Thank you for taking the time to review our tool! Terrain brushes are on the list of to-dos. One thing I wanted to clarify is that only the tile assets are stored in your local cache. Your maps are saved to a database - if you clear your cache you won't lose your maps. You will just have a slower load in time while the tool re-fetches all of the assets.
Oh fantastic! Thank you for you work on developing such a great tool. I'm really excited when I find tools like this, built by developers for the love of the game. Can't wait to see it progress in the future!
@@ikitclaw8969Do it. Dungeon Alchemist is amazing. You need a generic battlemap ASAP? No problem, you can have it ready to play on Roll20 in under 10 minutes (and, of course faster if you need it in person). Want to spend hours designing a wonderful map? Yeah, go for it, it's great. And there are a lot of maps in the steam workshop.
@@ikitclaw8969 they have amazing support and are tremendously active in the community. Their Twitch channel and discord server just make them that much more responsive.
Not surprised that Dungeon Alchemist was his favorite. I was a kickstarter backer and have been using it for quite a while. I can't imagine why I'd ever use anything else. It's absolutely incredible.
Based on what was said in the video my biggest question/concern is does Dungeon Alchemist need Steam to use? I have no problem with a $45.00 price tag but if that is dependent on a Steam server that is a problem since Steam can at any time decide to remove the program or if they go under then everything is still lost.
Quick bit about dungeon draft, if you turn off the snap option you can put the lights on the walls. That was a big thing for me when I first got it but once I figured out the snap feature it made it a lot easier
Two other things to keep in mind about Dungeon Alchemist: First is that this is still in early access and will continue to get the Kickstarter stretch goals such as a magic themed one and two related to water. The second thing is that they have a stream on Twitch every Saturday where if they get 50 viewers they have a giveaway for a free copy of the software.
@blarghonk8 All the tools work differently, so familiarity with one does not mean others will be easier. If that was the case it would apply to the shootout we have here. Regarding your second point - randomly chosen terrain can swing the results wildly as you see in this video. In come cases he had to build a feature and in other cases the required feature was an in game asset that needed to be placed.
I would like to see that, too. While the randomization method is great for testing how well you can pull a map out of nowhere, having the same criteria would demonstrate what the tools are comparatively capable of. I think both are important. 🤔
Inkarnate allows toggling whether you want to keep an item selected after placing it, or not. It's a checkbox in the object menu. If you constantly adjust after placement, you want to keep it selected to save that click. In your case you would want to disable automatic selection to prevent preparing e.g. rotation of the next placement affecting the previous one.
I use Dungeon Draft for my maps regularly. I was running a game where my players did something I didn't expect and combat was coming. We took a 5 minute break, during which I made the whole map, and imported it into Roll20. They never knew I wasn't prepared for this. The more you use it, the easier it gets (and it's pretty dang easy to start). It's a *great* tool. I also was a Kickstarter supporter for Dungeon Alchemist, and Wim De Hert has been absolutely wonderful about communication from the start in 2021. I don't use those maps, but I do play it like it was a video game and get ideas from it. hah!
I feel like I am only writing this content so you can get an engagement boost, but I feel like its worth it. Your content is engaging, and informative without being pointlessly long. The editing makes it feel like a channel with 100x the subscriber count. Keep up the good work.
The biggest advantage with Inkarnate is the ability to make world maps easily. Dungeon Draft has been my go-to dungeon making software, but Inkarnate is what I use when making overworld maps.
Thank you!! "Dungeondraft" will definitely serve well for maps with specific details If "Dungeon Alchemist" could make maps in "2D style" it would be the best option for sure, but the fact that it is 3D rendering ends up limiting some things, as it will hardly be possible to take advantage of maps found on the internet alongside
I've been using Dungeon Alchemist for a while and it's by far my favorite tool. Extremely fast for excellent results. It gets silly with object placement at times, but moving things around is a synch.
The sheer amount of detail that you can put into a map and the versatility of inkarnate is so good for me. The filters that are available can really make a map so different. You can turn a fantasy world map from a colorful blend of rivers and fey forests into an ancient map found in the ruins of a fortress with just the filters. Turn a slow morning tavern into a busy bustling night time party. Love that tool, I've built so many maps on it. The thing that really helped me as well, is that inkarnate has their own RUclips channel that they stream and make long format videos that show how to make a proper map in multiple different styles that are applicable to any application you use.
So glad to see DungeonDraft and Dungeon Alchemist on this list. I was becomming a little worried dungeon alchemist wasn't on your radar. I have used it for maps and to make beautiful splash pages for my online groups I think the only thing faster and i would have liked to see it in your review is Donjon's random dungeon generator... I have had a lot of wacky fun with that one. Also, first time viewer and new subscriber keep it up.
Thank you! Yeah I'm excited to use it to make images for locations as well! Even if there won't be an encounter there, seems like it would be great to just illustrate what an important place looks like
Been using Dungeon Alchemist for the better part of a year now, and I’ve been super impressed at how much the devs have kept improving it and adding content over time. Add to that the ability to import HeroForge figures for players, NPCs and monsters (plus the upcoming 3D import) and it’s become my tool of choice for both dungeon design AND a virtual tabletop for online games (streamed over Discord). I have a lot of fun space-building in DA.
