How To Make A Fantasy Map With Geography | Worldbuilding

Episode 8: Plate Tectonics, Wind Zones, and Ocean Currents
In this video we discuss how to make a working map for your worldbuilding project, creating plate tectonics, wind zones, and ocean currents, turning your planet from a floating rock in space into a habitable world with continents and climates.
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WORLDBUILDING CORNER: www.worldbuild...
Solar System Builder: www.worldbuild...
Experilous: experilous.com/...
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All music, images, and other media used in this video are available for commercial use with Creative Commons licensing, found on www.pixabay.com and www.pexels.com.
Continental Boundaries Graphics credit to: domdomegg
Last Glacial Maximum Vegetation Map credit to: Locoluis
Mid Atlantic Ridge Map credit to: Koba-chan
Red Sea Map credit to: European Space Agency
Relief Map - Caribbean credit to: Uwe Dedering
Relief Map - India credit to: Uwe Dedering
Relief Map - Japan credit to: Eric Gaba
Relief Map - USA East Coast credit to: TUBS

[@alexcopenhaver304]

Just to let you know, Experilous is down

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Awww that's a shame, I liked it as a resource. I'll have to find an alternative and will comment on this post again if I find one. Thank you for letting me know, I'll pin your comment so people can see.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

@@kirkkerman I'll have to update the link in the description, thank you!

[@ripley4118]

@@kirkkerman Link?

[@falloutrim-ti5gk]

@@kirkkerman Well, bad news since the link couldn't work, sucks honesty, I wanted to see what Experilous can do or see the internet archive version, but anyways, at least I have the GPlates program.

[@kirkkerman]

@@falloutrim-ti5gk It still works for me on internet archive, I just randomly picked one of the scans from 2019 and I don't seem to see any features missing. Running Mozilla on a Dell laptop, if that's relevant.

[@jasoncarter3182]

Something I think is worth mentioning is that earth like realism is not necessary for your world depending on how you envision it working. As long as the rules you create for it remain consistent you can do some funky things while still feeling right

[@Zaire82]

When the world has actual factual gods in it, you can usually just do whatever you want and blame it on them. Want a massive infinitely deep abyssal hole in the middle of the continent? Gods. Want a floating island that disobeys all known laws of physics? Gods. Want a world that isn't round? Gods. It's a really easy and cheap way to avoid properly explaining it, like in real life.

[@BenLafarge]

Not necessary, but ready to use just in case. Those videos shall be seen like a supermarket of worldbuilding guides. It concentrates everyone of them, giving you an easy way to equip yourself if ever needed. Of course if you try to get everything you'll ruin yourself (as in a massive loss of time instead of writing) but choose carefuly and you're set for all your needs.

[@jasoncarter3182]

@@BenLafarge yeah 100% right

[@drpigglesnuudelworte5209]

I like to know the consistent details even if they don’t show up in the story. Like, when I make a magic system, I know every single details of how it works but to the people who use it, it’s mysterious to those who use it because they don’t have the knowledge of biology and chemistry

[@wavewithus4081]

Spent about a week seriously researching historic paper mills and paper making in the 1100-1300's specifically because one of the cities is known for it's high quality paper production.. I think I really could manage a 1100's European paper mill, I know all the jobs and tasks and materials and building requirements lol. Even where to ideally build the damn building. I haven't even started writing the story. I do this to myself, really.

[@michaelarobinson5211]

Can't believe this channel isn't more popular. Great video.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thanks! Still starting out, stay tuned for more!

[@belverkungol]

Don't let his slick production skills fool you. The inaccuracies really let the channel down. Such as, early in the video he claims that Mars likely has plate tectonics while Venus does not. Except Mars doesn't have plate tectonics. He could have spent a few seconds verifying his own claims while writing the script. It makes no sense to me that he puts so much effort into production but so little into research... I'd much rather lower production but higher quality content.

