I'm interested in creating a map for a world I've been creating. I've done some research to determine which software would suit me best, and it came down to Inkarnate, Campaign Cartographer, and Wonderdraft, and possibly Fractal Terrains. While it's good that I have three good options to choose from, I'd like someone with experience to give me advice. Here are things I would like to have with the software, in order of importance.
- Control over what goes where. Complete randomization is good for getting lots of detail very fast, but I don't have much if any control over the result. I need to be able to control the shapes of continents and add or remove mountains as I please.
- It isn't too hard to use well. I'm okay if I can't make complete continents with the click of a button, but I don't want to spend half an hour on one river.
- It can help me make things more realistic. This includes helping me decide which biomes are where, perhaps by showing rainfall and average temperatures, and taking the curvature of the world into account.
- It isn't too stylized, for lack of a better word. I want my world have a very natural and real feel, so I want my map to have a matter-of-fact tone. Having everything look like it was drawn by hand risks giving everything a little too much whimsy for my liking.
Currently, my ideal seems like it would be Fractal Generators 3, if I can control where the land is, paired with Campaign Cartographers 3+. What do you recommend?