Master of Realms

I really wanted to love this, they made a lot of sweeping promises with the kickstarter, then kept pushing back the release dates for years with even more promises, including saying they didn't want to release anything unfinished, which is fair. Now we have this, an unfinished, super basic, very limited... slop. It only kind of works, doesn't have a lot of what was promised in early days (I understand scopes change with the reality, but be honest and open), a complete lack of transparency from the devs and it really is just... not good, it's bare bones at best, they flopped hard on this, hopefully it can be like some other things with patches to make it actually usable one day, but considering where this is now and how long it took them to get to this trash, I wouldn't expect it to be good for years.

As far as a mapmaking software for 3D printing, I guess the value is well worth it for the STL files, but if you intend to make maps to export and use on VTTs it's not worth the purchase as it stands currently. There is basically no weather variants so far, only green and desert, no snowy variants, dry variants for that autumn look, cursed variants, also there are no hexes for hills, The software is really neat, and it's really quick in making decent looking things with the tiles currently available. For whoever reads this review, the software is well worth following, but I'd wait until it has enough content to justify it's purchase. I've bought it, I like it, but I can't make much use of it in it's current state. Edit: The team has updated the game, and now it comes with a weather effect pannel, which was one of the features I deemed necessary, I'd still suggest some improvements to this feature, to be able to apply weather to specific regions. But the improvement in itself is commandable and it shows the integrity of the team to follow up with the project.

The game is fantastic. It has a beautiful and rich collection of objects. You can use them for creating your own maps or building custom gameplay scenarios. The music is very well chosen and relaxing while building. However, placing objects can be a bit difficult because the pieces can only be moved freely. A feature that automatically aligns the parts would be really helpful, as well as a selection of different paths that you could freely place yourself. There are tiles that already contain paths, but that makes free building feel less flexible. If players could create their own roads and paths, building would become even more limitless, allowing for better landscapes and cities. The same goes for water. Pre-made water tiles are okay, but being able to draw your own rivers or waterways would be much better. That way, you could create small canals or lakes inside cities, for example. I really hope features like this might be added in the future.

I've had this since it was released as an alpha for their kickstarter. It's neat software. 3D printing seems to be the devs main focus. If that's your bag, then you're set. If you are hoping to use this with software like Foundry, it's sadly lacking. Their is no real VTT export options. It makes a universal battlemap import file which is nothing more than jpeg with odd borders. There is no way to match the grids at all. Very poor implementation of that feature. If I knew that VTT support was going to be this lacking, I would not have backed. Again, if you're into the 3D print aspect, this is probably fun for you. If you want to use this with Foundry, hard pass. Basically useless. Hopefully they will fix this issue.

I backed this on Kickstarter and finally got around to redeeming the code and installing the game. I’ve only had a brief look so far, but I already love it. I used Wonderdraft before, but these maps look far more beautiful. I’m going to spend some time getting used to the controls, which already feel quite intuitive and pleasant to use. Edit: The controls are great but i fight with placing the walls correct as soon as three lines meet it other. It is in an early access if they add more tiles and effects it will be a great software.

Map maker is useful, you can create quick maps with the auto generate (drag a tile type and it will add ones that fit that pattern) you can create road and rivers quickly. Got most the variations from the Kickstarter, typical forest, desert, elven, dwarven, apocalypse and modern. You can go into the map detail and place individual tiles to either create the vartion you want, or even go so far to add a specific item to an existing tile. The biggest issue I find is in "Creating a Custom Tile" it feels very janky and hard to use for what sounds like and easy tool. Solid choice, £30.00 is a bit steep for you get. But the base features are very easy to use. Got some work thats need to make this survive long term. Unless you have a 3d printer and want the 3d hex tiles, I'd wait for this to go on sale.