Quickstart

From an empty sea to a world you can fly over, in about ten minutes.

1. Start a world

1. Open the editor and click New world. You'll see an empty sea, with the Coastline tool picked.
2. Give it a name of its own in the Name field of the World tab on the right.

2. Draw the coast

1. Click around the sea to put down the coast point by point, or hold the mouse down and drag to draw it freehand.
2. Click the first point again (or press Enter) to close the coastline. ⌫ takes back the last point, and Esc starts again.
3. Draw a few more coastlines for islands if you like.

3. Paint the land

1. Pick Zone (Z) and choose a kind under it: pine forest, desert dunes, snow, swamp, a lake and so on.
2. Draw its outline the same way as the coast.
3. Pick Range (M) and click along the ridge where mountains should rise. Peak (P) puts down a single mountain, and its Volcano mode a smoking one.

4. Let a river find its way

1. Pick River and switch it to Trace (W).
2. Click in the mountains where the river should rise. It runs downhill by itself until it reaches the sea or another river.

5. Add towns and roads

1. Pick City (C) and click where a town should stand. In the Selection tab, choose whether it's a village, town, city or capital, and its style: medieval, nordic, desert, East Asian and more.
2. Pick Road and switch it to Route (E). Click on one town, then on the next: the road takes the easiest way between them. Keep clicking to carry it on, and press Esc to stop.

6. See it in 3D

1. Click Show in 3D in the top bar. Your world opens in a new tab: drag to turn it, scroll or pinch to zoom, and try night, rain and clouds.
2. Or switch the top bar from 2D to 3D to keep editing on the 3D map itself (see Edit in 3D).

Where next

Raise hills and carve valleys in Shape the ground, trace a map you've drawn before in Trace a map you already have, or sign in to keep your world and share it (Save, share and go back).