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Loknar
Adventuring Hero
Missing Links
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posted March 17, 2006 02:44 PM |
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Edited by Loknar on 17 Mar 2006
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HoMM architecture: H5 goes baroque
Gerdash in Heroes V should remember of Heroes II:
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the homm2 surely wasn't close to purely medieval style. i would rather say that it was cartoonish or old computer game style with a clearly visible touch of medieval style. i.e. it had more of the medieval style influence than other cartoonish styles. and this is what some people, maybe even a lot of people, liked about homm2.
the cartoonish style or whatever it should be called was probably an artifact of the resolution, the touch of medieval style was the sucessful design decision.
I agree that the notion of H2 to H4 as being set in a certain historical period is basically wrong, at least considering architecture. It is set in a fantasy period (as made clear by the ancients in MM) and uses historical styles very loosely and incoherently. But it had few elements that contradicted the notion of "medieval style".
The H2 Necro town had almost nothing medieval (well, the castle perhaps). It was an odd mix of mainly 19th century elements (Mansion, Graveyard) and some others like the Pyramid. I can't make out a historical style for the Laboratory, but it's probably more Frankenstein than alchemist. The same goes for most of the factions (except the Knight castle). Many buildings (like the Mage Guild in the Warlock castle) make an ancient impression by their construction, but don't follow a distinguishable historical model.
H3 was more true to a medieval architectural style (especially Castle, again), though with many deviances like the Portal of Glory and the Mage Guild.
H4 had a very unhistorical architectural look again and if it quotes something historical, then more antique/classicistic (like the Temple of Light). But even Haven seems to avoid clearly recognizable styles. H4 also makes an unhistorical impression because the "towns" are just a collection of buildings and cannot display historical city models. 
H5 takes a different approach by assigning to the factions coherent architectural styles, as Alexander Mishulin, Creative Director of Nival, explains in the Development Diary Thread:
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Our artists have made a great job on studying different cultures and different periods of history. In creating new images of towns and creatures they took them as a base – say, human race reflects the period of Medieval Europe, and everything, from the look of the warriors to the architecture of the towns is more or less kept in these frames. You’ll meet such references to various cultural heritages in the game, starting with ancient myths and up to the Decadence of the beginning of the 20th century.
This not only applies to Haven, but also to Necropolis, which is obviously (French) Gothic (Dark Cathedral), with occasional 19th century enrichments (Lich Tower). These go very well together as our image of "medieval style" (which is anyway quite a coarse concept) is mostly taken from the middle ages hype in the 19th century. The countless spikes fit well into this, though I don't think they have a historical model. All this sums up to a very coherent architectural style and I think it is gorgeous. 
Now, the H5 Dungeon quite clearly follows a baroque style. It's not only the statues and the decoration, but also the symmetry and the principal constructive elements: Compare the portals of the Dungeon Tavern to those of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice (1687) (This was just the best pic I found, there would be lots of examples):
 
What do you think? Do you appreciate the more coherent styles? And, more controversial, I guess: Was it a good move to base an entire faction on a baroque - meaning: clearly post-medieval - style? (I haven't quite made up my mind what to think of it: It's innovative - but also a bit odd, and it could backfire if Gerdash is right that it was the medieval style that attracted a lot of people.)
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Miru
Supreme Hero
A leaf in the river of time
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posted March 18, 2006 08:38 PM |
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No its good as is. Poeple play this for strategy, some looks and action - but no one would decide to buy or not to buy based on architecture style
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I wish I were employed by a stupendous paragraph, with capitalized English words and expressions.
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Shauku83
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 19, 2006 01:25 AM |
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First off i'd like to say that both Haven and Necropolis towns look amazing. I just like staring at them  Medieval has been the thing, especially around the Knight/castle/Humans, and it really suits them. But I don't think all towns should be Medieval, it is enough that they are coherent in their own style. It is not like I immediately notice that baroque is more modern, and therefor looks weird. No, on the contrary I like it, to some extent. I prefer the classical towns by the looks, but there is a feeling in the Dungeon town that actually fits there.
