Pixel Pasts: A Resource for Exploring Cultural Heritage in Videogame Worlds

My Pixel Pasts project has been in development for over a year now but I am very pleased to announce that I have made the website live!

The project is an online database which acts as a catalogue of real-world art, architecture, places and people recreated in videogame environments. The aim of the catalogue is to be a starting search point for those wanting to begin their research in historical visualisation in games. The catalogue is ever-growing, and one day will include images. If you want to suggest any database entries please let me know via the Pixel Pasts website!

Visitors will be able to search via game title, developer, publisher, historical asset name and type (architecture, art, person, place etc), period, style and location. In addition to the general search bar I am currently working on a more advanced search tool for the “Discover” page.

There will also be an articles feature if anyone interested in videogames and historical visualisation would like to contribute?

There is still a long way to go and lots of coding tweaks to make, however the basic functions of the database are in place- please bear with me whilst I make the site more user friendly!

The idea for the project came about back in early 2014 when I was writing my MSc dissertation on the pedagogic potential of using videogame technologies for exploring architectural history. One thing which would have made my research a lot easier would have been a catalogue of historical buildings recreated in videogames, both accurately or implied by the Developers. So then I started developing Pixel Pasts as a response to both my own research need and a love for historical visualisation in videogames.

My thanks in particular go out to Simon Stamp of Block for his coding expertise and assistance with the database. Look out for updates and I hope that the site will be of use to those interested in historical visualisation.

www.pixelpasts.com   —  Twitter: @PixelPasts

Recreating Hull’s Architectural History in Minecraft

Minecrafters recreating buildings from the Hull History Centre’s archives

I was very excited to play a part in the planning and facilitating of the Hull History Centre’s two recent Bring Your Own Device Minecraft workshops (14^th & 21^st August 2015).

Participants were invited to the History Centre with their laptops and tablets to recreate Hull’s historical architecture in the creative sandbox game Minecraft. During the events, participants received advice from the History Centre team and shared their work with others- we all had lots of fun exploring Hull’s architectural history in the home of Hull’s written heritage itself!

With my background in architectural history I was keen to get participants engaged with Hull’s wide variety of historical buildings- a topic I’m personally very excited about! I delved into the History Centre’s strongrooms to dig out interesting (and hopefully inspiring) old photographs and architectural plans for participants to recreate and then digitised these for use on learning handouts. The learning handouts included facts, dates, architectural styles, photos, plans- and even a Minecraft character dressed from the period!

The buildings chosen were:

• Hull’s medieval fortifications
• King Henry VIII’s Hull Castle
• Wilberforce House
• Maister House
• Hull City Hall
• Dock Offices / Hull Maritime Museum
• St Stephen’s Church
• Lord Line building at St Andrew’s Quay

Hull’s Minecrafters working away on their laptops and tablets

From medieval to georgian, neo-classical to gothic, I was particularly interested in seeing how our participants would engage with the archival material and which ones would keep them most interested. We had our clear favourites- Hull City Hall due to it’s familiarity, and Hull’s medieval fortifications (such as Beverley Gate and Hessle Gate).

We even held a “best screenshot” competition where building entries were judged by Hull History Centre archivists on effort and likeness to the original.

It was great to see so many participants come to the events, approximately 30 in each session! I particularly enjoyed the social, community feel, especially with participants sharing their builds and Minecraft tips and tricks. We will hopefully see everyone return to the History Centre in the future! Have a look at the History Centre’s fascinating variety of events to see what’s on offer!

UPCOMING: In the next few days you will be able to see more information on the events as a whole and see our competition winners on my upcoming History Centre blog post….

Enjoy a tour of our Minecrafter’s work: I recorded the entirety of the in-game footage from the second session and created a video to showcase some of the brilliant work by our Minecrafters. I hope you are as amazed as what we were by the quality of the work, well done to all our participants!

A Video Tour of the Hull History Centre Recreated in Minecraft

Here’s a quick video I made of the Hull History Centre recreated in Minecraft as part of our HullCraft project. My idea behind recreating the centre in the game was so Minecrafters could be introduced to the concept of archives in an immersive and relatable way, the centre being the first building they see on entry to the HullCraft server.