@@powerwordspill It wasn't conceived as a VTT initially, so there is some clunk; not having a way to have the players move their figures themselves, and having to do line-of-sight workarounds, fog-of-war, etc - things that are solved with platforms designed as VTTs from start - but I LOVE being able to modify the space on the fly as the characters move through it, and those drawbacks haven't been much of a hindrance really.
I'd been looking for a video that compares DungeonDraft, DungeonFog, and Dungeon Alchemist for a couple weeks now since I'm deciding on which one I want to use to create battlemaps for my own campaign. So glad your video came out at the perfect time for me, what a coincidence!
I have been using Dungeon Alchemist for several months now and agree 100% with your review. For my games, I have found a simple way to export the maps as very large PNG files I push into Owlbear Rodeo... AFTER I put them through a neat series of filters (on Befunky but could be many of the filter apps) to give my maps a more hand-drawn look to them. And, I feel really good about how they look. I also will use the cinematic camera view to get great shots to use as splash pages for encounters. And, with both the greenscreen objects they let you add and the announcement that they'll be letting us import models, I THINK we'll finally be able to import 3rd party assets.
3:27 they added a wall tool now! You can free draw, make lines/curves, or use complete shapes! It also includes a portal option to make room for doors/windows 3:44 you have to hit the "escape" key to confirm where you place the object, otherwise they assume you're still editing it. This is phenomenal bc otherwise you have to *manually select* everything you place to adjust the rotation after placing it
I've been wanting a tool to speed up custom maps. This is exactly what I needed to see! I loved the challenges you set yourself as a way of comparing programs. thanks!!
I started out using Inkarnate and still use it for world and region maps, but all of my battle maps are now made in Dungeon Alchemist. They also have a whole workshop on Steam where people upload amazing maps already built. You can save them and then edit them in DA to make them just like you want. My players were going to compete in a tournament and I found an amazing stadium map someone had already built. Talk about saving time. I changed a few of the items littering the stadium floor, and it was done. I exported it for use in Roll 20 and it worked perfectly. Nice comparison of the various tools.
I really appreciate the time you took to create this video highlighting the pro's and con's of each. It will make my decision of which one to use a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper. I also feel the time length of the video was just perfect -- the right amount of time to feature the programs without being needlessly excessive.
Thank you so much for this video. I kicked Dungeon Alchemist years ago and totally forgot I even owned it. This video reminded me I had it and playing with it now is all kinds of fun. Here's to hoping it makes my game better.
Inkarnate is king. I pay the yearly $25 fee and it's worth every penny. FYI, not only can you rotate an asset before you place it; you can also change the size, and different versions of the asset, by holding, Ctrl, Shift, or Alt, respectively while scrolling your mouse wheel.
I began with Dungeon Draft, and now I mostly use Dungeon Alchemist. That's mostly due to the aesthetic I'm going for with my current campaign. However with the right Dungeon Draft assets you can load up a Dungeon Alchemist map into dungeon draft and place a plethora of objects that will mostly fit fairly well. I do this mostly for furniture as Dungeon Alchemist has yet to update with the ability to load custom 3d assets. Also if you're just doing a top down view you can use a photo editor to filter the image and change the "art style". Maybe make it sepia and have the objects look like they're hand drawn. Something like that. There's a lot you can do with both Dungeon Alchemist and Dungeon Draft. Oh, and for world maps, Wonder Draft is my go to. It's fantastic! Keep up the amazing videos, you defiantly have a new sub!
@@powerwordspill I would only do it with assets that have a similar style, or that wouldn't look too different after putting them through a photo editor. Forgotten Adventures has some great ones that mesh well.
Wow. I haven't looked into battle map software since Dundjinni from way back. Once I learned how to make maps using GIMP, I figured that I wouldn't need one. This video has given me reason to reconsider. Thank you.
From where I stand, all of those seem to shine when you have someone who knows how to battlemap a bit better than I do. After trying a lot of them, I went for Talespire and I'm happy. Yes, it takes a while to do maps with it, but it's definitively for dummies. And it has a lot of interesting tools. Its been a while since I last tried it, but it was already great. Not to mention that there's already a legion of mapmakers doing WONDERS with it and the fact that you can easily save those maps as text.
I was in on the Dungeon Alchemist since the Kickstarter stage. I'm happy I backed it. At release it was pretty limited as far as item choices go, but still amazing in its capabilities and function. They continue to add more content as time passes, so it's continuously more robust. It's extremely useful now and I look forward to future updates.
Great video as always, man! On Inkarnate, I had the same problem on spinning objects, but I found that clicking on the right button after placing the object allows you to spin/resize/reshape/recolor at will without affecting the last one. Still, I agree that making gridded maps is harder than the others. It excels more at world maps, and freeform battlemaps. For these, I really enjoy the practicity of Dungeon Scrawl. I usually use it as a guide for mini modular placement (we usually play local), and it helps a lot.
inkarnate has a learning curve and you can definitely make a pond and much more. i would give it a second chanche and some more time to learn, it's my favourite tool and i have used every other software you used.
I am using dungeon draft a lot and I'm pretty excited about it. I like that it also allows you to make maps for non-medieval settings like call of Cthulhu if you have the right asset pack.
There are a TON of free assets for dungeon draft as well..love it!!!! Wish you could free draw your dungeon in DA or easily make circle or odd shaped rooms. They add this HUGE winner!!!
Thanks, your video convinced me to get DungeonDraft. Dungeon Alchemist also looks great, but I think the former better suits my needs as we play almost exclusively in person.
