Hi,
Finally started some graphic work again!
Right now I'm working on a 3D scene of a small medieval town and I've just done the town church:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/kirche.jpg)
now I have two questions:
1) what should the cross on top look like?
a)(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/kreuz1.jpg)
b)(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/kreuz2.jpg)
2) would you think it sensible to script a clock with RawDraw that shows the actual time?
I'd go with cross A.
1) I think it looks cooler and
2) I think it would show up better in game.
Quote from: Isegrim on Thu 21/10/2004 16:32:242) would you think it sensible to script a clock with RawDraw that shows the actual time?
Maybe not sensible ... but definately cool as hell!
I say go for it!
um.. why not have a normal cross?
Quote from: Goél on Thu 21/10/2004 16:40:43
um.. why not have a normal cross?
Don't ask any stupid questions, answer his instead.
As for the cross, I think A fits best.
Since you are going for the detail...
During the middle ages they did not have "Churches". They had "Cathedrals".
Even a small village, had it's Cathedral.
To get an idea of what a cathedral looks like, pictures are not enough. You have to visit one.
Strasburg's cathedral is 150m (400feet) high. I don't think that any medium can capture
the feeling you get when you visit it in real life. Anyway, here are some links of
some famus cathedrals.
Notre-Damme de Paris
http://www.parisdigest.com/monument/notredam.htm
http://www2.art.utah.edu/cathedral/paris.html
Strasboug Cathedral
http://www.ot-strasbourg.fr/htm/pages/photo_cathedrale_1.php
Pictures of Medieval Cathedrals
http://www.newyorkcarver.com/cathedrallinks.htm
Now, if you are lazy and you just want a couple of suggestions...
1) The main entrance is NEVER on the Clocktower.
2) There is NO CROSS on the top of the Cathedrals
3) The top of the clocktower is less curvy (unless you are going for Cremlin style e.g. http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/d64)
I think it is better to spend more time on research on the era than scripting the clock
Angelos.
If its a medi-evil (medieval) church you want, you probably shoud make it look more medieval. Your church looks more like an late 1800 early 1900 church, especially since there where no clocks on medieval churchtowers (No tick-tock-showing-time-clocks, that is). The onion-shaped dome makes it look russian, but the domes 'waist' looksÃ, too narrow for me.
Pictures of the st mary church, Helsingborg Sweden, built and re-built over and over again between 1100 and 1300-something.
http://www.precendo.se/pics/mariakyrkan/mar1_e.html
@ Angelos: I lived in Regensburg for almost all my life, and there is a real medieval cathedral there (like the one in Cologne, but smaller, and yes, I was even at the Cologne cathedral's tower top), among other smaller churches (which are even older, but by no means what you would call a cathedral).
Not every medieval town had a cathedral (only the bigger ones had) and the town I'm talking about is not very big.
I worked half a year as guide in a museum about medieval history.
Churches not unlike that have been built as early as 1300, so I guess we can call that a genuine medieval church.
About entering through the tower: http://www.twainweb.de/klapp4a97/dorfkirche.jpeg
About the cross on tower-top: http://www.fewo-heumann.de/die%20Bilder/Dorf-Kirche.JPG
And I think it's better to spend more time answering my real question about the crosses than to dig up semi-correct historical stuff >:(
@ others:
The church is supposed to look somewhat rural bavarian and I have no strong interest in historical correctness, since I'm making a rather fantasy kind of game.
As for church clocks with hands, those may have been around as early as 1400...
#1 all the way.
Both look good. The first one looks cooler, but since i dont know if "cool" is the style you're going for, i dont really know.
Isegrim :
Sorry if I sounded rude or insulting.
When I looked at your image, it looked to me weird. I tryied to understand why it looked
weird and I gave this critic. I may very well be wrong. Even after looking at the references
you posted it still looks weird.
Anyway. Since you know more then me about medieval history I can't give usefull
specific advice about the cross. All I can say is "go for realism". The cross that looks
beter is the one that corresponds to the style you are reproducing.
Now that I know that you have a background on medieval history I REALLY look forward
to the game you are making.
Cheers, Angelos.
Well, from what I see the picture is quite nice. Since I know something about medieval architecture (it's my great hobby in fact) I would like to add my two cents.
It all depends on which time period your game is set in.
The main mass of the building seems almost like Romanesque style, massive walls, no decorations. On the other hand the windows are definately not romanesque without rounded tops. It look like something early gothique but in that case they are too short for my taste. I'd go for a gothic style since it's what people imagine under "Medieval" Try to make them a bit longer and it will be just fine.
The tower itself is just fine but the clock bothers me a bit. Not that tower clocks are not medieval enough as Mr. Masse said, as far as I know the first tower clock was build in 1336 and from 15. th century it was quite common. But the design looks too new. Also the two windows on sides are odd.
As for dome, it looks OK but it certainly isn't medieval and doesn't look like that. Domes like that are typical for renaissance and baroque period and this is the look that mostly preserved to our times. But original medieval church towers in Central Europe were mostly pointy.
BTW: The word "Cathedral" is derived from "Cathedra" - a throne that is the official chair of a bishop. Only cities that were seats of bishop could call the church which belonged to cathedra cathedral. Apart from cathedrals which were mostly build to show power and wealth of bishops and archbishops, there were countless small chuches (even much smaller than Isegrim's) in every city, town or village.
Angelos, no offense taken and sorry for my harsh answer. I guess I just didn't make myself too clear in the first post.
As for the historical component in my game, you may be disappointed, for I am going in a somewhat fanstasy direction. So I try to make things 'fit' into my style rather than stick to a certain age. You may encounter elements that are from the middle ages right next to some renaissance style elements or even things that come completely from my imagination...
Nevertheless I'm grateful for historical style advice in any way. Things that are 'right' always look better...
jaz, it's indeed a mixture of romanesque and gothic style and I think I have seen this in some early gothic churches, where the builders were just adapting a new style but not yet daring to give up their bunker-style walls...
The windows on the tower sides are supposed to be just small openeings to let the sound of the church bells out.
But now, on closer look, I think that I will change the tower top and the clock face. That's indeed too baroque, you're right...
Also, I guess we can call the cross-question settled, I'll take the first one.
And for the more interested (andhistorically inclined), some info about the town: It will be rather smallish but wealthy, maybe 30-40 houses (mostly half timbered), has small walls around and lies directly next to a river which is spanned by a bridge made from crude stones. What do you think about the walls? would a town of that size have stone walls, a palisade or no fortification at all?
I'll update as soon as I've changed the church, so thanks so far to all of you!
P.S: Maybe I'll also show an image of my work-in-progress town later...
Quote from: jaz on Fri 22/10/2004 08:52:45
BTW: The word "Cathedral" is derived from "Cathedra" - a throne that is the official chair of a bishop. Only cities that were seats of bishop could call the church which belonged to cathedra cathedral. Apart from cathedrals which were mostly build to show power and wealth of bishops and archbishops, there were countless small chuches (even much smaller than Isegrim's) in every city, town or village.
Indeed, although also the difference between a town and a city was that a city had a cathedral and a town didn't. This is not always the case anymore, but for example, Wells is a tiny place but is a city, while Swindon is much much bigger but yet a town...
Yes, I am well aware of this fact but this language difference applies to UK only and not to other European countries as far as I know.
Hmm...I must admit the architecture didn't strike me as very medieval. It looks to much more like a modern country church morphed with an arabian palace.