Canvas of Kings
- August 3, 2023
- Hannes Breuer
Get on SteamCanvas of Kings is a minimalistic map-making tool that utilizes randomness and auto-generated elements on adjustable paths and plots. Place hand-drawn objects with customizable properties and combine them for variety. Adjust lighting, weather, and export definable areas with or without grids for a personalized map experience.
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Reviews
- Canvas of Kings is incredibly easy to use, allowing for quick creation of detailed maps for D&D and other tabletop RPGs.
- The tool offers a unique aesthetic with hand-drawn assets and animations that make maps feel alive, enhancing the overall experience.
- The developer is responsive and actively updates the software, showing promise for future improvements and additional features.
- The current asset library is limited, lacking variety in buildings and terrain options, which restricts creativity.
- Performance issues arise when working with larger maps or dense object placements, leading to crashes and lag.
- Essential features such as water generation, interior design options, and a text labeling system for maps are missing, making it feel incomplete.
- graphics38 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are praised for their unique and aesthetically pleasing hand-drawn art style, which effectively supports the top-down map-making experience. While the current asset library is somewhat limited, the models are well-crafted and contribute to a cohesive aesthetic that enhances the overall user experience. Reviewers express optimism for future updates and additional features that could further elevate the game's visual appeal.
“All of the assets seem to work effortlessly together to create a great aesthetic.”
“I do believe it is in its early stages so it is lacking a bit in variety of models, but the models that are currently present are well made and very aesthetically pleasing, and there's just enough variety to make really amazing city maps and fortresses!”
“An honestly great game, intuitive mechanics and inviting graphic style, I can't wait to see where this goes.”
“The current asset library, although aesthetically pleasing, is fairly limited.”
“Gorgeous and incredibly easy to use tool, however every 10 minutes or so, it crashes my graphics drivers.”
“Being a hand-drawn map-making tool, there aren’t graphics in the traditional sense.”
- story14 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
Users appreciate the tool's detailed mapping capabilities, which significantly aid in world-building for storytelling and tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons. They express a desire for additional features, such as customizable plot sizes and the ability to replace existing terrain with new elements, to enhance the mapping experience further. Overall, the tool is seen as a promising resource for storytellers and game masters alike.
“I think this has the promise to be a top-tier map maker for D&D or any storyteller needing to make a map or city.”
“I'm writing a story, and I'm using this to make a map of the world, and being able to do so in such detail has helped me so much!”
“Really cute and easy for mapping out story villages. I can also see this being helpful for Dungeons and Dragons.”
“It would be nice to see a way to shrink or expand placed plots or make it so that, for example, if a forest plot is placed and then a market plot is placed inside it, the market plot replaces the trees, grass, stumps, etc. at its location.”
- optimization8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is lacking, particularly when creating larger maps or dense object areas, leading to significant performance issues such as camera shaking and prolonged loading times of 10-15 minutes for maps over 6MB. It appears to be better suited for smaller maps, as filling the default canvas size can severely impact performance. Users hope for improvements in these areas to enhance the experience of utilizing the expansive map options.
“There are some issues with performance in object-dense areas, where the camera will begin to shake uncontrollably when moved; additionally, maps that are 6MB+ in size seem to take an exponentially longer time to load, about 10-15 minutes, which is unfortunate for making large maps.”
“I would hope that the performance and/or load time for large maps could be fixed, since it's hard to resist using that large of an area as provided.”
“Performance starts to suffer if you are building realistically sized forests.”
“I get the impression that this is more optimized for smaller maps currently, but the default canvas size is enough that if you fill the map, it really slows down.”
“There are some issues with performance in object dense areas, where the camera will begin to shake uncontrollably when moved; additionally, maps that are 6MB+ in size seem to take an exponentially longer time to load, about 10-15 minutes, which is unfortunate for making large maps.”
- stability6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The stability of the software is currently affected by bugs, particularly with the undo/redo functionality for rooms, but users find these issues manageable through trial and error. While it is still in early development and lacks some features, the overall performance and art style are praised.
“It's still early in development, with a few features missing, but the art style is great, it runs smoothly, and overall it's just a fantastic piece of mapmaking software.”
“It's still early in development, with a few features missing, but the art style is great, it runs smoothly, and overall it's just a fantastic piece of mapmaking software.”
“The Ctrl+Z/Y situation is really buggy when it comes to rooms right now.”
“It has some glitches, but nothing that you can't overcome with a bit of trial and error.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly when generating oceans and bodies of water. The process of managing and adjusting detailed environments, like forests and villages, is hindered by the lack of options to select specific objects easily, leading to cumbersome adjustments that disrupt gameplay.
“Generating oceans and bodies of water is tedious and annoying.”
“It would be nice to have an option to select a specific object from an overlapping mess of objects; it's tedious and annoying to shift entire areas just to adjust a single road or move an accidentally placed object.”
“You can manage fairly detailed forests and meadows, small farming and fishing villages, and little else.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Users appreciate the atmosphere created by the software, noting its ability to evoke a strong sense of place, particularly in small towns and woodland camps. However, as an early version, it lacks sufficient features and widgets to fully enhance indoor scenes and modern town environments.
“It gives a really great sense of atmosphere and you can make small towns or camps in the woods.”
“The atmosphere feels lacking and underdeveloped, making it hard to immerse myself in the game world.”
“The game fails to create a compelling atmosphere, leaving the environments feeling empty and uninspired.”
“There is a noticeable absence of atmospheric elements that could have made the experience more engaging.”
- gameplay2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its intuitive mechanics and appealing graphic style, creating an engaging experience that leaves players eager for future developments.
“An honestly great game, with intuitive mechanics and an inviting graphic style. I can't wait to see where this goes.”
