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This castle creator tool allows you to create a relatively simple, (mostly) 2D view of a castle, as well as towns, settlements, outposts, and anything else your imagination might come up with. You could even use this tool in combination with the town creator tool, as you can create a top down view with that, and the various side views with this tool.
At the moment this tool is focused on walls, battlements, various buildings, and some roof styles. If there's a demand for more, more will definitely be added in the future. Perhaps small doodads like cranes, crates, fires, and market stands, for example. More colors are also an option. But for now there's plenty to play around with, and a whole lot you can create. It's an easy to use tool as well, but below are the instructions in more detail in case you need them.
The tool is mostly very straight forward. You click on the categories to view the various pieces and then click on a piece to add it to the map. Once it's on the map you can resize the piece, drag it around, delete it and even copy it.
When you click on a piece you've added to the map not only will it be selected, and thus gain an orange border, the piece will also be moved on top of all other pieces within that same layer. This way you don't have to worry about which item you add first as the order of layering can be changed at all times.
By toggling 'grid snap' on all pieces will stick to a grid when you move them. This means you have less freedom in terms of moving your pieces around, but it does mean it becomes much easier to keep all the pieces on the same level, which is very useful when creating straight walls for example.
To resize a piece, you simply drag the sides or the little arrow icon in the bottom right corner. You can toggle being able to resize the piece on and off by clicking the 'toggle resize'. This way you won't accidentally resize images when you don't want to.
By clicking the 'copy selected' button an exact copy of the item you've selected will be placed on top of that same item. This way it's far easier to add items of the same size to your map.
To get rid of a single piece simply select it and click the 'delete selected' button. To clear an entire layer click the 'clear layer' button and to get rid of everything simply click the 'clear all' layer.
There are 3 layers on which you can add map pieces. The bottom one is selected by default, but there's 2 more above it and 1 below it. The one below it is a background layer however and only used for colors and images (more on that later).
The point of the layers is to make it easier to add images on top of each other. For example, the bottom layer could be used for the furthest castle wall. The middle layer for homes and buildings, and the top layer for the closest castle wall. The different layers help with making sure there aren't too many elements at one spot you have to deal with.
Each layer can also be toggled, this makes accessing the elements on the lower layers much easier.
There are 2 input fields for the background layer. The first is the image input in which you can add any url in order to add an image hosted online to the generator. This way you can easily add custom roads and other elements to your map and thus have more customization options.
If you'd rather stick with one solid color, perhaps a sandy desert or a field of grass, simply click the color input field and select the color you wish (only works in modern browsers).
If you need more building space you can use the set width and set height input fields and buttons to change the width and height of the canvas. This also helps with making sure your background image fits better.
As of right now there are 4 building colors, and 5 roof colors to pick from. By clicking on the little color icons all the relevant images in the menu will change to the corresponding color.
Up to 4 castles can be saved using the save buttons. Once saved, you can load the saved castle any time you want even after closing your browser. The castle is saved locally in your browser however, so if you're using incognito mode or if you clear your cache completely you will likely lose your castle again. I'd recommend creating a backup of your castle as a screenshot, this way you could always set it as a background again and continue building on top of this image.
If you wish to save the castle you've created, all you have to do is click the 'Turn into image' button and an image will appear below it that looks exactly like what you've created. The only difference being that this is a single image, rather than a whole lot of separate images. Simply right click it, select 'save as' and name it what you wish. That's all there is to it.
It's also possible to save your castle data locally. Simply click the "Save local" button to have the code create a text file with all the castle code in it, then click on the download link to download it directly to your computer. Now you can use the "Choose file" field to upload your castle data and use it in the future. This method makes sure there's no risk of losing all your data in case your browser data is wiped, for example, but it does mean keeping track of your downloaded file.
As mentioned, this tool is meant mostly as a source of inspiration, but the images can be used for non-commercial projects as well, as long as it isn't another castle creator or other similar piece of work.
As for commercial projects, it's fine to use a finished castle in a book, pod-cast, or other piece of work as a visual aid. Credit will be required, and very much appreciated. Simply crediting the site is enough. You're not allowed to use the images in a different tool, resell them, pass them off as your own, and so on. If you're unsure if your use is allowed, send me a message. I don't bite.