#052 GAD BA3 - P1: Basic Research

Straight away I knew what game I wanted to pick, but I've learnt that it is never good to jump into something head first without exploring all the alternatives. So I'm going to look at a few of my favourite games, ranging from fantasy, sci-fi and first person shooters.

Command and Conquer: Tiberian Wars
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberian Wars is a military science fiction real-time strategy game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It comes from the large franchie "Command & Conquer" often abbreviated as "C&C", which has been around since 1995. The original C&C game "Tiberian Dawn" was pretty much the first game I had ever played that was a real-time strategy game and I fell in love with instantly! The idea of building up your own military base, exactly how you like it and then battling an opponent using strategic tactics for an upper hand.

Over time, C&C has been based on several periods of time, which is why I am going to focus on the Tiberian Wars series which is based in 2047 which is partly why I chose it. The architectural is pretty similar to what we have today with a slight modern twist to it, the sort of thing that I like to design in my free time. The three different factions and multiple maps with civilian structures gives me a pretty wide base to start with, so so to begin here are a few images of the structures found in-game.

The Brotherhood of NOD:
So first up we have the Brotherhood of NOD faction, referred to as NOD. NOD is a highly militant religious cult, led by a man known only as Kane. NOD is known throughout the game as having a very large weapons research program, it might step over the line in saying this, but NOD reminds me slightly of the German Nazi's or the Russian USSR (which was used in the C&C game Red Alert). Nod tactics are highly radical and appear more unethical than GDI's, often showing little regard for human life. I am going to show a couple of the key buildings for NOD, they are the structures that are essential to build no matter what the players strategy.

NOD Construction Yard 

Here is the NOD Construction Yard, from this structure players can expand their base by building different structures. Without it, a player is crippled and it generally signifies the beginning of the players demise unless the player can build a new one via the War Factory.

NOD Power Plant

Here we have the NOD Power Plant, it produces power for the entire base. Without it players cannot build new units, structures of vehicles. Additionally, without power the bases defence structures cannot work, leaving the base without its defences.

NOD Tiberium Refinery
The next vital building is called a Tiberium Refinery. A Tiberium Refinery is a facility that refines harvested Tiberium and extracts the raw material from the crystals for processing and later manufacturing of buildings, vehicles and weapons for infantry.

Hand Of Nod
The Hand Of Nod is a structure that allows the player to produce infantry units. They are trained and stationed at this structure and make up the base units for the faction. 

NOD War Factory
This is the NOD War Factory, from this players can produce vehicle units such as Attack Bikes, Scorpion Tanks and Tiberium Harvester. It also players to build the NOD MCV (Mobile Construction Vehicle) which then deploys as the NOD Construction Yard.

That concludes the basic structures for NOD, there are many more but these particular ones are generally found in every base. As you can see they are of a pretty modern industrial style, using a lot of metal and very little concrete. Out of all the factions, NOD is probably one of the most high tech ones.


Global Defense Initiative (GDI):
The United Nations Global Defense Initiative (UNGDI), or Global Defense Initiative (GDI), is the global government of Earth. It is a formalized military branch of the United Nations and evolved into a supra-national state in its own right. GDI's initial goal was to preserve world order by combating global terrorism, epitomized by its nemesis the Brotherhood of Nod, but eventually outgrew its original mandate to become a world government. GDI is essentially the NATO of the game, founded by a number of nations and united under the same banner to uphold world peace. While they are technologically advanced due to the shared wealth and knowledge over nations, they hold value in human life which limits them to some degree... NOD on the other hand do a lot of genetic testing and destructive research that often puts the test subjects at risk.

GDI Construction Yard
Here is GDI's Construction Yard, it's purpose is exactly the same as the NOD Construction Yard, to expand a players base by giving players the ability to build different structures.

GDI Power Plant
This is the GDI Power Plant, again, it is the GDI alternative to NOD's Power Plant. It performs in exactly the same way, but is regarded as a "clean and efficient" version. It can be upgraded later on in the game to improve its power output/efficiency to provide an alternative to building more.

GDI Tiberium Refinery

This is the GDI Tiberium Refinery, again, pretty similar to the NOD refinery yet it employs much more human and safe ways to extract the energy from the tiberium crystals.

GDI Barracks
The GDI Barracks is a structure that allows the player to produce infantry units. They are trained and stationed at this structure and make up the base units for the faction.

GDI War Factory
The GDI War Factory allows the player to produce armour vehicle units such as Predator Tanks, Pitbulls and Juggernauts. It is essentially the GDI's version of the NOD War Factory.

GDI has a slightly less modern style to its buildings, they used a lot more common materials like concrete. Unlike NOD who melt down scrap metal for their structures and units, GDI have more access to the worlds materials. This is most likely why they use more present day materials like concrete and wood (seen when a unit is destroyed, constructed or sold).


