Software for world building?

[JadedSidhe]

Oh, I am so going to burn for admitting this.

Create A World can be used for creating a map/world. You have to have Sims 3 to use CAW. There are a lot of free mods and terrain paints, etc, almost anything you'd want. And there is a great community, Mod the Sims 2, that has extensive information/forums/mods base to help with using and modding for CAW.

As for the writing, I frequently send what I've written to myself and my best friend. I love OneNote and have used it extensively for ideas, histories, outlines, pictures, etc.

I have downloaded ywriter and I'm tinkering with it. Definite possibilities there.

 

[chinookpilot77]

I've used campaign cartographer for a few years now, very easy to use.

 

[Lunaairis]

I use a program called Masterplan, its originally meant for D&D and other roleplaying but it has a great encyclopedia feature which you can add as many articles or categories as you want. It also allows you to put in a fantasy calendar, plot organizer and apparently make maps, But I rather use Photoshop for that. It also has some other features but I just use the encyclopedia, plot and calendar features.

I believe they have an add-in option for people who want to program something into it.

its also free, google it or go here: Masterplan

 

[Lawfire]

Masterplan looks pretty sweet. I wish they would have had something like that 20 years ago.

 

[Varamyrr]

For those interested in creating an entire world in 3D: Bryce 7 is free to download, for both Mac and Windows. For more info, feel free to check out:
What is Bryce

 

[Whimsical]

I've used yWriter for note taking and story organizing. It's free. yWriter5 - Free writing software designed by an author, not a salesman

For brainstorming, I like FreeMind Main Page - FreeMind

 

[Aosto]

For those interested in creating an entire world in 3D: Bryce 7 is free to download, for both Mac and Windows. For more info, feel free to check out:
What is Bryce

I am certainly going to check this out as soon as I set my desktop back up. I'm a blender fan, but it's not very intuitive. I also like using gimp for a lot of my stuff.

 

[Allerion]

Hello, I know this thread is a little out of date, but perhaps if you're looking for a good world-building setup you might be interested in this web-app currently in development. http://www.teriyeri.com]TeriYeri.

 

[Gurkhal]

To be honest I find the best software to be my mind and everything else is just a choice of medium in regards on how to express it. But if you're looking for some medium a couple of good ones have been suggested so far.

 

[Homicida]

I use Autodesk Sketchbook, which I got with my Bamboo tablet. I also use 3ds Max If I need a good 3d representation.

Hope this helps.

 

[Giant]

I have used the Fractal Mapper program in the past. They have a free version you can download. This enables all the map making features, you just can't save the map. But this lets you mess around with the program and see if it something that may suit your needs.

 

[JadedSidhe]

Even if you can't save the map, you could at least do a screen capture.