As someone who backed dungeon alchemist on kickstarter, I can say, it is very helpfull, but has a learning curve. I always love seeing the updates come in from the devs
I've been using Inkarnate, it's well worth it. I've made dozens of maps now with it - I've been printing battle maps out to cover the whole table, and the regional world maps are just what the players want to feel like they are exploring and accomplishing. A nice trick is to use the layers to hide things on the maps until you are ready to update them. I've made 4 battle maps larger than 2'x3' now, and it really adds a lot to the game. It would be nice to have a little more adaptability to the textures, but it does what it does very well.
Great Video! I've used all of them and agree with your choices. Dungeon Draft is definitely my current favorite. A word of caution: If you choose to use "cloth" to create roof tiles....save often.
In Inkarnate, if you hit escape, you deselect the last piece and can rotate the brush tool freely. Love the tool and hope they have more assets and asset packs coming!
Yes DungeonDraft! That's a great tool. I'll have to check out Dungeon Alchemist though. Shout out to DungeonDraft's sister program, Wonder Draft. If you want a great tool to generate world maps, in many different styles, take a look at that.
WonderDraft is awesome. I redrew the maps for Desolation and Totems of the Dead (since I wanted them bigger and with more details) with it and they came out great. It's an awesome program.
Another super video!! very informative, sick editing, on point and fun to watch!! 9/10 (I missed the usual joke of multi-version of yourself playing some ttrpg at the start xD)
Inkarnate has an option for placement stamps. the three arrows at the bottom will allow you to adjust a lot of stamps. But you are right. The wall placement is better off If you do it differently like Foreground Background. add and remove. but this is natural for surface users to not find these settings.
Way to get on the map! This video was great and it really helped me get in the right direction for creating my own campaign. I have something started on World Anvil that I've been neglecting for YEARS and would love to hear about more tools to help me flesh out the world I'm making.
I use Dungeon Draft. And it was an easy decision for me: I don't like subscription services so I haven't even looked at Inkarnate and other subscription based map makers. But I didn't know Dungeon Alchemist and will check it out now. Thanks for the tip!
I’ve been using Dungeondraft to make my own maps because most map artists seem to prioritize aesthetic design over tactical game design with multiple approaches to an objective that each have their pros and cons… In other words, I’d rather have a Counterstrike map than a pretty picture.
i am a new dm, and making maps is one of my favourite things. i use inkarnate and it honestly just makes me so happy, especially once i got to grips with it. I also like incarnate as its not too pricey, and it has options for other styles of maps
Thanks for the video. I'm not particularly creative visually and I'm looking for a map-making tool. I was already familiar with some of these products but it was good to see someone mess around with them while having similar goals to me (to get a decent-looking map out quickly).
I LOVE Dungeon Alchemist, especially since both of my groups are playing on Roll20. My players are doing something unexpected and I need a generic battlemap ASAP? No problem, takes atound 10 Minutes from opening DA to having the map ready on R20. I have enough time to prepare a map? Great, I can make really beautiful maps from scratch or take something from the Workshop (and change stuff if necessary). It is easy to use, fast if you need it to be and I love how it looks. I always recommend it if someone asks me for a good tool.
Dungeon alchemist has felt like such a passion project made by people who care about what their users want. Been using it for 9 months now. I love it, my players love it, their updates are always amazing additional things, and exporting works great. Only real draw backs: curve walls and multiple layers- but those do seem to be in the works!!!
Thanks for the video. I personnaly use Inkarnate and Dungeon Draft. The first one is when I have a lot of time and want a detailed map with a specific atmosphere. The other one allows me to work really faster so when I need several maps or a really big one. I also started to use Dungeon Alchemist but the 3D style doesn't really match with the 2 others. Maybe for a new campaign.
A note on 4:11 The feature also exists in Dungeondraft in a way. If you have assets of multiple different variations, there is a tool which not only randomly chooses between the ones you select, but can also randomize size and rotation(even within specific ranges you select), but you can do more than just variations of any one item. Sure it does make you reliant on the assets which exist, but the tool itself is there, and is more flexible. For example, i use it to put down a whole bunch of different trees, shrubs, random clutter, and more. And about 7:37 Also a feature Dungeondraft has in a way. Assets can be tagged as colorable, which enables you to freely recolor the parts of them which are colorable. And, you guessed it, the previously mentioned tool can also be used to randomize the colors.
i personally love to take advantage of multiple! For instance i might have a large battlefield surrounding a fort, start it in inkarnate and finish it in owlbear rodeo (which is also what i use to host the maps for discord DnD sessions)
I regularly use Dungeon Alchemist and Dungeondraft. I've tried a LOT of different tools, but these two are my favorites. Dungeondraft is by far the easiest to learn and I can do a lot very quickly. It's also easy to make multi-level buildings, copy-paste levels, etc. Dungeon Alchemist has seen a LOT of improvement since it started and is continuing to grow. I'm also keeping my eye on Chronos Builder because it has tools for sci-fi, cyberpunk, Viking adventures, and soon, old-West.
