Welcome to a behind-the-scenes look at how we created the buildings for Rise of Nations. From the outset we realized that we would face many challenges while trying to create all the buildings needed for the game. The most daunting obstacle was the sheer number that would be required for RON: there are sixteen unique structures that can be built, multiplied by eighteen civilizations and then seven ages of research; we were looking at potentially having to create over two thousand buildings! To deal with this we decided that there would be an early, middle and later age version of each building, not one for every age. We also studied the architectural character of the varied civilizations. Where there were similarities in style, building materials, and geographic conditions, we decided to have different cultures share certain buildings. We designated these collections of unified structures as our “building sets”. In all we produced three early, six middle and one later age set.
 When beginning a new “building set” the first thing we studied was the civilization's architecture, its environment, and the time period we wanted to represent. Architectural styles are amazingly diverse, but all share things such as doors, windows, arches, etc. We wanted to discover what made a culture's architectural elements look unique, and exaggerate and/or focus on these attributes. It was also important for us to depict materials that were readily available in a civilization's region. A civilization might only have had access to stone or mud and therefore we could not use wood. The time period was also crucial to show technological progression in the use of materials and building techniques.
 After researching the civilization we would create a style sheet made up of images of various buildings and pieces of buildings that exemplified the architectural elements we planned to use. Most of these images had been discovered in books or on the net while researching the civilization. The style sheet was an enormous help in unifying the look of our textures and the color palette of each set. This was especially important when a player had several buildings in a city. If the materials/textures were not consistent, the buildings would not look like they had been built by the same culture. After the sheet was approved, we would give one to each of the artists, allowing them to compare their building to the elements of the sheet. This enabled our team to evaluate the direction they were taking with a building and see if it was consistent with the rest of the set.
 The first step in actually making an individual building was the sketch. This would help tie together all the various elements from the style sheet into a single unified design that visually matched the building's function in the game. This sketch would then be translated into the computer using 3D Studio Max software. The first two or three buildings put into the computer were the most important, because they would set the standard for the remainder of the buildings in a given set. It was also important that these first buildings be made in a semi-modular style so that other artists could grab elements from these buildings and use them in their own work. This method of working sped up production and also assisted in keeping all the buildings in scale with each other.
The final part of the process was to render the building out to the game engine. All the buildings had to be rendered in exactly the same way with the same lighting so that they would match up in our game world. Some buildings were also given three-dimensional additions once they were put into the game. This allowed our pre-rendered buildings to have cranes and windmills that would spin in real time.
 Our final count was over two hundred individual buildings, each with its own unique function and flavor. Every unique “building set” presented its own challenges and sometimes it was difficult to decide on a style for a certain culture, but in the end we were always surprised and excited by what we had made. The building team hopes you enjoy discovering all the little details we have put into the buildings and that you will spot something new each time you play Rise of Nations.
Ted Terranova
Building Lead Artist
Big Huge Games
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