My Modern Gaming Architecture: The Black Citadel

During last week’s retrospective on my influences from gaming as a child, I made reference to a piece of design that encapsulates my interests in the industrial aesthetic and engineered feel in the Form of the Black Citadel.  Today I want to try and describe what I think makes this special to me but first, a little context to its existence…

The Black Citadel is the main city for a bestial race called the Charr within the Guild Wars series.  The site in question originally played host to a large Human nation called Ascalon, which protected itself against the Charr through the construction of a large wall amongst other things.  It was an ongoing battle, but the Charr used a great power to cause great amounts of devastation to the land which became known as the Searing.  Over time, the Charr moved into the lands and construction of the Black Citadel started over the ruined remains of Rin, becoming the main post for the Iron Legion (one of 4 recognised Legion with the others being Ash, Blood and the opposing Fire).  In Guild Wars 2, players get to visit the Black Citadel as one of 5 racial cities and one neutral city where all are available to explore its contents. 

To come at the Citadel from a broad point, it’s mass of being this vast piece of connected metal and ongoing mechanical sound perfectly encapsulates the Iron Legion’s ethos of engineering, weaponry and pragmatic thinking while having a certain sense of beauty in the finer details.  It is my belief that pure function construction finds ways to create art through it just working; a little bit like Victorian age railway archways or similarly-aged greenhouses showcasing an aspiration to let people know it can be done.  You could imagine the Charr being proud of this structure, but due to their nature it may be to it being a continual reminder of victory over a previous enemy. 

Here are some words on specific parts of the Citadel that I find great. 

The Core

The Black Citadel and its main core looking from the Lion's Arch Portal.  Screenshot taken 30/03/2015

 As I looked to get setup to take these screenshots, I had to take my character from Lion’s Arch (the neutral city) to the Citadel via a portal.  This meant that my entrance to the Citadel was not via the conventional front gates that sit lower down on the ground but a higher side-entrance that roughly sits in the middle in terms of height.  Regardless of view, it presents you with a massive core that combines many sheets of metal to create a sphere that dominates the landscape.  Its exterior which creates this look is a suspended form that comes from a mass of supports that are dimly illuminated by the afternoon sunlight and torch-poles, giving it an almost golden look in the reflection.  This very much reminds me of visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris during my first year university trip, where during the late evening I stood underneath the tower looking up through the structure.  Due to lighting, the tower appeared orange in colour giving it an odd glow that I thought was brilliant. 

The exposed structure that keeps the shell of the core in place.  Screenshot taken 30/03/2015

 Going back to the core itself, the look of it makes me think of two particular things.  Firstly (and more relevant to my thoughts) it makes me think of and jet engine or similar rotary device that has been put into an explode view while it’s been stopped in time.  The Citadel features quite a few fans, propellers and doors that rotate in a similar fashion so it all fits into the aesthetic of an industrial feel.  The other image I get from this structure is that of astronomy as the orange pod-like blips in this context could represent planets revolving around a central being like a sun.  Although I do see this, I personally don’t feel much connection with the general aesthetic. 

Beneath the Eiffel Tower at night presents a similar feeling to the framework in the Black Citadel.  Photo taken 02/2009

The Bane / Ruins

The ruins being overlooked by the ever present Charr stronghold.  Screenshot taken 30/03/2015

To the rear of the Citadel the player is able to interact with areas that look to transition the space between the older Human ruins and ever-present Charr settlement.  The more obvious place for this are the ruins of Rin that around the west / south-west reaches of the Black Citadel on the much lower ground level.  A player interacting with this space will most likely come for the couple vistas and Points-of-Interest for map completion, but in their haste they may end up missing the vast contrast that the ruins sit in.  The small collection of upright sections of tower and crumbling walls are all but overwhelmed by the ever-present core and smog that looks to surround it like some kind of aura.  This example encapsulates the contrast between the ‘old’ and ‘new’, but where I feel it’s done even better is with the gladiatorial arena called the Bane. 

The Bane arena built without concern to the present ruins of their previous enemy.  Screenshot taken 30/03/2015

The Bane sits at the bottom of the main core of the Citadel in which fights between Charr (primarily Gladiums) are fought in an arena beneath an audience.  What makes this great is that the arena’s circle is interrupted by a ruined structure which was incorporated into the design rather than demolishing it.  It reinforces that feeling of victory as mentioned previous, but in this context could also refer a reminder of an ongoing battle with the Ascalonian ghost that continue to siege the land. 