From the searchrooms to the archive strongrooms, Minecrafters can explore the centre before heading through a portal to plots of land where they will recreate historical architecture from one of the archive’s architectural plans.

My video was recorded using the default texture as to be instantly recognisable as a Minecraft build. It gives a simple tour of the archives and (a very brief!) mentioning of some of the collection themes, hopefully providing an introductory overview of what the Hull History Centre has to offer!

Minecraft and Archives : HullCraft

Do you play Minecraft and want to contribute to a real, community project based on the amazing City of Culture that is Hull?

HullCraft is an exciting new heritage project I have been involved with in my work at the Hull History Centre and the University of Hull using Minecraft. We need lots of players to join our server and recreate real historical buildings from Hull’s history, starting with the beautiful Georgian architecture of Bridlington architect Francis Johnson. All of the buildings you will create will be from the archives based at the Hull History Centre, from simple townhouses to elaborate churches.

My Georgian builds in the HullCraft server

YOUR builds will be used to create a Minecraft world of Hull’s past periods, enabling you to travel back in time, adventure, learn, collaborate and ultimately have fun!

The project is for all ages and suitable for both newbies and Minecraft experts. Parents- if you would like your child to be involved there is information on our website on safeguarding and getting started.

The HullCraft server will have its official launch at the upcoming Platform Expo event in Hull- how exciting! So if you are in Hull on 14^th November come and say hi to Joel, Simon and me on the HullCraft stand, we are always looking for players to join the server.

Check out our website on www.hullcraft.com for more information about taking part.

Meanwhile….. Creeper and Steve cause havoc at the Hull History Centre. Read the latest HullCraft blog post to find out why!

My MSc Dissertation is now Online

It’s finally online! All the 3D work I’ve been posting recently on York St Mary’s Abbey is all in this dissertation submitted for my MSc in Digital Heritage at the University of York (Department of Archaeology) 🙂

This link will take you to my page on academia.edu where you can view/download the paper:

Hannah Rice (2014) ‘Exploring the Pedagogical Possibilities of applying Gaming Theory and Technologies to Historic Architectural Visualisation’.

Abstract: This paper deliberates how gaming theory and technologies can be applied to historic architectural visualisation for educational use by museums and its pedagogical potentials. It presents a proposal for a pedagogical digital game, Pilgrim’s Peril: St Mary’s Abbey, based on a qualitative survey and the discussed issues throughout the paper on Serious Games, commercial games and digital learning methods. Issues such as authenticity, gamification, edutainment, place and narrative are also considered together with the social and cultural significance of fusing gaming with historic architectural visualisation.

BioShock Infinite’s Columbia: the ‘Ideal’ City (*no spoilers)

(All in-game screenshots taken by the author)

After spending many hours playing BioShock Infinite, exploring the air-city of Columbia was the highlight for me. It reminded me of Steampunk fiction, with the air-ships and the idea of a technological revolution at the beginning of the 20th century. I’m also very interested in how Columbia’s environment reflects its ideals, and how it has been inspired by events in real American history to support the game’s narrative.

The in-game Columbia has been inspired by the World’s Columbian Exposition which was “a World’s Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World in 1492.” It was designed to make Chicago look like the ‘ideal’ city. The idea of the perfect city is not new to to the BioShock series, as seen in the city of Rapture, but Columbia pushes this notion even further by alluding to the World’s Columbian Exposition architecturally and ideologically.

Columbia was built by America’s government and was heavily promoted and celebrated as an American utopia. Columbia’s neo-classical architecture, for example, is symbolic of the harmony, order and power of the ruling government. This is reminiscent of Chicago being known as the “White City” due to the classical buildings being clad in stucco, the exceptional amount of street lighting and the moral ideals that the World’s Fair tried to portray.

Another likeness to Columbia and the World’s Fair at Chicago is the focus on amusement parks. Chicago was the first World’s Fair to have a carnival and sideshow area, with it’s key ride being the ferris wheel. The ferris wheel can be seen to dominate the panorama of Columbia. The Worlds Fair’s heavy use of electricity to power the amusements and exhibits was considered a marvel, as industrial companies displayed their latest inventions that would help improve society.