I bought Dungeon Draft after finding the free stuff to be very thin / not versatile enough, and not wanting to deal with a subscription for something I'll probably use one a month or so. Yeah, it has a slight learning curve, but it's easy to pick up and add packs to on the cheap!
inkarnate has a really step learning curve, but the quality of maps you can make after you learn how to use it are insane. Like the rotating objects afternoon placement, you have to hold control to disable that. Inkarnate is more for people who want to spend hours making maps, not just quick stuff. Although I can make a high quality battle map in like 30 minutes, but I have been using it for a few months now
Ooo. Thanks for doing this! I always just googled maps for myself but the biggest struggle is not making\fonding them. It's getting it to the players. We play in person and I've yet to find a reliable, fast, non invasive (aka taking time to draw in sesh) - way to get to scale maps in front of my players. For me I have this big beautiful colored map, but all they get is two lines on a grid "this is a hallway". Would love to see more videos on this. 0.o
I don't even play D&D anymore but I supported Dungeon Alchemist on Kickstarter purely because it's such a good program! Never played it although I got it for free. Glad to see it getting good recognition though!
When image generation "AI" first came about, I always thought it'd be great for D&D. Still think that they're useless in many applications where you'd need a human to do the thing, but for TTRPG where you just want to quickly generate something that vaguely resembles your idea it's awesome.Same goes for NPCs generated on the fly
I think the best you can get if money isn't a huge issue is definitely having both Inkarnate and Dungeon Fog. Dungeon Fog for creating quick and relatively simple maps and Inkarnate for big highly detailed maps and especially for making World Maps and City Maps, perfect for long term big world builders.
Dungeon draft is my go to, but dungeon alchemist seems so cool. Adding asset packs to dungeon draft makes it such a go to tool since you can make it look any way you want and you always own it. I’ve been using it since beta, imagine how much money I’ve save over using a subscription model. Honestly dungeon draft is a tool that the longer you use it the way better your maps look.
I've been using Dungeon Fog for over 2 years now. They have a lot of nice features, but the maps can give computers problems if you use too many textures or a room is too big. If you make a large cave as one room your computer will freak out. Everything has to be made in bite size pieces for it to run smoothly. Also, they quite often have glitches. Textures will change or not load properly. They will randomly delete your player character tokens. Sometimes the floors of maps don't load, so all your players see is a black map with some trees and a river running through it.
Both a mapmaking tool and a VTT, but we have fallen in love with Talespire for our current campaign. Definitely has some drawbacks with time/ everyone purchasing it but, my players love it.
I’ve been trying some video game custom map tools for battle maps recently. Like Advance Wars and Fire Emblem. Mixed results, but it’s well-tailored towards D&D scenarios and grids. I’ve been meaning to try out stuff like Age of Mythology for full 3D environs.
Dungeon Alchimist is awesome. In game, when my players are improvising something I didn't expect. Dungeon Alchimist, hop 30 sec i got a map. life saver ! There is a lot of maps available submitted by other players. And it's even faster !
Thank you for taking the time to review our tool! Terrain brushes are on the list of to-dos. One thing I wanted to clarify is that only the tile assets are stored in your local cache. Your maps are saved to a database - if you clear your cache you won't lose your maps. You will just have a slower load in time while the tool re-fetches all of the assets.
Oh fantastic! Thank you for you work on developing such a great tool. I'm really excited when I find tools like this, built by developers for the love of the game. Can't wait to see it progress in the future!
We just pushed an update that includes terrain brush tools! Thanks again for the support + feedback@@powerwordspill
Thank you for such kind words! Glad to hear you enjoyed Dungeon Alchemist 🙂
welp guess I'll have to buy dungeon alchemist for my new campaign's maps now too... kind of impressive you guys commented on this
@@ikitclaw8969Do it. Dungeon Alchemist is amazing.
You need a generic battlemap ASAP? No problem, you can have it ready to play on Roll20 in under 10 minutes (and, of course faster if you need it in person). Want to spend hours designing a wonderful map? Yeah, go for it, it's great. And there are a lot of maps in the steam workshop.
@@ikitclaw8969 they have amazing support and are tremendously active in the community. Their Twitch channel and discord server just make them that much more responsive.
Not surprised that Dungeon Alchemist was his favorite. I was a kickstarter backer and have been using it for quite a while. I can't imagine why I'd ever use anything else. It's absolutely incredible.
Based on what was said in the video my biggest question/concern is does Dungeon Alchemist need Steam to use? I have no problem with a $45.00 price tag but if that is dependent on a Steam server that is a problem since Steam can at any time decide to remove the program or if they go under then everything is still lost.
Quick bit about dungeon draft, if you turn off the snap option you can put the lights on the walls. That was a big thing for me when I first got it but once I figured out the snap feature it made it a lot easier
Also knowing the hotkeys is important, I believe its Z that allows you to rotate things in smaller increments.
Two other things to keep in mind about Dungeon Alchemist: First is that this is still in early access and will continue to get the Kickstarter stretch goals such as a magic themed one and two related to water. The second thing is that they have a stream on Twitch every Saturday where if they get 50 viewers they have a giveaway for a free copy of the software.
Thank you for the heads up about the Twitch Stream. Even if I don't win a free copy, it shoudl be informative before I make a purchase
To level the playing field, I think you should make the same map with the different tools.
I would like to second this idea!
@@3nertia and *my* axe!
Any this dead Elfs bow... (begins casting raise dead)
@blarghonk8 All the tools work differently, so familiarity with one does not mean others will be easier. If that was the case it would apply to the shootout we have here. Regarding your second point - randomly chosen terrain can swing the results wildly as you see in this video. In come cases he had to build a feature and in other cases the required feature was an in game asset that needed to be placed.