The Forge

A melting pot of scrap and ingenuity that defines this place.  Screenshot taken 30/03/2015 

I wanted to end on this piece because the sheer scale of it continues to present the Citadel as this mass of industrial achievement.  The southern section of the Citadel is primarily a massive metal forge in which the player looks down from a high up viewing point and fly-over vista when activated.  This forge is not designed as much as formed together; with a vast amount of scrap metal littering the ground being instructed by a colossal metal crane that forms the material anew into the ever-increasing armour of the Citadel.  It’s an organised mess that keeps the cogs turning and machinery turning so that it remains the most prominent feature on the map to anyone who may gaze upon it. 

Last week I was able to see potentially how much my time with video games had influence my interests as an adult in terms of architecture.  Today, I wanted to see where my current gaming time fitted into this and whether my thoughts had changed in any specific way.  Naturally, I would say that I’m more aware of it these days and as such may be reading more into the subject than I would of normally.  That being said, I feel that what makes the Black Citadel a great piece of architecture in my eyes is that industrial, mechanical feel that features heavily in my younger days of gaming and its much lower textured brethren.  What I feel sets this piece part is the factor of context; with its ability to incorporate many years of lore so that its narrative comes alive amongst its aesthetics to create more than just a place in the Guild Wars 2 world.  As mentioned last week, a field is a field but the story creates architecture.  


*If you would like to know more about the Lore surrounding the history I briefly mentioned, please watch this Lore video by Wooden Potatoes: Guild Wars 2 Lore: The Fall of Ascalon

Video Game Architecture: my experiences from the past

A couple days ago, I was watching a couple twitch streamers when I took notice of what music was being played.  It was a collection of OCremix tracks featuring reinterpreted music from titles such as Sonic, Megaman and Jet-set Radio amongst other things which very quickly embedded classic melodies into my head for the remainder of the day.  While this was going on, it got me thinking about how much music, licensed or otherwise, I got into from the medium of video games which still holds a strong point of influence to this day.  Originally, I was going to talk about it this week, but as a means to keep the subject of architecture in context, I thought I would talk about a couple architectural pieces from games during my childhood / early teenage years that I particular find great.  There may be some crossover with level design, but the primary subject matter is that of architecture. 

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Metropolis Zone

Sonic and Tails come up against a foe in the Metropolis Zone.  Image from the Sonic wiki (http://sonic.wikia.com/)

For many people, the Casino Night levels aesthetic or Chemical Plants soundtrack will hold a special place in their heart.  But for me, from an architectural point of view the way Metropolis creates a feeling from its design of ‘overcoming the odds’ and ‘getting through the machine’ is perfect for its placement within Sonic 2.  As a child I never owned a Sega Megadrive, so playing Sonic 2 was always on a time limit having to leave the communal gaming space or a friend’s house.  Usually, I’d end up getting to Oil Ocean and getting stuck on Act 2, but every so often the moons would align and Metropolis Act 1 would appear to greet me. 

Its heavy industrial feeling and challenging enemies (for me at the time) was quite appropriate as it tried to ‘keep me down’ and slow my progress.  The series of ups and downs through pipes, screws and cogs diffused the idea of progress as I tried to figure out whether I was taking the right path.  A particular moment I can remember is at Act 2, where the play needs to make a series of drops at the right sections to continue moving forward a little bit like the later bowser castles of Super Mario Bros. 

Looking back at it now, there are a new set of little touches that I feel make it great.  The way in which the levels physical ground is green makes me think of oxidised copper that originally shone greatly against its backdrop.  The feeling of the level feels like the industrial machine keeping you from achieving a goal, which of course has seen a number of iterations in social history with the working class being kept moving along by the factories they work in.  I do mention this often but Metropolis the film (1927) has some similarities that go beyond the naming. 

Metropolis holds this place because of its way in which it defined overcoming a challenge in my early childhood, but nowadays makes me think of my interest in engineering.  In particular my view of ‘Function over Form’ and that defined engineering can create great pieces of architecture that hold a unique form in their own way. 

