Scenario Forge

Scenario Forge is a scenario-first map creation workbench for alternate history, strategy modding, and geopolitical storytelling. Open the public demo to launch the editor, follow the guide, start from TNO 1962, and export a PNG/JPG or editable project snapshot. HGO 1936 is a developer/local preview, and Cloud Saves/community are local backend previews.

Live Demo · Report Bug · 简体中文

What It Does

Scenario Forge gives creators one place to choose a world state, edit political control, tune the map's visual style, add strategic overlays, inspect transport layers, and export a polished map image or reusable project file.

• Scenario baselines: start from Blank Map, Modern World, HOI4 1936, HOI4 1939, or TNO 1962. HGO 1936 ships as a developer/local preview and appears separately from the five public baselines.
• Political editing: repaint ownership and controller state, inspect split ownership, and switch between ownership, controller, and frontline views.
• Map appearance: tune oceans, borders, parent borders, terrain, urban areas, city points, rivers, textures, day-night shading, and reference images.
• Strategic markup: add legends, frontlines, operational lines, operation graphics, labels, and unit-counter style overlays.
• Transport workbench: inspect roads and rail as the strongest public transport layers, with airports, ports, mineral resources, energy facilities, industrial land, logistics hubs, and layer order available through overview or workbench previews.
• Bilingual export workflow: use English or Simplified Chinese, save editable project files, and export PNG/JPG presentation snapshots at 1x-4x scale.

Try the Public Demo in 5 Steps

1. Open the Live Demo.
2. From the landing page, enter the editor/demo workspace.
3. Open the guided path directly at /app/?view=guide.
4. TNO 1962 is the default public scenario path; you can also switch among Blank Map, Modern World, HOI4 1936, HOI4 1939, and TNO 1962.
5. Open Project / Export and download a PNG/JPG snapshot or save an editable project JSON.

Open or Download Sample Projects

The landing page links checked-in starter projects for the public baselines. Use /app/?sample=<sample-id>&view=guide to open one directly in the editor with a sample-aware Guide that names the editable project, lists the five public starter samples, shows the recommended export path, and links export plus the original JSON download. Switching samples inside the Guide reuses the checked-in manifest and asks for confirmation before replacing unsaved work; after a successful switch, the URL updates to the selected sample. The Project tab also confirms the sample load, and Export Workbench repeats the loaded sample plus recommended output. The editable project JSON files and recommendation metadata are listed in landing/assets/sample-runs.json.

• TNO 1962 Atlantropa briefing: open in editor · tno-1962-atlantropa-briefing.project.json
• HOI4 1936 Europe briefing: open in editor · hoi4-1936-europe-briefing.project.json
• HOI4 1939 Europe switch: open in editor · hoi4-1939-europe-switch.project.json
• Modern World Japan corridor: open in editor · modern-world-japan-corridor.project.json
• Blank Map starter: open in editor · blank-base-starter.project.json

Current Public Surface

Surface	Public demo status	Local/developer boundary
Public scenario baselines	Online: Blank Map, Modern World, HOI4 1936, HOI4 1939, and TNO 1962.	HGO 1936 remains a developer/local preview and appears separately from the five public baselines.
HGO runtime preview	Developer/local only.	Used for HOI4-style country identity, palette, flag, and raster-render validation.
Transport workbench	Online overview/workbench: roads and rail are the strongest public paths; airports and ports provide overview context.	Mineral resources, energy, industry, and logistics remain preview/workbench families while coverage grows.
Export workbench	Online.	Exports PNG/JPG snapshots at 1x-4x scale and saves editable project JSON.
Cloud Saves/community	Local backend preview.	Start start_backend_preview.bat to try account sessions, Cloud Saves, posts, downloads, comments, reports, and admin moderation flows.
Data provenance	Source-backed and documented.	Detailed records live in data/source_ledger.json, .provenance.json files under data/, transport recipes under data/transport_layers/, and generated asset source records.

See It In Action

Political scenario maps Switch baselines, review borders, and keep the map readable while editing.	Transport workbench Inspect source-backed roads, rail, airports, ports, and other planning layers.
Presentation-ready styles Combine borders, terrain, rivers, city lights, and texture controls into a clean map look.	Layered export controls Adjust image output, choose formats, reorder layers, and prepare final snapshots.

