T-Top Map Maker

For what I saw in the unregistered version, it's okay but very limited. T-Top map maker lets you make simple maps for RPGs. The lack of any information on the app is why I am reviewing the unregistered version I downloaded. (Are there more features if you register? Probably, but without more info I will not bother to find out.) Things that seem like MAYBE they improve with registration will be marked with **asterisks.**

Features: When opening the app, you have a canvas, some overhead tabs and pull-down menus.

First tab is Background. You have a choice of portrait or landscape, and a choice of background images. (Blank, grey, parchment, grass, water.) There is a button for "edit user picture" and a checkbox for Overlay User Picture. Clicking the button takes you to a page where you can draw on the map in black or white in 5 different line widths. (NOTE--White lines disappear after you draw them and only seem to serve to erase black lines.) **There is a 'Tools' button at the top of this page which does not appear to do anything at all when you click it.** You can cancel your drawing or apply it to go back to the previous page. Clicking the Overlay check box will let your drawing overwrite the map grid and images, otherwise the drawn lines go beneath them.

Second tab: Grid. You have a choice of No Grid, Solid Grid, Blurry Grid and Grey Grid. **The grid is only 8x12 squares, and I see no way to change this!** There is a checkbox to show clickable squares. Not sure why that's needed, every square seems clickable.

Third tab is Walls. Each grid square, you can set a line at the top, bottom, either side, slash, backslash, or any combination thereof. Once you have the pattern you want, you can click on any grid square to stamp it there.

Fourth tab is objects. You can stamp these objects into any grid square, including ones with Walls. (It will not delete the walls, but will overwrite previously stamped objects.) Choices are blank, tree, water, mountains, Stairs (N, S. E and W), sand, a rock, Castle 1, Castle 1 b/w, Castle 2 and Castle 3. There is an option to fill all remaining empty squares with the currently selected stamp. There is also an option to make the colored stamps translucent or black and white. (This will not make a colored background change.) **This is described as printer-friendly b/w in the description, though there are no print or export controls in evidence in the unregistered version.**

Last tab: DM objects. Lets you stamp a number from 1 to 10 on a map grid, or 'heroes,' a capital H in a circle. There is a click box to let you hide the DM objects, probably in order to print out a player version...if you could print it.

In brief, if the registered version has print and export capabilities, ability to adjust the grid for larger, more detailed maps, and ideally a few more stamps (Swamp? Farmland? Town? Indoor objects?) this could be a convenient tool for making simple RPG maps. It would also be good if there was a way to select an area to fill with the chosen stamp, instead of the choice of one or all. Have not decded whether to register yet...two bucks is two bucks, and I would like to know these things before paying.