[@C4MG1RL]

Something I've noticed with these kinds of video are thwt people forget that there are alternative methods that create mountains, islands, mountains, canyons, and valleys. Erosion, volcanic hotspots, and impact events are great examples. Hawaii is an example of a hotspot forming an island and the plate moving creates a chain of islands! There are some mountain ranges formed not by plate tectonics but from denser material surviving erosion better than the surrounding area, causing it to jut up into sometimes huge ranges! And of course the classic space rock impact. Even better is if you're doing a fantasy world, try thinking of what the magic does to these things! What happens along ley lines, if you have them, and where they converge? Are there creatures that can disrupt the natural flow of things in an area? What about the divines?

[@monirulislam1629]

This video taught me more geography than my entire school life

[@Haexxchen]

Man, a good teacher can do so much. Imagine, instead of just memorizing the shape of the earth from maps you do a half year project on just designing your own planet according to all the laws of physics. And in the end you have this huge cool project folder with different map layers of tectonics, volcanic activity, eroded mountain ranges, ocean relief, climate zones and likely vegetation, influence on body size of animals, .... You fucking made that cool thing. I bet most pupils would be so invested and proud of themselves. They would never forget most of the material, because their memorisation of it is bound by emotion (which is proven to exponentially improve our memory).

[@monirulislam1629]

0:50 All the Bengalies recognized this place

[@mosescosme8629]

I just read A Magical Society: Guide to Mapping yesterday and this is such an excellent review of the content covered in that free pdf.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Glad to hear the content here is consistent with other high-quality resources! Thank you for the feedback :)

[@beddo6662]

Another banger mate. I'm pretty excited for when you get to the inhabitants of this world. Can't wait!

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thanks! Won't have to wait too long now!

[@beanosswag488]

I made a fantasy world Mapgame 2 months ago and even though I used the same steps as shown in this video, I still love this kind of videos! Great work

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Great minds think alike haha! Thanks for the positive feedback, glad you are enjoying the videos :)

[@helioline]

Words can't express how handy this video has been for me, the tectonics-continent connection alone is worth its words _and_ visuals in gold... and I get to learn about how ocean currents work along the way too? You're a wonderful fount of knowledge man

[@PhilowenAster]

Something I had a huge amount of fun with while I was working on a large-scale world map for an epic fantasy series I'm working on was considering how the two continents had been moved around in the past, and how previous cataclysms and catastrophes shaped the world.

[@StoryGirl83]

This is amazing. I am so excited to go through all your videos as I have time and look at what you have for creating worlds.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thank you for the positive feedback! Welcome to the channel, lots more to come :)

[@RichardVaught]

I was not expecting Geology 101. Well done presenting a complex topic in an understandable way

[@gosnooky]

The issue with most fantasy maps that I see people make is having too many jagged coasts. Even in your example, the coasts of both continents are jagged and have lots of inlets and peninsulas. In reality, with continents with coastal plains on opposing sides of a mid-oceanic ridge - you see mostly smooth coastlines, such as the east coast of the US and west coast of Africa. From a full-planet view, most coasts would appear smooth, but more tectonic areas like the Mediterranean and The Philippines and Indonesia have more jagged coastlines and island groups.

[@sirmarton6782]

Not everyone wants to have a full accurate fantasy map to the real world

[@ojamarojo1301]

​@sirmarton6782 You're saying this in the comments section of a video series dedicated to using science and history to create more grounded fantasy settings, please try to have more self-awareness in the future. Especially when it's in response to someone offering simple constructive criticism, lol

[@sirmarton6782]

@@ojamarojo1301 ok, but my point is still valid. Imo the more grounded a fantasy world is, the less fun most people will have. Fantasy = Fiction. The most well-known fantasy worlds across the planet make sometimes no sense at all. Lastly I had absolutely no idea, this was a part of a serie with similar scientificly accurate how to build your world videos.

[@falloutrim-ti5gk]

Worldbuilding Corner, ever since I discovered your channel, you have been nothing but a big help for me in deciding on what to do and make for my Worldbuilding project. Thank you for the video's anyways; cheers.

[@Tysto]

I like the idea of just picking a spot on a real map and modifying the coastline to be unrecognizable. Then you get realistic mountain, river, and town locations for free.

[@breotan]

The people who make the Harn setting did this in their Kethira module. They go into detail about the plate tectonics, wind and ocean currents, and even astrology. It's a great example of how to do this.