MediEvil 1: Entrance Hall / The Time Device (City of Madness)

Clocks with a magical symbols bestow upon them.  Image From the MediEvil Wiki (http://gallowmere.wikia.com/)

The MediEvil series will always hold a special place for me as a game that made my time while having a Playstation One.  I never owned a Nintendo console (outside of the Gameboy colour) so where Zelda or Banjo Kazooee are fond memories of Nintendo 64 owners, MediEvil 1 and 2 occupies that spot.  Anyway, onto the levels…

Zarok’s domain features 3 levels at the climax of the game being ‘Entrance Hall’; Time Device’ and ‘Zaroks Lair’.  All three come under the umbrella title ‘City of Madness’ which one could draw a couple different conclusions from like the madness of the population enslaved by Zarok, his tiresome work to rule the land of Gallowmere or something in-between it all.  The ‘Entrance Hall’ has this rather typical magister / warlock tower feel to it with its spiral staircases and large library rooms, but the ‘Time Device’ contrasts this completely with industrial era mechanisms and multiple references to time.  The way in which runes (the game’s keys) are linked in with the clock-face near the beginning of the level is enjoyable to solve alongside the later time-based mechanics.  While doing this, the industrial vibe of the gears and railway system don’t feel out of place, but have their own ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ aesthetic that the game is somewhat influenced by.  

Zarok's railway system and personal train in the shape of a skull.  Image from the MediEvil wiki (http://gallowmere.wikia.com/)

For example, the train it’s a steam engine in the shape of a skull that clicks its bones as it moves along the track. 

Like with the Sonic example, the industrial feeling of the area has something special that has influenced my design preference of engineering, but where MediEvil differs is through its application.  The mythical setting gives a nice twist on the industrial feel which shows we can play with the visuals but still keep the concept of the function at hand. 

Crash Bandicoot 2: Sewer Tunnel levels (multiple versions)

Crash being welcome into the sewers.  Image from Crash Bandicoot wiki (http://crashbandicoot.wikia.com/)

After the first warp room of Crash 2, you’ll find yourself a level that features a mixture of pipes, ducting, fans and wires that make up the sewer tile set.  The hollow sounds of Crash moving, the metallic soundtrack (as in the material not genre) and the aesthetics did much for these levels to remain my favourite in the game; bringing together a nice mix of challenge and pace that I didn’t feel in other tile sets.  One particular item I feel makes this possible are the circular doors that define each room, giving the player a mild sense of interest for what could be on the other side. 

As well as its industrial feel, the theme of it being a sewer opens the level up to some nice additions.  Much like MediEvil and its magical / mythical touches; Crash 2 adds water with electric eels shocking the ground intermittently, toxic waste in the style of rolling barrels and nitro boxes littered around to give that impression of a sewer system being hazardous.  The way in which I tried to avoid sewer water for being bad was as much the obstacle of electrified eels as was the fact that it was sewer water.  That being said, having an aversion to water maybe down to the infamous section of Chemical Plant Act2 in Sonic 2 which saw many people panic at the rise of the water level and subsequent frantic music. 

Timesplitters: Spaceport level (SP and MP)

Spaceways from a central atrium.  Image from Timesplitters wiki (http://timesplitters.wikia.com/)

Multiplayer shooters are nothing without its ability to create a diverse range of levels that accommodate a varied mixture of game modes and weapon types.  Keeping with my Playstation1 => 2 childhood, one such game that lived in my console at the time was Timesplitters; a fast-paced fps with a great cast of interesting characters, varied weapons and unique settings across a number of different eras and potential timelines.  To give an example of this, Cyberden and Spaceways both depict a futuristic setting but go for different interpretations of what that may incur.  Cyberden goes for a more industrial, dystopian feel while Spaceways goes for a cleaner, more technologically advanced aesthetic that one may consider utopian. 

If you’ve been reading through my influences, you may think why I went for the cleaner Spaceways over the industrial Cyberden?  I did consider this at first but on reflection it’s probably as simple as Cyberden feeling like not much was going on / a bit bland while Spaceways has a spectrum of colour injected into it.  Thinking about Spaceways a bit more, I feel that’s down to the concept of Futurism and our perception of what the future will look like with our ever expanded access to information and technology.  The way in designers construct these ideas of the future are a fascinating piece of our cultural history and for me, the way in which they use our modern times as a benchmark for the future brings out some nice results.  For this example, at the time I had recently gone on my first holiday outside of the UK to Gran Canarias (an isle of the west /north-west coast of Africa) and experienced air travel for the first time.  The process of the airport and its checks though its layout and aesthetics felt similar to the way in which Spaceways presented itself, be it with stronger contrasting colours.  I’m not one for sci-fi really, but the potential for what could be has always been a thing I enjoy. 