The statuary in Columbia, of Columbia herself (the female personification of America) and also of the many powerful figures in the game, are also in the classical style akin to the original “Statue of the Republic” (see image below, source). They not only act as reminders of Columbia’s purpose as a city, but also act as propaganda and a ‘moralising’ watchful eye.

The purpose of the statuary and architecture is very similar to the artworks displayed around the walls of the buildings. All of them are propaganda for the city, motivating its inhabitants into believing Columbia’s purpose.

On the exterior, Columbia is seen as a utopian city full of celebration and promoting the ideas of exceptionalism (liberty, democracy) as it floats around the globe like a travelling World’s Fair. Though like Rapture, Columbia soon emerges as a dystopia where rivalling factions erupt alongside a corrupt dictatorship and chaos is imminent. Without spoiling the game for those who haven’t played it, it does turn out that the purpose of Columbia was not entirely as a city but as something else… This is the scary element of the game, as beneath the happy, bright outlook and patriotic propaganda there is an unnerving sense of war and corruption.

For more architecture in gaming click here!

Something for you to fill in…

If you have a spare 10 minutes (maybe to procrastinate?) please fill out my survey for my dissertation. It’s about gaming technologies for architectural heritage education, particularly in the experience of “place”. It will help me in designing my York St Mary’s Abbey game.

I would be grateful if you could fill it out, no gaming or heritage experience necessary, thanks in advance!

www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q22PCYZ 

Reality & Myth: the architecture of the Lost Kingdom of Yamatai, Tomb Raider

Today I completed the story to the new Tomb Raider game! I thought the environments were stunning, the combat quite simple to master (apart from the moment when you need to reload ammo mid-combat) and the storyline very interesting with lots of twists. In the game, Lara and her team set off on an expedition to the Lost Kingdom of Yamatai ruled by Queen Himiko, a real place still debated by historians as to its location. I even felt some of the environments to be a bit diablo-esque when it came to the gore, reminded me of the battle with Ghom the Lord of Gluttony in Diablo III with the rotting flesh, scattered bones and the implied pungent smell.

My studies have always focused on European art and architecture, yet the Oriental fascinates me although I cannot comment on its authenticity in the game. The Yamatai architecture reminded me of what I posted about the architecture in Far Cry 3 (click here for post), with the concept of a variety of layers that each symbolise a period of history and settlement on the Island.

The Shanty town, the monastery, surrounding temples and shrines, and also World War II bunkers each represent the mysterious island from different perspectives: the spiritual, the lost lives of the natives, and also from the invaders who set out to solve the mystery of the storms that prevent them from escaping the island.

The juxtaposition between the modern bunkers and the ancient temples as  cult locations symbolise the clash between reality and myth, and of course it is down to Lara to solve the mystery by piecing together fragments of knowledge from salvaging and exploring.  The attention to the environment detail is stunning, and I often found the scholar in me gazing at the sculptural figures on the walls and sarcophagi, and the statuary of the shaman Sun Queen (Himiko). Also, the game’s use of lighting and semi-realistic texturing made the temples very atmospheric, particularly with the use of candles and lamps to emphasise the spirituality of the buildings.

From a symbolic point of view, the architecture complements the game’s narrative, however if anyone has any knowledge on Japanese architecture and how authentic it has been represented in the game I would love to hear from you!

For more architecture in gaming click here!

(all in-game screen shots, author’s own)

The historical architecture of the Rook Islands Archipelago- Far Cry 3

Above: Map of Rook Islands (Image source)

The archipelago of the Rook Islands, in the open-world Far Cry game series, are thought to be located near the Mariana Trench region of the Pacific Ocean, between Thailand and Papua New Guiney.

After recently completing Far Cry 3 I found exploring the Asian-Pacific archipelago more interesting than actually doing the main story-line. I think Ubisoft may have done this intentionally, as during the story Jason Brody (the protagonist) starts to believe that the hostile Rook Islands are where he should remain, instead of escaping back home to safety. The beauty of the Islands lured me in too, especially the scattered architectural remains.