I would like to see that, too. While the randomization method is great for testing how well you can pull a map out of nowhere, having the same criteria would demonstrate what the tools are comparatively capable of. I think both are important. 🤔
Inkarnate allows toggling whether you want to keep an item selected after placing it, or not. It's a checkbox in the object menu. If you constantly adjust after placement, you want to keep it selected to save that click. In your case you would want to disable automatic selection to prevent preparing e.g. rotation of the next placement affecting the previous one.
That's a great tip, thank you!
holy cow, i never knew this, so much hassle saved, thank you!!!!
As soon as I saw the mustache, I knew this channel is trustworthy.
I use Dungeon Draft for my maps regularly. I was running a game where my players did something I didn't expect and combat was coming. We took a 5 minute break, during which I made the whole map, and imported it into Roll20. They never knew I wasn't prepared for this. The more you use it, the easier it gets (and it's pretty dang easy to start). It's a *great* tool.
I also was a Kickstarter supporter for Dungeon Alchemist, and Wim De Hert has been absolutely wonderful about communication from the start in 2021. I don't use those maps, but I do play it like it was a video game and get ideas from it. hah!
I also jumped in early. I've enjoyed every hour, and there were plenty of those.
I'm pumped because they're still adding to it.
Love the self talk when you show yourself designing.
I would like a map making video with random requirements
I feel like I am only writing this content so you can get an engagement boost, but I feel like its worth it. Your content is engaging, and informative without being pointlessly long. The editing makes it feel like a channel with 100x the subscriber count.
Keep up the good work.
I agree with this. Also, I don't necessarily hunger for more mapping videos, but I like DM toolkit stuff in general, so keep that coming.
Thank you, I really appreciate that!
The biggest advantage with Inkarnate is the ability to make world maps easily. Dungeon Draft has been my go-to dungeon making software, but Inkarnate is what I use when making overworld maps.
wonderdraft is for wold building :)
Thank you!! "Dungeondraft" will definitely serve well for maps with specific details
If "Dungeon Alchemist" could make maps in "2D style" it would be the best option for sure, but the fact that it is 3D rendering ends up limiting some things, as it will hardly be possible to take advantage of maps found on the internet alongside
I've been using Dungeon Alchemist for a while and it's by far my favorite tool. Extremely fast for excellent results. It gets silly with object placement at times, but moving things around is a synch.
The sheer amount of detail that you can put into a map and the versatility of inkarnate is so good for me. The filters that are available can really make a map so different. You can turn a fantasy world map from a colorful blend of rivers and fey forests into an ancient map found in the ruins of a fortress with just the filters. Turn a slow morning tavern into a busy bustling night time party. Love that tool, I've built so many maps on it. The thing that really helped me as well, is that inkarnate has their own RUclips channel that they stream and make long format videos that show how to make a proper map in multiple different styles that are applicable to any application you use.
So glad to see DungeonDraft and Dungeon Alchemist on this list. I was becomming a little worried dungeon alchemist wasn't on your radar. I have used it for maps and to make beautiful splash pages for my online groups I think the only thing faster and i would have liked to see it in your review is Donjon's random dungeon generator... I have had a lot of wacky fun with that one. Also, first time viewer and new subscriber keep it up.
Thank you! Yeah I'm excited to use it to make images for locations as well! Even if there won't be an encounter there, seems like it would be great to just illustrate what an important place looks like
Been using Dungeon Alchemist for the better part of a year now, and I’ve been super impressed at how much the devs have kept improving it and adding content over time. Add to that the ability to import HeroForge figures for players, NPCs and monsters (plus the upcoming 3D import) and it’s become my tool of choice for both dungeon design AND a virtual tabletop for online games (streamed over Discord). I have a lot of fun space-building in DA.
I haven't tried using it as a vtt yet, but I'll give that a try!
@@powerwordspill It wasn't conceived as a VTT initially, so there is some clunk; not having a way to have the players move their figures themselves, and having to do line-of-sight workarounds, fog-of-war, etc - things that are solved with platforms designed as VTTs from start - but I LOVE being able to modify the space on the fly as the characters move through it, and those drawbacks haven't been much of a hindrance really.
I'd been looking for a video that compares DungeonDraft, DungeonFog, and Dungeon Alchemist for a couple weeks now since I'm deciding on which one I want to use to create battlemaps for my own campaign. So glad your video came out at the perfect time for me, what a coincidence!
which did you choose? I'm looking too
I have been using Dungeon Alchemist for several months now and agree 100% with your review. For my games, I have found a simple way to export the maps as very large PNG files I push into Owlbear Rodeo... AFTER I put them through a neat series of filters (on Befunky but could be many of the filter apps) to give my maps a more hand-drawn look to them. And, I feel really good about how they look. I also will use the cinematic camera view to get great shots to use as splash pages for encounters. And, with both the greenscreen objects they let you add and the announcement that they'll be letting us import models, I THINK we'll finally be able to import 3rd party assets.
That's a cool idea to change the art style!
@idiosapien would you mind sharing some images of your finished results? Would love to see
3:27 they added a wall tool now! You can free draw, make lines/curves, or use complete shapes! It also includes a portal option to make room for doors/windows
3:44 you have to hit the "escape" key to confirm where you place the object, otherwise they assume you're still editing it. This is phenomenal bc otherwise you have to *manually select* everything you place to adjust the rotation after placing it
I've been wanting a tool to speed up custom maps. This is exactly what I needed to see! I loved the challenges you set yourself as a way of comparing programs. thanks!!