SCRIN:
The Scrin, or Visitors, are a powerful and technologically advanced alien race that created the Tacitus. Calling Tiberium "Ichor", the Scrin have a dependence on the substance and will die if they do not receive Tiberium infusion or radiation from it. The Scrin are suspected to have been the ones who originally seeded Earth with Tiberium using a meteor, intending to harvest the mineral after it had reached a sufficient concentration by extracting it with Threshold Towers.

Scrin Drone Ship:

Drone Ships are slow, floating vessels that the Scrin use to expand their base. It is essentially the non-human version of the NOD and GDI Construction Yard.

Reactor:

The Scrin Reactor produces power for the alien faction, not much is known about how it produces power, only that it is of an organic nature. The Reactor is the alternative of the GDI and NOD Power Plant 's.

Extractor:

The extractor is the alternative to the Tiberium Refineries of the other factions. Similar to most of the Scrin units and structures, not much is known about how it functions or its efficiency.

Portal:

The portal is the counter-part of the Hand of Nod and GDI Barracks. However, instead of training units like its counter-part, it beams them in/down from space. Hence the main bulk of the structure being a portal.

Warp Sphere:

The Warp Sphere can best be described as the Scrin War Factory. It consists of a large 'gateway', similar to the Portal, it is a teleporter, that is able to transport Scrin ground vehicles from space down to the surface of the planet.

Scrin seems to be an organic technologically advanced alien. A lot of their structures look almost as if they are an actual being, or comprised by many of them. In some ways they remind me of the bugs from he film Starship Troops, especially some of the units with their multiple legs and pinchers. The building materials are unknown, but I would hazard a guess at saying they use some kind of metal mixed with a composite material. If I were to base my work on the Scrin architectural styles I would probably have the most freedom of interpretation.

Battlefield 3:

I've followed that Battlfield franchise for a long time, way back to the Battlefield 1942 up to Battlefield 3 (Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome, Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII, Battlefield Vietnam, Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2: Special Forces, Battlefield 2: Euro Force, Battlefield 2: Armored Fury, Battlefield 2142, Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, Battlefield 3, Batlefield 3: Back to Karkand). I have not missed a single PC release version of all the Battlefield games and I have collectors editions of most of them. Battlefield 2 was actually the first game that I began to modify, changing weapons, adding weapons from previous games, even creating larger maps comprised of several smaller ones. So for me a chance to study one of the games in detail and to replicate/create a new piece for it and have it count as work is something I am looking forwards to. With that said, I will be focusing on the architectural building styles in the most recent Battlefield game, Battlefield 3.

I could go about explaining the plot, but I know that If I do I will only end up writing much much more than I need to, so to prevent me getting carried away I will just quote the synopsis of the game from Wikipedia. While it is not necessary to do explain the plot of the game, I want to cover all bases for this project to show my passion and depth of research. (Feel free to skip over it)

"Set in 2014, Sgt. Blackburn leads a five-man squad on a mission to find and safely return a US squad investigating a possible IED in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, whose last known position was a market controlled by a hostile militia called the PLR. Several weeks later, the US sends Marines into Iran. Naval aviator and F-18 pilot Lt. Hawkins engages fighters over Iran and takes part in an air strike against Mehrabad Airport. In the aftermath of the air strikes, Blackburn and his squad are sent to Tehran to perform battle damage assessment and apprehend the leader of the PLR, Al-Bashir. While investigating an underground vault in the target's suspected location, Blackburn and his team learn that the PLR acquired Russian portable nuclear devices, and that two of the three devices are missing. Being overrun, and requesting back-up, an M1 Abrams convoy led by Sergeant Miller is deployed to extract Blackburn's team. Miller facilitates Blackburn's helicopter extraction, but is captured when waiting for a Quick Reaction Force. Miller is promptly executed by Solomon and Al-Bashir, with the event being filmed.

Later, Blackburn and his squad manage to capture Al-Bashir, who realizes Solomon betrayed him and reveals his plot to detonate the nukes in Paris and New York, before dying from the wounds he sustained in his capture. Blackburn's team also gets a lead on an arms dealer, Kaffarov, who was working with Solomon; however, while pursuing Kaffarov, the Americans encounter a large Russian force, who are also attempting to apprehend Kaffarov and are hostile towards the Americans. Almost all of Blackburn's squad is killed, while a Spetsnaz team led by Dima assaults Kaffarov's villa. Dima successfully interrogates Kaffarov, and reveals Solomon's plot to Blackburn.

Blackburn's commanding officer arrives and to save Dima's life and let him escape, Blackburn shoots the commanding officer. Due to this, Blackburn is captured and interrogated by agents within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and explains all of his previous operations to them in flashbacks. During Blackburn's capture, Dima attempts to stop the attack in Paris, but he is unsuccessful and his team is wounded in the resulting detonation. The CIA agents do not believe Blackburn's story, since Solomon is a CIA informant and there is no concrete proof of his involvement in the terrorist attacks. They instead believe that Russia is responsible for the attacks and that Dima had played Blackburn.

