Resources

Guides for game masters, developers, exports & licensing, and marketplace creators — one place, pick your topic below.

Launch confidence

Commercial use: built-in tile art is for painting and table/VTT export — not for redistributing Hexus stock tiles in a shipped commercial game. Exports & licensing →
VTT imports: start with known-good defaults in the VTT cheat sheet and misalignment fixes.
Beta status: see what is live vs in progress on launch status.

“I exported a hexcrawl as Universal VTT the same evening I signed up — grid alignment checked out in Foundry after the Pro bundle import.”

— Private beta tester (GM)

“The JSON export let me prototype overworld logic without redrawing — I pair it with our own art pipeline for the vertical slice.”

— Indie prototype lead (Developer)

“Quickstart templates got us to a playable frontier map before session zero. PNG for Discord, UVTT when we moved to the VTT.”

— Campaign organizer (GM)

How Hexus compares

Balanced comparisons for high-intent shoppers — strengths, trade-offs, and migration paths.

vs Hexer Browser hex painting, JSON export, marketplace packs vs Inkarnate Playable hexcrawls vs illustrated world maps vs Worldographer Cloud regional maps vs desktop world suites

Paint a hexcrawl. Export for your table.

Paint wilderness hex maps in your browser — add terrain, landmarks, and overlays, then export for print or your virtual tabletop.

Start painting free Try the editor

The demo editor saves locally only. Sign up for cloud saves and exports.

Why Hexus

Hexus is a hex-first regional map painter with JSON, PNG, and SVG export for hexcrawls — not a VTT, not an illustrated world builder. Paint playable wilderness fast, then export for your table or game pipeline.

Why GMs use Hexus

Fantasy map tools can be beautiful but slow when you only need a playable region.
Battlemap tools excel at rooms, not always sandbox wilderness crawls.
Generators give landmasses — Hexus helps you paint the geography in your head.

What you can do

Paint fast

Brush biomes, erase, flood fill, undo — cover a region in minutes.

Landmarks

Settlements, ruins, roads, rivers from built-in overlay sets.

Cloud saves

Keep campaign maps in numbered slots; Pro adds more.

VTT export

Universal VTT (.uvtt) free; Pro adds Foundry bundles and Roll20 setup helpers.

JSON backup

Export map data to reopen or archive in Hexus.

From blank grid to session-ready

Pick a template — Hexcrawl wilderness, island, or frontier starters.
Paint the frontier — Block forests, hills, water; place points of interest.
Export for play — UVTT for broad VTT tools (free), or Pro Foundry/Roll20 bundles for guided import.

Built-in tile art is for creating and playing maps in Hexus — not for redistributing or selling the artwork. Commercial games need your own or licensed marketplace art. See the Exports tab for licensing detail.

VTT export cheat sheet

Hexus exports flat top-down hex maps for tables and VTTs. Universal VTT (.uvtt) is free for all signed-in users. Foundry bundles and Roll20 helpers require Pro.

Pick a format in Export map: PNG/SVG for art, UVTT for broad VTT tools, Foundry bundle (Pro) for the Hexus Foundry module, or Roll20 helper (Pro) for semi-manual setup.
Foundry: install the hexus-importer module, export the Pro bundle, then Import from Hexus (PNG + .hexus.json).
Roll20: use the Pro helper bundle (PNG + UVTT + setup text). Import is semi-manual — follow the steps in the downloaded guide.
Player vs GM data: use Copy/Download player JSON (GM-only annotations stripped). Rivers live in edgeFeatures; overlays in overlayLayers.

Export	Best for
PNG / SVG	Manual VTT import, print, Discord — art is baked in
Universal VTT (.uvtt)	Foundry, AboveVTT, and other UVTT consumers (grid fidelity varies)
Foundry bundle (Pro)	Aligned hex grid + notes via the Hexus Foundry module
Roll20 helper (Pro)	PNG + UVTT + setup text — semi-manual import
Map JSON	Re-open in Hexus, custom fog/path tools, engine pipelines
Texture keys	Know which overlay assets a map references

VTT flat exports may look different from PNG when your map uses heavy effects or WebGL-only backgrounds. Built-in tile art is for table and VTT use — not for embedding Hexus stock tiles in a shipped commercial game. See exports & licensing for detail.

Known-good defaults

Setting	Recommended	Notes
Hex orientation	Pointy-top (Hexus default)	Match your VTT scene to pointy-top when importing UVTT or Foundry bundles.
Grid size (px per hex)	140–280 px for table play; 200–320 px for VTT zoom	Use Export map presets; avoid upscaling a tiny PNG — re-export at target resolution.
PNG file size	< 8 MB per map layer when possible	Large maps: use Standard/High resolution tiers before Ultra for VTT upload limits.
Foundry import	Pro bundle + `hexus-importer` module	Prefer bundle over manual PNG when you need aligned grid + notes payload.

Common misalignment fixes

Grid rotated or offset: confirm pointy-top in both Hexus export and VTT scene. Re-import UVTT instead of scaling a mis-sized PNG.
Map looks stretched: disable non-uniform resize in the VTT — use Alt/option constrained resize or re-export at the VTT’s native grid size.
Hex centers drift at map edges: align using the map bounding box center, not a corner landmark; Foundry bundle import handles this automatically.
Art differs from editor: VTT flat render skips some WebGL effects — compare against PNG export for ground truth.

Pointy-top hex map centered on the board — reference for VTT alignment — Center-align using the full map bounds — not a single corner hex.

Single hex overlay tile showing pointy-top orientation — Pointy-top hex orientation — match this in your VTT grid settings.

Need more detail? Re-read the defaults and fixes above, or ask via beta feedback with your VTT name and export format.