I started out using Inkarnate and still use it for world and region maps, but all of my battle maps are now made in Dungeon Alchemist. They also have a whole workshop on Steam where people upload amazing maps already built. You can save them and then edit them in DA to make them just like you want. My players were going to compete in a tournament and I found an amazing stadium map someone had already built. Talk about saving time. I changed a few of the items littering the stadium floor, and it was done. I exported it for use in Roll 20 and it worked perfectly.
Nice comparison of the various tools.
That's a very cool feature for sure!
this is the EXACT topic / video that i needed, after desperate googling and wondering wether or not i should give X or Y program a shot
I really appreciate the time you took to create this video highlighting the pro's and con's of each. It will make my decision of which one to use a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper. I also feel the time length of the video was just perfect -- the right amount of time to feature the programs without being needlessly excessive.
Thank you very much!
Thank you so much for this video. I kicked Dungeon Alchemist years ago and totally forgot I even owned it. This video reminded me I had it and playing with it now is all kinds of fun.
Here's to hoping it makes my game better.
Excellent video, man! Thank you for the work here.
Inkarnate is king. I pay the yearly $25 fee and it's worth every penny. FYI, not only can you rotate an asset before you place it; you can also change the size, and different versions of the asset, by holding, Ctrl, Shift, or Alt, respectively while scrolling your mouse wheel.
That's good to know!
Nothing beats the beast that is inkarnate. The sheer quality of maps that's possible is insane.
Inkarnate is probably the best if you're a decent artist. If you aren't very artistically inclined, it can be a little overwhelming.
I began with Dungeon Draft, and now I mostly use Dungeon Alchemist. That's mostly due to the aesthetic I'm going for with my current campaign. However with the right Dungeon Draft assets you can load up a Dungeon Alchemist map into dungeon draft and place a plethora of objects that will mostly fit fairly well. I do this mostly for furniture as Dungeon Alchemist has yet to update with the ability to load custom 3d assets. Also if you're just doing a top down view you can use a photo editor to filter the image and change the "art style". Maybe make it sepia and have the objects look like they're hand drawn. Something like that. There's a lot you can do with both Dungeon Alchemist and Dungeon Draft.
Oh, and for world maps, Wonder Draft is my go to. It's fantastic!
Keep up the amazing videos, you defiantly have a new sub!
Thank you so much! That's a very interesting idea to mix between dungeon Alchemist and dungeon draft, I hadn't thought of that!
@@powerwordspill I would only do it with assets that have a similar style, or that wouldn't look too different after putting them through a photo editor. Forgotten Adventures has some great ones that mesh well.
Wow. I haven't looked into battle map software since Dundjinni from way back. Once I learned how to make maps using GIMP, I figured that I wouldn't need one.
This video has given me reason to reconsider. Thank you.
Amazing video, great signal to noise ratio!
From where I stand, all of those seem to shine when you have someone who knows how to battlemap a bit better than I do.
After trying a lot of them, I went for Talespire and I'm happy. Yes, it takes a while to do maps with it, but it's definitively for dummies. And it has a lot of interesting tools. Its been a while since I last tried it, but it was already great. Not to mention that there's already a legion of mapmakers doing WONDERS with it and the fact that you can easily save those maps as text.
I was in on the Dungeon Alchemist since the Kickstarter stage. I'm happy I backed it. At release it was pretty limited as far as item choices go, but still amazing in its capabilities and function. They continue to add more content as time passes, so it's continuously more robust. It's extremely useful now and I look forward to future updates.
Every time you say the word "wall", I look at the album on the shelf behind you. You have excellent taste in music, good Sir.
Great video as always, man!
On Inkarnate, I had the same problem on spinning objects, but I found that clicking on the right button after placing the object allows you to spin/resize/reshape/recolor at will without affecting the last one.
Still, I agree that making gridded maps is harder than the others. It excels more at world maps, and freeform battlemaps. For these, I really enjoy the practicity of Dungeon Scrawl. I usually use it as a guide for mini modular placement (we usually play local), and it helps a lot.
That's a great tip!
inkarnate has a learning curve and you can definitely make a pond and much more. i would give it a second chanche and some more time to learn, it's my favourite tool and i have used every other software you used.
I am using dungeon draft a lot and I'm pretty excited about it. I like that it also allows you to make maps for non-medieval settings like call of Cthulhu if you have the right asset pack.
Definitely a huge plus! Really nice to be able to make maps for other genres
There are a TON of free assets for dungeon draft as well..love it!!!! Wish you could free draw your dungeon in DA or easily make circle or odd shaped rooms. They add this HUGE winner!!!
Thanks, your video convinced me to get DungeonDraft. Dungeon Alchemist also looks great, but I think the former better suits my needs as we play almost exclusively in person.
As someone who backed dungeon alchemist on kickstarter, I can say, it is very helpfull, but has a learning curve. I always love seeing the updates come in from the devs
I've been using Inkarnate, it's well worth it. I've made dozens of maps now with it - I've been printing battle maps out to cover the whole table, and the regional world maps are just what the players want to feel like they are exploring and accomplishing. A nice trick is to use the layers to hide things on the maps until you are ready to update them.
