India: East Asian vs. Middle Eastern City Graphics?

[durian]

One minor gripe that I've had with Civilization series is that Indian cities never look Indian. From Civ 2 all the way to CiV, Indian cities have always used the East Asian city graphic, which does not remotely resemble Indian architecture at all!

Of course, I don't expect the developers to create a unique city graphic for each civilization. Instead, I think it would be a simple fix to just give India Middle Eastern city graphics.

Here are some pictures to illustrate my point:





Please vote in the poll and tell me what you think...

 

[Maniacal]

Neither of them look like an actual city.

 

[Pouakai]

Of those two Middle Eastern. But ideally there'd be a different, SE Asian style, maybe for Siam as well

 

[Camikaze]

I agree with Pouakai, though given I've never actually noticed (i.e. it's not very noticeable), the developers probably don't want to put the effort into another city set.

 

[apocalypse105]

You forgot the settlers animations they are olso different If you could add that tho

 

[comatosedragon]

Well, I never really thought about it until you pointed it out. But wow, you are right. Neither is perfect, but Middle Eastern seems to fit MUCH better.

 

[PhilBowles]

There should be a poll option for 'Each civ should have Civ-specific graphics'. It wouldn't even be that hard to do with some civs being released individually as DLC and some specific graphics that can be imported from scenarios (Motte & Bailey as a European Citadel in the Medieval period, for instance).

Of course not every civ has distinct architecture - as in the above examples most Western European styles would be the same. But I still see no problem with creating specific Civ-relevant styles on a Civ-by-Civ basis. Just because the French and Americans use basically the same style, there's no reason for the Chinese and the Siamese to, as those traditions are more distinct from one another.

 

[durian]

Of course not every civ has distinct architecture - as in the above examples most Western European styles would be the same. But I still see no problem with creating specific Civ-relevant styles on a Civ-by-Civ basis. Just because the French and Americans use basically the same style, there's no reason for the Chinese and the Siamese to, as those traditions are more distinct from one another.

I agree that it would be even better if Firaxis made a unique city graphics for civs like Siam, India, or the Iroquois, which have very distinct architectural styles, but I don't think that's gonna happen. India's city graphics, though, really don't blend in with the civilization.

 

[aatami]

As long as they won't change Indias music to middle eastern music, I'm okay with the city graphic change.

 

[PhilBowles]

I agree that it would be even better if Firaxis made a unique city graphics for civs like Siam, India, or the Iroquois, which have very distinct architectural styles, but I don't think that's gonna happen. India's city graphics, though, really don't blend in with the civilization.

I find it more jarring with Siam, but then I haven't played India yet. It's possible additional graphical styles will be introduced with the expansion, but I think it's at least feasible to add new graphics in the DLC, and to change the graphics of the existing civs to match. For instance, if a future set reintroduces the Khmer, they could be given their own set of graphics that would apply to Siam for owners of the Khmer DLC.

Other companies typically churn out DLCs which are exclusively graphics updates; I don't see the point of buying a DLC set for that alone, but it suggests its entirely feasible to add value to a DLC civ release by adding new 'skins' to the Civs.

 

[cuc]

You forgot the settlers animations they are olso different If you could add that tho

In Civ5, it's far more appropriate for India to use East Asian settlers.

The livestocks are camels in the Middle East/African settlers, and water buffalos in the East Asian settlers. Water buffalos are THE livestock animal in India.

Asia is the native home of the water buffalo, with 95% of the world population, with about half of the total in India.

BtS actually does have special setting for India: they get East Asian city graphics and Middle East unit graphics.

Also, there is one Civ game that gives each civ unique graphics, from city buildings all the way to units: Civilization Revolution.

 

[durian]

As long as they won't change Indias music to middle eastern music, I'm okay with the city graphic change.

Don't they already have unique music for each civ that plays when you load the game? (I think it's the same soundtrack as the one that plays when you interact with that civ in diplomacy.) But maybe I'm imagining things!

 

[beyondhelp]

It should be Middle Eastern or maybe that South Pacific one. I'm no expert on Indian architecture but as a poorly informed passer-by I would imagine there could be a intellectual argument for Middle Eastern over East Asian: Iranian style Mughal architecture having a bigger influence with domes and towers, e.g. Taj Mahal, than the relatively limited Chinese interaction with India, i.e. a few missionaries and traders and Zhang He's fleet in the 15th century. Also, and I don't want to offend any Indians here, but I think India in most foreigner's popular imagine is characterised by dusty hues of Middle Eastern architecture and the one used for the S. Pacific, rather than white and pacific blue and Taibei Tower neo-pagoda style. I think they've chosen East Asian for political correctness's sake as India is actually in Asia proper not the Mid East and so by choosing the style based on geography rather than culture they can cover themselves against accusations of racism and ignorantly blurring the lines between Indian and Arab as both ethnicities' skin colour is relatively brown.

 

[Pouakai]

Don't they already have unique music for each civ that plays when you load the game? (I think it's the same soundtrack as the one that plays when you interact with that civ in diplomacy.) But maybe I'm imagining things!

Yeah, but that's only for diplomacy. When you're playing as a civ you get a soundtrack based on region of the civilization

 

[durian]

It should be Middle Eastern or maybe that South Pacific one.

I never actually considered the Polynesian city style... I uploaded a picture of it:



It don't think it really fits India though. But I guess I should have put it in the poll.

EDIT: I think it's also interesting how the Polynesians have a East Asian style palace...

I think they've chosen East Asian for political correctness's sake as India is actually in Asia proper not the Mid East and so by choosing the style based on geography rather than culture they can cover themselves against accusations of racism and ignorantly blurring the lines between Indian and Arab as both ethnicities' skin colour is relatively brown.

Agreed.

 

[Dark_Jedi06]

All they need to do is task their art department with creating a wide-range of diverse city art styles and unit sets and release it as I DLC.

I would gladly pay top-dollar for such a DLC.

 

[jjdragon]

Does anyone know hoe to change the artstyle for the cities? As most people agree that India should be Middle-Eastern, I would like to do this by modifying the buildings. I am also trying to give Mongolia the Polynesian artstyle. Simply changing the <ArtStyleType> in the XML doesn't work.

 

[Civciv5]

Polynesia with pagodas?!
Never noticed that!

They should use Native American citystyle as the Aztecs,Maya,Incas and Iroquois,that has more in common with Polynesia then Asian architecture does.

 

[Krzowwh]

I never actually considered the Polynesian city style... I uploaded a picture of it:



It don't think it really fits India though. But I guess I should have put it in the poll.

Actually, if you look here, you'll find that they look pretty close.

 

[djvandyke]

Much better