[@maluse227]

god I have been looking for an easily digestible version of this info for ages, your a life saver my friend.

[@Zaire82]

I did this once, but just to be sure it looked as realistic as possible, I mentally simulated the tectonic shift for a bit. It tore up the starter continents and build new ones that didn't have the ridiculous "fantasy" aesthetic we often end up with when going straight for the end result. It was completely unnecessary, but I chose to do it anyway. However, sometimes the fantasy aesthetic is suited, like in fantasy for example.

[@Stephen-Fox]

Aside from the aesthetics, do you think there were benefits in taking that approach? I'm just wondering what the tangible benefits of simulating plate tectonics actually are, be it using GPlates or some other method. (the biggest con of 'oh my god that is so much work which unless you're specifically wanting to do a spec evo focused project - and very specific types of presenting that spec evo at that - is going to be entirely invisible to the audience, on the other hand, are obvious)

[@Zaire82]

@@Stephen-Fox I wouldn't know. I'm just a perfectionist who really wanted nice geography. I wasn't thinking about whether I needed it or why.

[@juliab3326]

​@@Stephen-FoxRealistic placement of mountain ranges, knowing how tall or flat your mountains get over time, generally knowing how your plates "grow" and how the elevations would look like over time, realistic placement of islands etc. It's just fun to create a planet this way, even though it's lots of work (which is why I ended up imagining it instead of using GPlates etc.).

[@rachaeljaeger9129]

I remember reading about plate tectonics in high school but didn't retain the information. In this video, you definitely come across as knowledgeable. I just hope I can apply it to the worlds I'm building! Thanks for taking the time to make this video.

[@WallNutBreaker524]

This channel is a GOLD MINE. 😊

[@theverdanthare]

Map To Globe is a good alternative! Both the existing and Beta are really cool (I think the Beta has options to show a moon and rings now). The existing site can also show different Map projections of your world, so you could always use that to help make a cool Map for your planet. I've used the site for years and its been my go to for mapping and fixing my planet's surface

[@reddst]

I think the other one is down, and only the Beta remains

[@micajahstewart9212]

Your series is so great! I started making a map for my fantasy world of Izitho and I created its version of the “New World” already. After watching this video it’ll be easier to create the islands and mountains of Izitho and you are one of the channels that got me inspired to create worlds, so thank you very much and keep up the great job! 😊

[@raif4350]

The ocean currents at the end was exactly what I wanted to know, thanks!

[@davidbrewer9030]

When I created worlds I start with mapping the tectonic plates, their borders, directions, etc. That gives me ideas as to where the mountains, volcanoes, rift zones, island chains are. Then that gives me ideas as to climate and weather patterns as well as ocean currents.

[@richardwells5390]

Great video. I've been doing research on my own, but this video summarizes it in an easy step-by-step way. Thank you.

[@williamsutton6738]

I love this very scientific form of worldbuilding, it’s bordering on sci-fi.

[@littlebigcomrade]

I’m so glad I’m going to school with GIS under my belt alongside graphic design as my major.

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

This is the exact method by which Artifexian does his maps, and thus has the exact same problem: No actual plate movement. You can't know where, for example, ore deposits are in your world if you don't know how old the parts are, or how species diversified in continents thurought the planet's history. This is because you draw all the plates, including the oceanic ones. If you only care for the continents, not the undelying plates, you could move them in Gplates (as, again, Artifexian recomends), but with the risk of producing unreal movements, but that's the issue since actually rendering all the plates with their movements would mean redrawing them at each step (one image for million year would mean at least 46 images from the planet's formation to the current era, and that is a LOT of images). My "solution" for this is drawing 1 set of plates, and then treating them as coveyor belts that drag the continents around. This model has the issue that the continents can't actually be dragged into an ocenic plates, but continents do move across oceans. That is a bug that I still have to fix.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I actually encountered this exact issue! My original solution was to draw 'snapshot' maps at 250, 500, 750 million years ago. This gives a reasonable amount of information for most worldbuilding projects. I decided in the end to not include that process in this video as it made things very long, and wanted to focus on how to make a workable modern map. I am going to cover where metals form later in the worldbuilding process, so this feedback is really helpful!