I've made 4 battle maps larger than 2'x3' now, and it really adds a lot to the game.
It would be nice to have a little more adaptability to the textures, but it does what it does very well.
Great Video! I've used all of them and agree with your choices. Dungeon Draft is definitely my current favorite. A word of caution: If you choose to use "cloth" to create roof tiles....save often.
Good tip! I haven't tried that yet
In Inkarnate, if you hit escape, you deselect the last piece and can rotate the brush tool freely. Love the tool and hope they have more assets and asset packs coming!
Not that fussed about dnd. Subbed purely because that moustache is fantastic sir 👏👏
Yes DungeonDraft! That's a great tool. I'll have to check out Dungeon Alchemist though. Shout out to DungeonDraft's sister program, Wonder Draft. If you want a great tool to generate world maps, in many different styles, take a look at that.
WonderDraft is awesome. I redrew the maps for Desolation and Totems of the Dead (since I wanted them bigger and with more details) with it and they came out great. It's an awesome program.
Another super video!! very informative, sick editing, on point and fun to watch!! 9/10 (I missed the usual joke of multi-version of yourself playing some ttrpg at the start xD)
Haha well I'll have to get back to those then!
I think I saw Dungeon Alchemist at MegaCon.
Splendid! I’ll likely get it after I run the starter set with my wifey.
Thank you for the video.
Inkarnate has an option for placement stamps. the three arrows at the bottom will allow you to adjust a lot of stamps. But you are right. The wall placement is better off If you do it differently like Foreground Background. add and remove. but this is natural for surface users to not find these settings.
I use dungeon alchemist and I absolutely love it. especially with recent updates including round rooms and custom 3d model imports
This is an excellent review and examination, incredibly helpful, thank you so much!
I've been using inkarnate for a while now and i think it excels at world maps. I'll have to try some of these other options for battle maps too!
Yeah definitely, I think it's the best I've seen for world and region maps
you literally saved my adventure, thanks for the review
Great video! I've been looking at some of the map makers and currently use Inkarnate, but now I kind of want to try Dungeon Alchemist.
Way to get on the map! This video was great and it really helped me get in the right direction for creating my own campaign. I have something started on World Anvil that I've been neglecting for YEARS and would love to hear about more tools to help me flesh out the world I'm making.
I use Dungeon Draft. And it was an easy decision for me: I don't like subscription services so I haven't even looked at Inkarnate and other subscription based map makers. But I didn't know Dungeon Alchemist and will check it out now. Thanks for the tip!
I’ve been using Dungeondraft to make my own maps because most map artists seem to prioritize aesthetic design over tactical game design with multiple approaches to an objective that each have their pros and cons…
In other words, I’d rather have a Counterstrike map than a pretty picture.
Yeah fps style map design is fun!
what a lovely face warmer you have, congrats :') one of the lucky ones.
i am a new dm, and making maps is one of my favourite things. i use inkarnate and it honestly just makes me so happy, especially once i got to grips with it. I also like incarnate as its not too pricey, and it has options for other styles of maps
5:55 - this is the life of every dungeon master whenever you are building something.
That video is so useful
I've been struggling with Photoshop by myself xD thank you !!
I kickstarted DungeonAlchemist back when they first started. Love it.
You hella helped. It will be my first time DM-ing. Ty so much
I've had dungeon alchemist on my wishlist for a long time. This video makes me gonna buy it:)
Thanks for the video. I'm not particularly creative visually and I'm looking for a map-making tool. I was already familiar with some of these products but it was good to see someone mess around with them while having similar goals to me (to get a decent-looking map out quickly).
That's always a major priority for me, otherwise I just won't use it!
I LOVE Dungeon Alchemist, especially since both of my groups are playing on Roll20.
My players are doing something unexpected and I need a generic battlemap ASAP? No problem, takes atound 10 Minutes from opening DA to having the map ready on R20.
I have enough time to prepare a map? Great, I can make really beautiful maps from scratch or take something from the Workshop (and change stuff if necessary).
It is easy to use, fast if you need it to be and I love how it looks. I always recommend it if someone asks me for a good tool.
Dungeon alchemist has felt like such a passion project made by people who care about what their users want. Been using it for 9 months now. I love it, my players love it, their updates are always amazing additional things, and exporting works great. Only real draw backs: curve walls and multiple layers- but those do seem to be in the works!!!
Yeah I'm really excited to see all the updates in the future!
Thanks for bringing some very cool tools to my attention in a consice way.
Thanks for the video. I personnaly use Inkarnate and Dungeon Draft. The first one is when I have a lot of time and want a detailed map with a specific atmosphere. The other one allows me to work really faster so when I need several maps or a really big one.
I also started to use Dungeon Alchemist but the 3D style doesn't really match with the 2 others. Maybe for a new campaign.
Thanks for sharing this. It will help in my future campaigns.
A note on 4:11
The feature also exists in Dungeondraft in a way. If you have assets of multiple different variations, there is a tool which not only randomly chooses between the ones you select, but can also randomize size and rotation(even within specific ranges you select), but you can do more than just variations of any one item.
Sure it does make you reliant on the assets which exist, but the tool itself is there, and is more flexible. For example, i use it to put down a whole bunch of different trees, shrubs, random clutter, and more.
