can use its built in "generate planet" option to easily calculate mass, gravity, and whatnot. The only issue is that it lacks the cosmetic details (like nebulae, sovereignty flags, etc). It's more like an encyclopedia and navigational chart than the map we have now.

Screenshots
 
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Wow. That could keep me busy for hours. And, sometimes, that IS a bad thing.

We could keep the huge map that is currently posted under "Setting Guide", but this would be a good bonus tool for mapping individual star systems, travel times, and other such detail-oriented things.

Nice find, SL : )
 
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Click here for the incomplete SARP universe map.

That's what I have completed of SARP's map thusfar. For most of the systems I merely put the location and connecting routes, and left the stats blank. I'm hoping to pass this around, and have each GM fill in their part. Make sure you go through this and add your planet data in Matt.

Notes: The lines are travel routes. Green is for safe and well-used routes, yellow for semi-safe and somewhat used, and red for insecure or unprotected routes. Also note that by default all the stars are "Sun" stars (like Earth's), which is why all the icons look identical at the moment.
 
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It's an interesting point that actually knowing what the planets look like might be over the top... I'm pretty adept at .dat modifing Celestia, and even I don't think it would be worth the time to generate every planet on SA just to attach a pretty orb to their respective pages.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is the usability and accessability of all this- perhaps a new series of pages should be developed using screenshots of the program aswell?

I'm all in favour of updating the starmap, so don't get me wrong, I think you are on the right track...
 
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