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

@@WorldbuildingCorner The problem I find with drawing different versions of the same map is the problem with accuracy: how do you know that the mountain at 12°E -3°N is the same mountain that 20 million years ago was at 0°W 87°S? If you could move the continents then you could argue that is the same mountain, but mountains arise not when 2 continents collide, but also when oceanic plates collide with continental ones. And then you ran into the same issue I mentioned above with the oceanic plates (that fill the "background" where the continents fill the "foreground"). You can't move the pieces of a puzzle if all the pieces are there, you need empty space to move things around... or if you could change the shape of the pieces, but that is a lot of work.

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

@@WorldbuildingCorner Another solution of the top of my head is just drawing 2 or 3 plates at the beginning of the planet's history, and the fracturing those plates over time. I don't know if the boundaries would change (and thus imply redrawing), though.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

@@daniel_rossy_explica Agreed. Reality is that unfortunately many of the most accurate methods require an enormous amount of work. If every mountain on the map was individually investigated to determine whether it was the same mountain that existed X years ago, that would be painstaking! I think for worldbuilders, there is a line in the sand of 'good enough', and it's up to each worldbuilder to determine where that line is for their own projects. I do like the idea of working with the continents sliding around the plates on the map though. I'll keep that thought in mind!

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

@@daniel_rossy_explica This was actually my original solution, but it was a LOT of work, and I figured it would make the process unreasonable for most people, so decided to exclude it.

[@PjotrFrank]

Wow, all 21 volumes of Time-Life's Enchanted World series. Very commendable!

[@electricelf-music]

This is the coolest creative thing I want to do now. ... Another project to the list lol

[@benjaminlehmann]

That was amazing. Please continue your great work!

[@marinomusico5768]

Amazing video, man! I just had one of the best Geography Lessons ever.

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

These videos are extremely helpful to me. Even though my world has Gods, and the Universe itself was created by Gods, it developed more along the Scientific Terms. The Gods mostly view the Galaxy like how we'd view a terrarium, something to care for and love, and maybe even change if needed, but mostly left to its own devices.

[@promiscuous5761]

Thank you.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Very welcome! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@Haexxchen]

A helpful video, if you don't want to stray from an earthlike planet to much. What I was missing (in the sense, taht it would have been awesome to learn from this vid, not that it had to be iincluded) were: - a little more detail about how rotation (especially fast) would affect the zones - how sunlight plays into climate zones and how planets with different rotaional angles could be affected (This is a bastard to research from a layman's perspective, as I just found out.)

[@The_Fanfic_Guy]

There is also an alternative, physical version you can do with a large plastic ball - cut out some globe-based world paper templates that would fit the ball, tape them temporarily onto the ball so they all fit then draw the tectonic plates on. It allows you to get a scale that feels realistic.

[@tolentarpay5464]

I really dig your giant novelty d20...

[@parkersanderson4156]

Planet 4546B is completely blue and it is pretty intresting

[@pblackcrow]

Don't forget the Ley lines

[@cjg8763]

Now I want a planet simulator where you define plate types, boundaries, and movements and press play and see what happens. Something like Universe Sandbox, with graphics similar to something from Google Earth (so you're playing with an actual globe rather than a flat map, maybe there can be a way to switch back and forth between globe and flat map). Maybe there are advanced modes to dictate the makeup of the planet, maybe even orbital distance, axial tilt, satellites or lack thereof, whatever, but it would be an Earth twin set as the default as far as all that stuff goes. It should also take approximate general weather patterns and climate and ocean and air currents into account and all of that fun stuff. Once it looks the way you like you can then save it as a static state globe/map (keeping the original simulation saved separately to run forward or backward in time as you so desire) and start labeling areas, naming continents and oceans and bays and seas and mountain ranges and forests and plains and deserts and jungles and rivers and lakes and archipelagos and volcanoes and etc. etc. etc. and there's your fantasy world. Maybe add another layer for drawing in political boundaries and locations of hamlets, towns, cities, capitols, etc. Bam. That actually sounds like it would be a LOT of fun to play with. Probably very power intensive too hahaha.