Reading through these examples, to which I could probably add quite a few more, you may notice a strong presence of industrial / mechanical aesthetics creating an environment to interact with.  Looking back at my foray through the world of architecture (in particular my interests in Brutalism, Futurism and Deconstructionism) it’s surprising to see how much of my interests have potentially come from the medium of video games.  Even nowadays when I look at the games I play places that have interesting uses of engineering stay with my memory the best.  The Black Citadel of the Charr in Guild Wars 2 is a mix of fire, metal and harsh mechanical workings that feels special amongst the more traditional settlements of the Human or Norn races to name such an example.  Having time to look back at this has surprised me as much as it’s made me smile and I know it’s going to be a similar feeling when it comes to my upcoming retrospectives.  I hope you found this interesting and possibly find the little pieces of your history that may have influenced you more than you know.  

*Images from relevant wiki sites of games relating to this post for non-profit use as a means to discuss the subject matter*

Player Housing in the Video Game World: What does it mean to dwell?

One of the subjects that often come up around the subject of MMOs is that of the potential for player housing to enhance the experience of being immersed in a world different to our own.  There are those who have implemented such a system in the past (Star Wars Galaxies being a prominent one) alongside more recent results of Rift, Wildstar and WoW to the point where games like Everquest Next is making it a pillar of its design through Landmark.  These examples present a mixture of in-world structures and instanced-off dwellings, but they all present a ‘this is my mark in the world’ feeling that players get a lot of enjoyment out of. 

So we come to me, a person who likes to read into the subject of housing and what does it mean to dwell to which you would think I’m very much for the creation of player housing as much as possible.  My experiences of this are mixed, but generally I feel that they have a certain something missing from them that a static location can’t create which I hope to discuss in these paragraphs. 

Many of the examples I’ve presented above create a player housing situation through the use of an instanced area where the owner can invite people into to share their digital home from home.  These houses may have a colour scheme reflected of the player’s aesthetic choice, unique items showcasing their participation in the game or various NPCs that they’ve interacted with in a related storyline.  Other examples like WoW’s Garrison or the current GW2 home instance (pre-expansion as of today) have resources that can be obtained on a timed basis, giving players the potential to open up their instance for a trade-like experience with others.  For me, these examples create a vernacular feeling to their implementation, where the dwellings only have superficial changes while the personal stamp of housing isn’t truly presented. 

The other option of in-world creation seems a bit more true to life, in that various empty spaces in the world are set aside to create player housing naturally so that over time these spaces can grow like traditional towns and cities.  Although I didn’t play it personally, friends of mine who did always talk of a living town in SWG where craftsmen set up shops and people hung out together.  Creating something out of nothing in this sense has popularise older titles like Sim-City and more modern examples like Minecraft; where the player (whether alone or with friends) start with an ever-expansive horizon and form a vast city out of it creating stories as they go.  That being said, one could argue that the goal of player housing (in that to create a sense of location and togetherness in the world with others) is attained not through the bricks and mortar of their walls, but of the act of coming together to create an event where a group of similarly minded people work to achieve a goal. 

 

To put this viewpoint into perspective, I would like to present the concept of a field.  A field can be as basic as a piece of lawn in a non-descript place, or it can be a lush patch of land in amongst a landscape of forests and such other natural occurrences.  By its own accord, it doesn’t constitute a dwelling, but it has the potential to become something through people interacting with the space.  So, by a group of people coming together to have a picnic on the field, they are now creating a temporary dwelling to settle at so that they can enjoy a picnic.  Towels are placed onto the grass and hampers are produce bearing a selection of sandwiches, cake and drink while others have brought chairs to sit on.  While the adults do this, a group of children play around the edge of the field, maybe climbing up the nearby trees until their parents call them to the towel and enjoy some food and drink.  This field, for the people having a picnic, is now architecture as a place in which people have created an event from for the couple of hours they stay at the field. 