And about 7:37
Also a feature Dungeondraft has in a way. Assets can be tagged as colorable, which enables you to freely recolor the parts of them which are colorable. And, you guessed it, the previously mentioned tool can also be used to randomize the colors.
i personally love to take advantage of multiple! For instance i might have a large battlefield surrounding a fort, start it in inkarnate and finish it in owlbear rodeo (which is also what i use to host the maps for discord DnD sessions)
Bro your videos are amazing, you should have much more subscribers. Keep up the great work, love your videos❤
Thank you!
I regularly use Dungeon Alchemist and Dungeondraft. I've tried a LOT of different tools, but these two are my favorites. Dungeondraft is by far the easiest to learn and I can do a lot very quickly. It's also easy to make multi-level buildings, copy-paste levels, etc. Dungeon Alchemist has seen a LOT of improvement since it started and is continuing to grow. I'm also keeping my eye on Chronos Builder because it has tools for sci-fi, cyberpunk, Viking adventures, and soon, old-West.
I just got Dungeon Alchemist and absolutely love it!
I bought Dungeon Draft after finding the free stuff to be very thin / not versatile enough, and not wanting to deal with a subscription for something I'll probably use one a month or so. Yeah, it has a slight learning curve, but it's easy to pick up and add packs to on the cheap!
Inkarnate definitely has a learning curve. Once you get it though, it's so good.
Dungeondraft is really amazing, out of all the map making softwares out there, it really does feel like the right one
inkarnate has a really step learning curve, but the quality of maps you can make after you learn how to use it are insane. Like the rotating objects afternoon placement, you have to hold control to disable that. Inkarnate is more for people who want to spend hours making maps, not just quick stuff. Although I can make a high quality battle map in like 30 minutes, but I have been using it for a few months now
Ooo. Thanks for doing this! I always just googled maps for myself but the biggest struggle is not making\fonding them. It's getting it to the players. We play in person and I've yet to find a reliable, fast, non invasive (aka taking time to draw in sesh) - way to get to scale maps in front of my players. For me I have this big beautiful colored map, but all they get is two lines on a grid "this is a hallway". Would love to see more videos on this. 0.o
I love Dungeon Alchemist, have been using it for a while now. Literally made a gaming table with a built in TV just for Dungeon Alchemist.
That's very cool! That's definitely a project on my to do list
Great Video! Gonna check out Dungeon Draft for sure
I don't even play D&D anymore but I supported Dungeon Alchemist on Kickstarter purely because it's such a good program! Never played it although I got it for free. Glad to see it getting good recognition though!
When image generation "AI" first came about, I always thought it'd be great for D&D. Still think that they're useless in many applications where you'd need a human to do the thing, but for TTRPG where you just want to quickly generate something that vaguely resembles your idea it's awesome.Same goes for NPCs generated on the fly
Excellent video!! Thanks for all the info!
I'm surprised you didn't try out talespire. I absolutely love making maps in there.
I'll have to try it in part 2! I was scared by the fact that it looked so time consuming, but I'm looking forward to trying it out
Great video! It was informative and entertaining.
I think the best you can get if money isn't a huge issue is definitely having both Inkarnate and Dungeon Fog.
Dungeon Fog for creating quick and relatively simple maps and Inkarnate for big highly detailed maps and especially for making World Maps and City Maps, perfect for long term big world builders.
Dungeon Alchemist really looks amazing!
What a wonderful video. Thanks very much.
Dungeon draft is my go to, but dungeon alchemist seems so cool. Adding asset packs to dungeon draft makes it such a go to tool since you can make it look any way you want and you always own it. I’ve been using it since beta, imagine how much money I’ve save over using a subscription model.
Honestly dungeon draft is a tool that the longer you use it the way better your maps look.
Would love to see a similar video about 3d mapmakers like talespire
In inkarnate, if you press "escape" after placing an object, you will deselect it, letting you rotate other objects before you place them.
Great tip!
Another fantastic video
Dude, Kelley looks high as a kite barely able to open his eyes and he rocks that thick sexy stache, I love this channel.
I love Dungeon Alchemist! I was hoping it was going to be on this list. I host my games on Foundry and the export is so easy
I've been using Dungeon Fog for over 2 years now. They have a lot of nice features, but the maps can give computers problems if you use too many textures or a room is too big. If you make a large cave as one room your computer will freak out. Everything has to be made in bite size pieces for it to run smoothly. Also, they quite often have glitches. Textures will change or not load properly. They will randomly delete your player character tokens. Sometimes the floors of maps don't load, so all your players see is a black map with some trees and a river running through it.
No Subscriptions! This is the Future! A return to Greatness!
Both a mapmaking tool and a VTT, but we have fallen in love with Talespire for our current campaign. Definitely has some drawbacks with time/ everyone purchasing it but, my players love it.
Yeah it looks so cool! But from what I've seen you definitely need to put in some time to make maps
I’ve been trying some video game custom map tools for battle maps recently. Like Advance Wars and Fire Emblem. Mixed results, but it’s well-tailored towards D&D scenarios and grids.
I’ve been meaning to try out stuff like Age of Mythology for full 3D environs.
Great video.. Thank you! I love that one of those programs is a one time purchase. I can't stand subscription softwares!
Dungeon Alchimist is awesome.
In game, when my players are improvising something I didn't expect.
Dungeon Alchimist, hop 30 sec i got a map. life saver !
There is a lot of maps available submitted by other players. And it's even faster !