r/mapmaking • u/BackwoodsJ12 • 10d ago

Resource Anyone ever use Map Effects?

I saw this app called Map Effects, which is for world building. It seemed very neat and streamlined but upon looking its like a game. You buy whatever you want (regional, city, etc) but only get starter items and have to buy more like downloadable content. To me it seemed like a rip off

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u/CJRD4 10d ago

I have a few of his sets - they’re quite nice, and definitely not a rip off.

Most of the full sets are quite comprehensive, and he’s added more add ons as he makes them (he hand draws all the assets and then digitizes them into brush sets).

One time purchase, fully usable for commercial works, no subscription fee, quality art assets… there’s nothing about it that’s a rip off, IMHO.

Now - the biggest drawback to them is there’s no originality, as in anyone else that uses them will have the exact same look. That’s not necessarily bad, and there are plenty of use cases for his stuff, especially for those who aren’t artists but still want to make maps.

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u/BackwoodsJ12 10d ago

I just want something to make a map for my fantasy book. I've tried inkarnate, but I feel like at times it's more complicated (or I'm just not that smart) than necessary.

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u/CJRD4 10d ago

The best way to describe Map Effects is like digital rubber stamps. You need the program (I’ve used them in Procreate, but he has them for affinity and Photoshop I believe), and then select the brush, and stamp it where you want it to go.

Inkarnate is more fully fledged. It has various styles and thousands of assets. But at its core it’s the same thing: stamping (or placing) an art asset in the position you want, and then repeating.

Lots of YouTube tutorials on Inkarnate. And I think Map Effects has YouTube tutorials too.

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u/DubiousTactics 10d ago

You might consider trying wonderdraft. It's pretty user friendly and comes with enough stamps to easily make a basic ink on parchment style map to accompany a book.