It’s by this view I feel that the concept of player housing can be represented in a way that keeps the spirit of the notion while exploring the physical manifestations of it in game.  Guilds meeting to participate in a raid against a mutual foe, friends exploring the environment and finding some hidden area together or players meeting in an area at a specific time to morph into bunny’s and confuse the regular player-base; these all potentially create architecture through a place being given narrative.  Player housing naturally has the potential to also do these sorts of things while also giving the player a means to put themselves on the digital map so-to-speak, but I feel there’s much to discuss about what we enjoy about the housing and how much of it is built around its bricks and mortar.  

The Everyday Commute: Taking the Sights in

Over this past week and a bit, I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a number of projects and potential job interviews where I get to be a part of something I enjoy greatly.  The flip-side of this is that it has involved quite a bit of travelling so naturally things like this get pushed back.  Today I want to talk about my experiences of these journeys and the minor details that I found interesting through them. 

The idea of commuting is of course not an uncommon sight to behold, especially in the capital city of a nation, but being unable to drive I’ve always had the concept of commuting in my sight as a means to combat this issue.  For many people, the use of public transport for work is a mundane thing as it naturally becomes an everyday occurrence, but for me I’ve always had an enjoyment of travelling in an environment where I can continue to do other things while in transit.  This may be due to not experiencing said journeys in such high volume as the typical commuter, but time will tell whether this could become a thing. 

The journeys I had last week revolved around a need to commute into London via a combination of Bus and Tube within a timeframe of 1-3 hours, with minimal need to change lines between destinations.  Because of this, I was able to do last minute prep for interviews and consider some last minute ‘blue sky’ thinking for some ideas that may seem a bit odd.  While doing this, I started to consider the change in environment both internally (the train) and externally (local environment) and see how much was truly happening architecturally. 

As my closest tube station is Epping, my journey would always start on the Central line moving into London via Stratford bringing with it a mostly natural environment of trees and fields with a range of typical post-war terrace housing and older Victorian dwellings as I got within greater London.  Most of this didn’t really interest me, but what did was a rather large cemetery around Woodford / Buckhurst Hill (I think within that range maybe slightly further) which featured a range of colours from the donated flowers of loved ones contrasting the grey headstones dominating the landscape.  Internally, the carriage was an older model juddering along representing a line that could possibly do with some maintenance bringing an interesting dynamic to the passengers; with some carrying on their day and others showcasing a visual dislike for the situation.  The advertisements on show presented a fresh-foods monthly sub-box service (something that I personally don’t find much interest in) and vistas of the Las Vegas strip with that ever present ‘what goes in Vegas stays in Vegas’ which in my experience doesn’t really happen these days due to the advent of instant-access social media and my past two weeks of Facebook. 

The later parts of my journeys, in particular one to Harrow, felt rather different to this but in subtle ways (if that makes sense somehow?)  My experience of western London is somewhat limited to Hammersmith and upon talking to a number of friends / family they seemed to think that the area was rather upmarket (generally speaking not specifically the Borough).  What I was met with was a continued lowering of building density you would expect and a range of Victorian / post-war housing and the occasional parkland or stadium.  With that being said, going past Wembley Stadium it was interesting to see the range of corrugated iron sheds near to the track being dwarfed by this iconic structure; making me think about the Concept of high-art ‘Pillar of Fire’ in action around its revellers in their settlements that pale in comparison in the brief time I was able to see it while going past.  The train itself was a much more modern version with larger interior space and a smooth ride, aiding my ability to continue to write some plans and listen to an audiobook without physical or audio interruption. 

Overall, my past week of journeys have been an interesting experience for me and I hope to be able to have this potential means of working with people further beyond my usual local historic environment.  I don’t want to be held back with potential projects / jobs because the commute maybe a bit long and I do enjoy having the time to have some time to jot down thoughts and relax on the way to work.  Of course, time will tell if this viewpoint stays but here’s to joining the ranks of some million+ people who do it every day. 

One last thought, on the bus from Epping, there was an advert for Chlamydia by the NHS showcasing its potential hidden growth and ease of treatment with an aesthetic I would class as a cross between ‘visual novel’ and ‘graffiti’.  A minor point but I found it funny : )