During the game you encounter several variations of historical ruins: the WW2 bunker and fortification ruins built by the Japanese, 15^th century Chinese temple ruins and the native tribe ruins of the Rakyat, however, Citra’s Rakyat temple, above image source, is still mostly intact.

The WW2 bunker ruins are evocative of the period where Japanese soldiers controlled the island, and during the game are either abandoned (sometimes when you explore these ruins you can hear shouting and gunfire as though the ruins are haunted…) or occupied by Vaas’ pirates as bases scattered across the edges of the Islands. (bunker image source)

On the other hand, there are Chinese temple ruins from the Islands’ occupation of a warlord, Zheng He. As it was in WW2, the Islands were controlled by soldiers enslaving the native Rakyat people and forcing them to build shrines in the name of Zheng He. These ruins are quite difficult to find as they are located in the cave systems, however are instantly distinguishable from the rest of the architectural remains on the two islands from their Chinese architectural style (image, author’s own in-game screenshot).

Then there’s the architecture of the natives, the Rakyat people, who believe in their Deities and are set in their tradition and beliefs that Rook Islands are their rightful homelands. The ruins of the island are all that remain, apart from Citra’s temple which is a highly fortified place of worship as well as a testament to the Rakyat culture.

Overall, the layering of each of these three architectural variations, juxtaposing with the contemporary settlements on the Islands, symbolise not only the passage of time but the Islands heritage of ongoing conflict. The game’s architecture give the Rook Islands a vast historical context that links in with the current struggle between the Rakyat and the pirates, as it is not only Jason Brody’s personal struggle to escape but the Rakyat’s ongoing battle to claim back their Islands.

(above, image source)

For more architecture in gaming click here!

Divinity’s Reach- Epitome of Power

As part of my “Architecture in Gaming” series here is another one of my favourite in-game architectural locations: Divinity’s Reach, from the Guild Wars series.

“Divinity’s Reach is the greatest city in the human nation of Kryta. It is laid out like a giant wheel. Its upper city contains Queen Jennah’s royal palace and the Chamber of Ministers. Six high roads, each dedicated to a god, divide the lower city into districts.” In-game description

In Guild Wars 2, the quality of the architectural rendering makes it stand out in particular from the rest of the locations in the game (my opinion as a castle and cathedral admirer).

Below is my Asura admiring the view.  This screenshot was taken quite early on in the game for my character as I went straight there after completing the Asuran starting area, but I think it is a fantastic example of how much the city impacts on the Kryta landscape.

It made me think back to my undergraduate studies where I was studying the architecture of medieval castles comparing those of King Edward I with his “Iron Ring” of Welsh castles, to that of the academically controversial Bodiam Castle. Are castles built for defensive purposes or are they intended as romantic allusions?

From the exterior, Divinity’s Reach looks strongly fortified with its gargantuan stone outer walls which circle the city, numerous amount of towers and a colossal portcullis.  To an outsider, the fortress is impenetrable and ticks all the boxes for the ultimate military structure. It is an exemplification of human domination over the Krytan landscape.

It is the combination between military stronghold and a fantastical, fairytale-like city that makes Divinity’s Reach stand out as an iconic structure to me. When you enter the interior walls it becomes apparent that despite it’s military mask, the city itself is highly sophisticated displaying a vast range of vernacular medieval-esque buildings.

The city is divided into districts, as commanded by it’s architectural design. These represent the hierarchy of society, as does a medieval castle, for example the higher up the structure you head the people who inhabit those areas are of higher status, in this case the lower districts are for the everyday citizens and the highest towers are Queen Jennah’s palatial complex.

Before I played the game I previously posted here about how the concept art of Divinity’s Reach reminded me of Mont Saint-Michel. Now I have played the game and explored the city I still agree with that comparison, and I think overall what ArenaNet was trying to portray with this location was the element of strength and power combined with a sophisticated civilisation in a race (in the context of the game- the human race). When compared to the architecture of the  other in-game races (such as Charr, Asura etc) their architecture also represents the ideals of their race.

Lastly, this is very true to architecture from history and to other countries today as our buildings become our identities, representative of the times. It is interesting how we implement these sort of ideals to in-game cultures as well.

For more architecture in gaming click here!