Video Game / Fantasy Maps?

[Irkalla]

I have just finished the main geography for two variants of a map from one of my favorite JRPG's for the SNES, the 7th Saga (or Elnard in Japan.) It's noteworthy for being the most difficult JRPG on the system.

This game is set in a very dry, hot, and young world named Ticondera. Most of land is mountainous, with very little in the way of livable land. There are many chokepoints.

Anyway, here's what I've got. I'll upload them shortly after testing.

Present

Spoiler :

Past

Spoiler :

Anyway, I was wondering if perhaps there might be a need for fictional maps here.

 

[bane_]

Did you do it by hand? Tile by tile?!
If so, damn, I'm screwed.

I thought there had some kind of tool to make a rough translation from a map to world builder.

 

[bouncymischa]

Hmm... I should try this out sometime with one of my desert civs. At least the description of the world seems inspirational for it! I wonder how all the masses of mountains affects gameplay...

Did you do it by hand? Tile by tile?!
If so, damn, I'm screwed.

I thought there had some kind of tool to make a rough translation from a map to world builder.

Judging from hangman's map tutorial (here) it doesn't seem like there is. At least, he gave instructions about how to do it by hand, rather than any kind of conversion program.

 

[Irkalla]

I did it by hand. I have my secrets.

One problem I have. I set start locations myself. There are more locations than there are players. I was under the impression that the civilizations would randomly fall into the plots.

However, after 3 rounds of testing, I've noticed some things.

1. Only a certain set of starting points are given out.
   • This set is the same every game: Lemele, Bonro, Zellis, Pell, Guntz, Patrof, Bone, Dowaine, Pandam, and Eygus. On the Past map, Melenam replaces Lemele.
2. I, the human player, have always started in the same location: Guntz.
3. There is never any coal.
4. Spain needs some natural wonders.
5. The Netherlands could use some marsh, but they already have floodplains.
6. The Inca are god-tier because of the concentration of hills when hills are present. My favorite starting location I've had with them is Belaine.
7. Denmark seems to do very well around Pang. They can defend this area like no one else. It's funny because the game's Viking analogues are from Pang.
8. Polynesia does pretty well when starting at Eygus, Valenca, or Bugask.
9. Carthage, lol.

That said, how can I address some of these issues? Also, I'd ideally like to restrict starting locations to certain civilizations.

Also, here are the maps as they were in their original game.

 

[Irkalla]

So, I've taken away the starting locations. That said, what do you guys think of how it plays?

I've attached the current version of the present map. I find that it plays best with 12 civs and 18 city-states, or 10 and 20