[@vitriolicAmaranth]

Hot tip for worldbuilders: If your world rotates in the opposite direction, just rotate the map 180 degrees. Which magnetic pole you call "north" and which "south" is arbitrary and planets undergo magnetic reversal where the two flip anyway. East and west are defined by which side the sun rises on, so the sun always rises in the east. A sphere is symmetrical so there's no such thing as "rotating the other way" unless you're doing a weird AU of Earth itself where it rotates the other way.

[@nerdwisdomyo9563]

2:44 i point anyone who’s interested into watching atlas pros video on venue’s topography, he talks about this and its a good watch

[@abhayrambaran718]

This video thought me more in 17 minutes than 3 years of geography

[@tjs200]

A lot of Earth's mountain ranges are no where near plate boundaries. The Rocky mountains and Appalachian Mountains of North America, the European Alps, the Caucasus mountains of West Asia, the Scottish highlands, Scandinavian mountains, Ural Mountains, Altai and Sayan Mountains of Siberia and the Transantarctic range are all 1,000km or more away from the nearest major plate boundary and many are near the center of the their respective continental plates. All of them were still formed due to plate tectonics but for a variety of reasons did not form at, or no longer exist near, the edge of a major plate.

[@moonmorth]

Hi love this video. And I think I find it useful when it comes to the continental shelves and Teutonic plates. Unfortunately everything else when it comes to whether I can head to throw out the window because my world is just so drastically weird.

[@vincentcleaver1925]

That river through a mountain range is wild

[@siriusbusiness7274]

ooooo thanks for this vid

[@blucomet5248]

How did you make your map on Wonderdraft look that beautiful... I have been trying to get my map (also using Wonderdraft) to look just as good and realistic as yours. Do you have any techniques for land brush size or roughness when creating all of those islands or determining the rigidness and bay like areas along the main continents. Keep up the amazing content!

[@rogersnick17]

Thank you sir

[@jessquinn6106]

This is great. But there is one thing semi out of place here: This works best with a world that's geographical sciences are like our own. One rarely considers that in some worlds, the growing of land formations, water bodies and weather may be very different than our own. Mountains may form due to other forces in the earth, Rivers may run differently due to what their source may be. Different forms of air currents may differ where deserts are formed. While some people feel coming up with a whole geological science for a RP world may be too much (and I so get that) you should never feel trapped in the same earth-based geology. Instead of the whole planet crust sitting on a ball of lava, maybe the world is more solid with lava tubes laced throughout the core. Let your imagination flow free.

[@somebodycalledmerlin4786]

I didn't even think of winds, but I have ocean travel in my story, so yeah, they are gonna be important. My planet does have an axial tilt bigger than 54° though, so the poles are tropical and there is a permanent ice ring around the equator, wonder how that would affect the winds.

[@mattiOTX]

One thing you should remember is the speed of planet rotation. Earth use to spin much faster it was not until it slowed down that the first life started to appear. They were colored Violet as that was the color required to absorb enough sunlight to exist. We have even found those species in the great lakes in north america. So the rotation of your planet is important. Too fast and instead of green plants you would need to adjust their color. Too slow and you have to adjust. There is actually a video on youtube that gets into the science behind it and I suggest looking into it if you want that kind of realism in your story.

[@Aerostarm]

earth didn't used to spin much faster, it only span about 10% slower than it does now 400 million years ago, this wouldnt make a big difference to the wind patterns

[@mattiOTX]

@@Aerostarm what? Would you mind retyping that because it's confusing. I enjoy watching science shows and I'm pretty sure the earth says were incredibly short and only started to grow longer after the moon slammed into earth also I don't think I mentioned anything about wind pattens, that's a strawman argument. I'm just not sure why you are making it. Are you trying to one up me?

[@Aerostarm]

@@mattiOTX this is what I meant to put. My apologies: earth didn't used to spin much faster, it only span about 10% faster than it does now 400 million years ago, this wouldnt make a big difference to the wind patterns

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

Exception is of the mafic and felsic type of rock is that on very old continental, shield plate, it would be basaltic, simply because they was no felsic rock at the time of it's formation.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Very true! Though I've tried to avoid needing to date every continent's emergence, as it's quite arduous. Basalt also commonly forms along divergent plate boundaries!

