Hex Map Editor

I wanted an easy way to sketch out hex-tile maps for tabletop games without wrestling with a general-purpose drawing tool, so I built one myself. Hex Map Editor is a lightweight Rust application for drawing and exporting hexagonal grid maps, and it runs both as a native desktop app and directly in the browser.

Try it

stephens.ac/hex-map-editor • There is nothing to install, it runs straight in the browser.

Features

• Unlimited canvas. Create maps of any sized without fixed boundaries
• Smooth navigation. Pan freely around your map as you work
• Bucket fill. Quickly fill large areas, ideal for creaing terrain or cave layouts
• Layer system. Organize maps with multiple layers to easily represent zones, points of interes, or regions of terrain
• Map export. Export your finished map as a PNG

Upcoming features

• Perlin noise layers for adding texture, detail, or cover to a scene
• Resizable brush for faster placement of coarse detail
• Local saves so you can come back and keep editing later

How I built it

It's built on iced, a Rust GUI framework using an Elm Architecture. The same codebase compiles to two different targets: a native binary, and a WebAssembly bundle (built with trunk that renders through WebGL. File handling currently uses rusty file dialogs, a widely used cross-platform library. Getting one codebase to behave sensibly across both has been most of the actual work.

Open source

github.com/redpanda20/hex-map-editor

It's still an early, evolving project, but it's already replaced my old workflow. If you're curious how a Rust GUI app compiles down to both a desktop binary and a WASM/WebGL bundle, or want to file an issue or contribute, the repo's open.