And lastly, Dungeon is not as old as the other Towns, it was formed by Elves relatively short time ago. So the design can be also a bit more modern
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IYY
Responsible
Supreme Hero
REDACTED
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posted April 14, 2006 07:17 PM |
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I was always a fan of Baroque art and architecture, so of course I'm a bit biased about this. Anyway, I think that it's nice that they are mixing different times and cultures. That's what the HOMM and MM games were all about, ever since the first one! Mixing cultures, mythologies, dates... Everything is blended into one eclectic collage.
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friendofgunnar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
able to speed up time
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posted June 23, 2006 11:18 AM |
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Everytime I use the Loknar stealth edit I wonder where he has gone. Perhaps he is so stealthy that we do not even notice his posts anymore?
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alcibiades
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
of Gold Dragons
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posted June 23, 2006 11:32 AM |
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I think the concept of bringing architectural styles into the game works brilliantly. Whether they are old or modern doesn't really matter that much to me - I think the Baroque elements - which are fairly limited imo. - works fine with the Dungeon, and also the Inferno bears lots of 17th and 18th century central European fortification marks. I think this only gives a coherent fealing to the city layout, and I deffinitely feel this is something they should get along with - like implementing other ideas such as classical Greek / Atlantian (for Naga town).
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OOPMan
Adventuring Hero
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posted June 23, 2006 11:36 AM |
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This is a pretty interesting post in my opinion :-)
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It's all fun and games, until someone loses an eye...
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actionjack
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted June 23, 2006 06:53 PM |
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I am not getting what is the suggestion for this post...
The Architecture style of each town are meant to be kept differnt (though nothing modern), to give each town more favorit. The artist, of couse, take the style from each real world architecture and art style (as it would be pretty hard to start your own school of art this days), from differn region and time period. For most part, I love it, and each style fits great.
Anyway, as most will agree... Naga => Greek style... Dwarf => Norse Style... Orc => African/Native Indian/Mongolian style.
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted June 24, 2006 07:26 PM |
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I think Naga buildings could be more original and interesting, maybe like Atlantis stylings from Age of Myth (or is that Greek? - can't really find a good pic) or even more interesting
 
I'd just like it to be a bit more `marine` - maybe shell shapes or something; actually the AoM loading screen would be a good starting point. Hmmm, I have an image in my mind but I can't transfer it to words. Talking of images, if there are any artists out there it would be really brilliant to see some possible ideas!
EDIT (ignore the background stuff, it's LOTR modpack)
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TitaniumAlloy
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Professional
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posted June 25, 2006 08:27 AM |
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I think it's fine, having the factions so clear-cut is what I like about Heroes, and the styles just adds to that. The towns in H1 certainly weren't a patch on H3 towns, which followed a similar theme also. H2 improved, but still not as good, it makes it more realistic by weaving them together rather than the cut and paste look of previous towns, where it's a bunch of buildings on a background (which was inherent in H4 too). Even though you are building up a town by adding in structures as you go, H3 blends it in well, and I think H5 does too.
Sylvan is the most ancient style, being simply in the trees (obviously).
Then there's the ancient acadamy with the middle eastern/indian styles, temples, palaces and kremlin type buildings, and the Haven is basically the only real medieval town there is.
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John says to live above hell.
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted June 25, 2006 04:28 PM |
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I'm not sure Haven is all that mediaeval really. It seems more 'fantasy' generic ... hmm maybe not, it's difficult to say.
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sprigofmint
Tavern Dweller
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posted June 25, 2006 11:26 PM |
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Quote:
I think Naga buildings could be more original and interesting, maybe like Atlantis stylings from Age of Myth (or is that Greek? - can't really find a good pic) or even more interesting
I'd just like it to be a bit more `marine` - maybe shell shapes or something; actually the AoM loading screen would be a good starting point. Hmmm, I have an image in my mind but I can't transfer it to words. Talking of images, if there are any artists out there it would be really brilliant to see some possible ideas!
* Have you ever seen The Atlantis section of Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas? They do a great job incorporating classical architecture with a nautical theme!*
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We all make choices
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted June 27, 2006 11:32 PM |
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I hadn't, do you mean this, it's quite good:
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Wacks
Adventuring Hero
Low postCount
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posted June 28, 2006 02:18 PM |
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Edited by Wacks at 14:19, 28 Jun 2006.
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I also think the game should have some architectures of it's own, rather then rely on historical styles only.
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted June 28, 2006 09:53 PM |
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Yes, so long as it fits (especially if it fits...) - but it's much harder to do this I should think.
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