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

@@WorldbuildingCorner Thanks. I come from a place where basaltic rock is dominant, and so for me, it's just normal common knowledge.

[@GoT_17k]

I have to ask... is that your real voice or are you enunciating perfectly for videos? your speech is immaculate if you did not identify as Australian I would have had a hard time sussing it out In no way is this comment meant as a criticism

[@broEye1]

Might be interesting to have a world where there is no land particularly close to the equator. Like, if Asia and North America were a little further north and South America and Africa further south. The region between Africa and South America's southern tips and Antarctica is some of the most violent, because there's no land to stop the currents or reduce the constant buildup of waves. If there was a band right along the Easterlies that had no land, it would be a terribly dangerous journey to get between the South and North. Long journeys like that were already very treacherous and many merchants lived in a sort of limbo, uncertain whether their ships would sink, eliminating the entirety of their investment, or their ships would literally come in and make them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Imagine the uncertainty if those ships had to travel through an area with supersized waves even without the hurricanes.

[@scottpankonin1068]

Not sure if it has been asked, but did you consider axial tilt? In the vid you used simple geometric 30-degree ands for winds and currents, which does simplify things. However it probably only works because earth's tilt (23.5 degrees) is very close to that mark. Tilt directly effects insolation (how much and how direct the sunlight is at any given point on earth) and that also effects winds and currents. Greater or lesser tilt would definityely affect climate and the more the variace from our 23.5-degrees the greate r the difference.

[@thesuitablecommand]

If you have an island which doesn't interrupt any of the east/west ocean currents, does it have any particular ocean currents flowing around it? My world ended up with an island chain fully nested inside of the warm/cool ocean currents haha

[@Jesse_IDG]

Seems like this planet will become an ocean planet when that ice melts :D

[@kzeriar25]

I have thought about this possibility of the planet rotating clockwise (opposite to Earth's) since Artifexian's video on the topic, and realized this makes no sense. That only depends on the point of reference. If we had our maps "upside down", we would consider that Earth spins clockwise as well.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Hmm that's true! Though at some point you have to determine a map orientation and stick with it, and the vast majority of us humans use maps that are north facing. Earth has a prograde rotation which is the same direction as the sun, as do all planets in our solar system except Venus and Uranus, and so any planet that also has a prograde rotation with north facing maps will have the wind zones and ocean currents in the same layout as earth :)

[@kzeriar25]

@@WorldbuildingCorner ​yup, but it's important to remember that's it's all a matter of perspective. The people in my world actually draw their maps with the East on top for example. and I believe than even drawing a mirrored map, which would be an inaccurate representation of the planet from an external 3d point of view, wouldn't be wrong from the inhabitants' point of view

[@Ninjamanhammer]

Rotating the other way matters because it's orbiting the sun. Venus for instance rotates the opposite way, that's why it has very long days.

[@kzeriar25]

@@Ninjamanhammer oh right, a that planet rotates around itself towards the same direction as it's rotating towards its star is different from one in which those directions are opposite. You convinced me, though still, a planet with prograde motion around itself and around its star, works the same as a planet with both retrogade motion around itself and its star, right? Hope I didn't sound too confusing

[@Ninjamanhammer]

@@kzeriar25 Yes but I would assume everything else equal, so flipping the planet's rotation doesn't mean flipping its orbit.

[@sebo641]

How to secretly teach geography

[@firegoldpenguin]

what did you use to make that map

[@elizabethrobertson8759]

how did u decide where to put ur laitude? longatuide? lines? ive watched all ofthe biome vids and i wann aplace my lines but dont know where?

[@cbhills8501]

I'm really loving this series! I have a question about the wind currents though - does the description of Easterlies and Westerlies indicate which direction the wind is coming FROM rather than the direction the wind is going TO? It seems like the Easterlies are all flowing TOWARDS the west. Whereas the Westerlies are all flowing TOWARDS the east. Apologies if this is a silly question...

[@juliab3326]

Yeah, the naming is confusing (dumb, in my opinion). It refers to where the winds STEM FROM. Easterlies start in the EAST, going towards the west. Westerlies start in the WEST, going towards the east.