Who It Is For

• Alternate-history creators who need fast, editable political maps.
• HOI4, TNO, Kaiserreich, and Red Flood modders exploring world-state ideas.
• Scenario and campaign designers preparing map-led concepts.
• Writers, researchers, and presenters who need a clear geopolitical visual.
• Map builders who want saved projects, style control, and clean exports in the same workspace.

Try It

Online Demo

Open the live build:

• https://raederhans.github.io/scenario-forge/

The online version is the best starting point for scenario editing, appearance tuning, project files, and exports. Use the 5-step path above when you want a quick public-demo success run.

Local Editor

Prerequisites:

• Windows is the supported path for the included .bat launchers.
• Python 3 should be available through py -3 or python.
• The first launch can take longer while local data and runtime files are prepared.

Run the full local editor:

start_dev.bat

Start faster after local data has already been built:

start_dev.bat fast

Start with a clean runtime session:

start_dev.bat fresh

Local Backend Preview

Open the local backend and community preview:

start_backend_preview.bat

This local mode stores preview backend data under .runtime/backend/ on your machine. It is useful for trying Cloud Saves, public community posts, downloads, comments, reports, and admin moderation flows.

Typical Workflow

1. Choose a scenario baseline.
2. Edit ownership, controller, or frontline state.
3. Adjust visual layers such as borders, water, terrain, cities, rivers, transport, and reference imagery.
4. Add presentation elements such as legends, operational lines, unit counters, labels, and operation graphics.
5. Save an editable project JSON, then export the final PNG/JPG presentation snapshot.

Feature Status

The main editor path is ready for normal map creation: scenario switching, political edits, appearance controls, project save/load, strategic annotations, and exports.

Some larger systems are available as previews:

• Cloud Saves and community: available through the local backend preview.
• Transport workbench: source-backed and cached transport data is available across multiple categories. Roads and rail are the strongest public map paths; airports and ports feed overview context; mineral resources, energy, industry, and logistics remain workbench/preview families while coverage grows.
• HGO runtime preview: a developer/local preview for country identity, palette, flag, and raster-render validation.

Complete Capability Matrix

Area	What you can do
Scenario maps	Start from Blank Map, Modern World, HOI4 1936, HOI4 1939, or TNO 1962. HGO 1936 appears as a developer/local preview.
Political editing	Repaint ownership and controller state, inspect split ownership, and work across ownership, controller, and frontline views.
Visual style	Tune oceans, borders, parent borders, physical regions, urban areas, city points, rivers, textures, day-night shading, and reference images.
Strategic presentation	Add legends, frontlines, operational lines, operation graphics, labels, and unit-counter style overlays.
Transport context	Explore roads and rail as the strongest public layers, plus airports, ports, mineral resources, energy facilities, industrial land, logistics hubs, and layer ordering through overview or workbench previews.
Export workflow	Export PNG/JPG presentation snapshots at 1x-4x scale, adjust image brightness/contrast/saturation, and manage layer order.
Project files	Save an editable project JSON with scenario, appearance, transport, strategic annotations, reference alignment, and export settings.
Community preview	In local backend mode, test account sessions, Cloud Saves, publishing, community downloads, comments, reports, and admin review tools.
Modding preview	In developer/local preview mode, use HGO runtime preview and palette tools to validate HOI4-style country identity, flags, colors, and rendering.
Localization	Use the interface in English or Simplified Chinese.

Data Sources and Provenance

Scenario Forge combines public geographic and reference datasets with project-specific derived assets. The main source families include:

Source	Used for
Natural Earth	Base geography, countries, coastlines, and small-scale reference layers.
geoBoundaries	Administrative boundary reference data.
GeoNames	Place names and settlement reference data.
NOAA ETOPO 2022	Global relief, bathymetry, and physical terrain context.
NASA Black Marble	Night lights and city-light texture context.
OpenStreetMap	Roads, rail, facilities, and other transport/context features.
Geofabrik	Regional OpenStreetMap extracts used for transport workbench data.
Japanese MLIT road data (N06)	Japan road hardening and transport preview reference data.

Detailed provenance appears in data/source_ledger.json, .provenance.json files under data/, transport source recipes under data/transport_layers/, and generated asset source records.

Project Info

The project code and documentation are available under the MIT License. Third-party datasets and derived assets keep their original source terms and provenance records.

Maintained by @raederhans.

If something breaks, looks wrong, or feels inconsistent, please open an issue:

• https://github.com/raederhans/scenario-forge/issues