Left with no other option, Blackburn and surviving squad member Montes break out of captivity to stop the attack in New York. As a result of the chase after Solomon, Montes is killed but Blackburn manages to kill Solomon by hitting his head repeatedly with a brick as well as recovering the last nuclear device. In the epilogue, having been diagnosed with radiation poisoning, Dima writes about the efforts of both him and Blackburn to stop Solomon's plot. He then readies his gun when a knock is heard at his door."

Okay, perhaps a little bit too much background information... So lets get on with the more useful details. The game itself covers quiet a lot of locations and what is considered a relatively short campaign mode, maps set in Paris, Iran, New York, Oman and even the Persian Gulf. Ranging from dense urban zones, underground subways to snowy mountains.. This alone gives a pretty broad amount of architecture styles as they cover at least 50 different style of architecture ranging from the mid nineteenth century to the more recent twenty-first century. Below are a few examples:

Kharg Island: Based on the real world island off the coast of Iran.

Operation Metro: Based on the metro line in Paris.

Noshahr Canals: Based on the Iranian province of Noshahr in Northern Iran.

Golf Of Oman: Also known as the Sea of Oman, based on a real location dividing Pakistan and Iran.

Tehran Highway: Based around the capital of Iran, Tehran.

Seine Crossing: Based on the famous French crossing over the Seine.

Just to get a general picture, I did a bit of research into the architecture encountered in the six maps above. As you can imaginer the more urban maps have a great deal more, as they are comprised of many different buildings all built at different times when certain trends were in or out. Already I can see that I will have to focus on a specific area in a specific location, otherwise I will literally have to make a choice out of hundreds of styles.

When it comes to describing this games content I am completely lost for words. The quality and general attention to detail (there are a few hiccups) of the buildings and structures in the maps is amazing, particularly in the maps that are based on real life locations. Seine Crossing has to be one of my favourites as it mixes modern buildings from the current era to buildings dating back to the 1800's. You have a seamless transitions between Neoclassicism, Beaux (Parisian) and more modernist contemporary styles, each working together to build a confident and unique area. I think that If I do choose Battlefield 3 to reference from, I will most likely choose a neoclassicism style. I love how the buildings have tiny details on practically every surface, from the stone carvings around the borders of doors and windows to the recesses and decorations adorning the pillars. Saying that, the Beaux architecture in my opinion is a modern take on neoclassicism, so it will be another style that I will consider before I make my final verdict.


Runescape:
I'm probably going to get a lot of rub for this one from my followers and possibly even my tutors, but it has to be done. I haven't chosen it for its storyline, its community, or even its graphics... I've chosen it because for what it is, a browser based game powered by Java, it is an amazing accomplishment. Runescape allows people who have relatively low quality computers partake in what is called a "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game" (MMORPG) and a successful one at that.

Over the years the creators of Runescape, Jagex, have constantly upgraded and pushed the boundaries for what visual graphics are possible within a browser based game. Shown below are the more recent changes in comparison to each other, moving from left to right, the basic "low settings" for players with low end computers to the "high settings" for players with higher end computers (even using the high settings, a medium end computer can run it).

RuneScape takes place in the world of Gielinor, a medieval fantasy realm divided into different kingdoms, regions, and cities. There are a total of 10 regions, 16 islands, 39 cities and 71 villages, each with their own style of buildings, layout and scenery. It is common for cities and villages within a region to have similar architectural styles when structures are concerned, but throughout the game all the styles can be referenced back to a medieval movement.  Below I have created a comparison between 9 of the regions capital, the 10th region (the wilderness) has no capital.

1. Trollheim, 2. Gol'Tanoth, 3. Shilo Village, 4. Al Kharid, 5. Darkmeyer, 6. Rellekka, 7. Ardougne, 8. Varrock, 9. Priffdinas

As you can see, each capitol city has its own particular style. From carved stone, log huts, bamboo bridges to glass structures, decorated marble adorned with banners and large mud huts. This gives me a broad range of styles that I can choose from. Below I've just chosen a few locations in the game to show the different types of doorways and windows.

This one is of the jail house found in the south-east of Seers' Village. I chose it because it is one of the more decorated basic doors in the game (the pillars, fire pots and stairs).

These doors belong to the bank in east Falador. They are pretty much the typical styled door found in the eastern regions.

Slightly different here, the stepped style doors found in the desert region Al Kharid. I chose this as I just liked the little steps leading up to the porch and the wooden frame on the right side.

I think out of all the games, Runescape would be the easiest one to choose as its designs are fairly simple... This however, does not mean I will choose it; I like a challenge! But at the same time if I were to choose this as the game for this project I would approach it as the developers at Jagex would, maximum looks, minimum computing.


I'm glad that I looked into other games than my initial choice, as now I am considering changing my mind and doing my second choice. Reason being, it suits my style more and I will be happier to work on it. I guess I'm going to have to make a choice soon and hope it is the right one!