[@mellifluouslyanonymous]

how would you go about creating the plates/choosing their direction should I just randomize it?

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I am by no means a 'tectonic expert', but my research has shown that there doesn't seem to be a consensus for how plate directionality is determined in real-life, let alone in fiction. For my projects, I randomise the direction the plates move in, but try to have at least one major divergence, and one major convergence, which provides at least one large ocean, and once large continent.

[@scolioscraps8612]

I know this video is a little older but I’m on the “plate tectonic step”of my world building and GPlates is really unintuitive and honestly a build more in depth than I feel I need for my story. I was hoping experilous was the answer but as has been said it still doesn’t work

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I 100% agree with GPlates not being intuitive, I tried to use it following Artifexian's channel, and just haven't gotten my head around it. Very honestly, you can do most of the planning on a 2D plane and the results will still work for a build that isn't heavily in-depth. Someone mentioned experilous works using the wayback machine, if that helps at all!

[@junofall]

@@WorldbuildingCorner Honestly I don't think GPlates is worth the effort, depending on your setting. I've spent a whole 2 weeks with the damn software and got the hang of it eventually, but it's just a visualisation tool, I feel like Artifexian misrepresented what GPlates was as he called, and still calls the tool a 'simulator', but it's a visualisation tool with some neat vertex tracking. You could do the same thing just drawing onto a sphere in Blender to get rough boundaries and landmass shapes.😂

[@iolaosmoon5585]

Question. I'm pretty new at writing epic fantasy and I'm just wondering if it is truly necessary to know all this in order to create my fictional world?

[@murkay3360]

Definitely not, it’s more for people who want to have these foundations. Ultimately it comes down to what rules you set. I suppose it comes down to what you want, for example what matters to you and if you’re writing for a reading/game audience and what kind of reader/gamer you want to appeal to. Most, nearly all people don’t think about the science to this extent or for example if you’re going to have gods or a magic system, the rules of the universe are up to speculation, and often an audience will suspend their disbelief.

[@Gregatron13]

I can't help but wonder what 15th century exploration and colonization would have been like if the winds were reversed.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

It's entirely plausible that in such a setting, the Americas would have been found by Asian explorers rather than European explorers. Also, Australia may have been found earlier. Very cool!

[@simix6915]

Got two fictional worlds. One's a planet, the other is a massive rectangle with two habitable sides. One has a star as a light and a heat source and a cool red smaller planet in a binary system, the other needs giant glassy orbs akin to enormous lightbulbs to do the job instead. Simiks and Igus were the results of normal planetary formation, and the Siskuite was built by funny-looking gods and demons that wanted to do something else than just float in space and do nothing. As such, both sides of the Siskuite have unnatural geography (like a lot of fantasy maps tend to look), whilst the ugly ball that is my pfp got the plate tectonics that make visualizing and putting it on paper exacerbly painful ("In order to get mountains here, that piece of the continent of Akorple must be going this way, but it creates complications with that big peninsula that I never named which ripped from Armènokra and then rammed back into it at a slightly different angle that is necessary to create this shallow sea and to keep this long nice ocean trench and coastal ranges. Oh yeah, and all the other collision areas it could create, I must think about that too." is the definition of painful here)

[@Aztesticals]

Yo so can anyone help me figure out how a set of mountains could form at 80° angles with legit plates. I should be able to do this but im scatterbrained after detailing out a scale map of a region the size of europe and northern africa made out of 6 sheets of A12 5mm squares at 1 5x5mm = 1 25×25miles

[@cyanrhein1463]

I really like everything described here, but I have a flat world and I don't understand how to work with it 😩

[@ZomBeeNature]

I object to your world having land blocking water north to south so there is no circulation around the continents

[@nekokoishi]

I supposed I wanna figure out a way to make a world that is almost the same as earth but the geography has its water and land inversed. Although I think many would've tried to figure that out by now so I might just need to research for it xd Kinda want this type of world for a different story I had where the magic system is fueled by water.

[@loganskiwyse7823]

I realize your trying to simplify a very complex topic for the purposes of game use. However, if your trying for serious world building it's going to get a lot more complicated very quickly. Plates don't actually form as you describe. You start with very thin material that isn't truly a solid first. These buckle, bend and fold onto each other as they melt from the underside. Over time they form a series of adjacent thicker material on the side of the planet that has cooled faster than the rest. Often this should be at both poles however Axis, Orbit and all other objects in orbit can affect this of both the planet and the parent system as a whole. Continue the cooling process at the top but now add in convection layers for the material inside the planet. Most of the heavy ores are sinking out of range far into the inner cores. For that you need material falling down onto the planet or being brought up via volcanism. And then somehow filtered into ore concentrations. Which your video on does a better job of explaining. Anyway, as you can see the process is far more tedious and time consuming than models can currently even simulate loosely with high end computers. Too keep it simple for world building backtrack instead of moving forward. We don't need the first few billion years really but only the portions that provide the most information for world building. Start where you did for the plates, define them as ocean or continental. Lay out where the oceanic rifts are currently at as well as where Oceanic subduction is occurring. Continental plates tend to move towards subduction and are pulled more than they are pushed. Reverse this to follow the idea below. Now move the continental plates backwards and see where they unveil older faults in the plates. Further back you go, more you can play with the world's timeline as well as place mineral deposits. It's a good idea to look into rift valley formation as well as into how hotspots actually work. As both these can be good sources for resources provide unique geological features to help inspire the world into a living realm. Once you have the basic movements figured out play it forward again but now use the interactions to guide your terrain building.

[@Bojack361]

I want to commission a world map of this quality for my fantasy novel

[@VahdaMage]

Experilous link 404 not found

[@loirigudo]

What would be the geological consequences of plates moving really fast? Say, instead of taking 2 million years (guess) for india to move into the asian landmass it took 2 thousand only?

[@FenrizNNN]

Way too much volcanic activity, which would quickly make the planet uninhabitable.

[@Aerostarm]

that is physically impossible

[@amehak1922]

You have the winds backwards

[@benpetzold-kb9ik]

Right of the top I love your Videos, but never actually saw one, I downloaded them to listen to them like Audiobooks during work. So when I heard you're an Aussie I imeddiately imagined you with a Crocodile Dandy Hat, so im Sortiment of disappointed now 😅😂

[@CaramujoHist]

Damn

[@HerzogZosa]

i just wanted to draw a map. now im a bit scared XD

[@ImIndavyjoneslocker]

same here man. all of this stuff goes over my head & i’m just tryna make a fantasy map

[@luminecorce7578]

Just for me 10:34 10:35

[@adriennegormley9358]

Ill.look at the earlier video later, but as someone who grew up with a geology hobbyist mother and me studying both astronomy in university, this subject is one thatcalways annoyed me about many sf or fantasy works i read. Too many ive seen draw their continents to fit their story. Me, I prefer my story fit my world. Its bc of my geography studies (back in the 70s lol), i ended up preferring maps like Goode's broken homolosine, simply bc they provide the LEAST distortion on a 2D map of what is essentially a 3D ball. And, yeah, im familiar plate boundaries. I live less than 10.miles from the San Andreas fault, and for a few years in the mid 70s i commuted daily from a town west of the fault to a factory in a city east of the fault.

[@Aerostarm]

what is your point?

[@nicolashansen2546]

My planet has fewer plate boundaries, and smaller oceans. Is it true that the less water a planet has, the less plate boundaries it has?

[@Aerostarm]

no

[@1rishpotat0]

Honestly what I hate about most modern fantasy maps is that people always use plate tectonics like it's science, but it's literally never been proven. Nice lookin' map though

[@KromKrausser]

I get dizzy with all your head movement to pretend not to read in a screen.

[@theperson8275]

Adaption not Evolution. There is no proof of mutation causing beneficial changes.

[@vinx.909]

"A well accepted scientific theory" uhm, i don't think something can be a scientific theory without being well accepted.

[@G._-]

You talk about theory as though it is not fact. You may want to research the differences between a scientific theory, a scientific hypothesis, and a philosophical theory. You are using the definition of a philosophical theory for a scientific application.

[@Aerostarm]

no he isnt

[@G._-]

@@Aerostarm nice.