Scythian Wonder: Royal Kurgan

[nifa]

 

 

Hi all,

I finally want to share the results of a project I've been working on for some time and abandoned several times in between. So here it is, the royal kurgan, a burial mound for a wonder for the scythians. Two main difficulties: (1) somehow make look interesting, what in references is just a bare hill and make it look built by humans (2) let an organic building blend in with the surrounding topography.

Concerning (1): It might look too busy, there might be better options for prop placement, player color is difficult to add, maybe too many different/ not fitting stone colours, maybe add flora?

Concerning (2): The underground part consumes a lot of tris, but the gravel stones blend in nicely with the ground also on uneven terrain. I don't know if it goes deep enough though.

Further references:

Spoiler

 

 

Some CC0 models I used:

Spoiler

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/anta-grande-do-zambujeiro-5f328a5d7cdd4f96b9a4dcacb426348e

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/turas-station-51-dg080-003001-b328870bd87244be9a153be226e2e547

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/bnhustoft-leirvik-froyar-ff481a2c9e504d119d541f377b19417b

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/polovtsian-baba-fe8b7acd672f4f9cb2ab1ea7d7cf8bd3

the other steles I sculpted myself

 

Feel free to test from the zip I added and let me know. I also added 7 different steles and two stone heaps of different sizes:

 

This is how it would look without the reddish stones:

Spoiler

 

What is left to do: Choosing the final layout; maybe some colour adjustments; deleting all those hidden faces from the stones on the inside, tthen bake ao; checking on naming conventions, actor files and materials. Also the foundation is just prototype.

 

Edit: I played around with the colours a little bit, turns out that adding some warmth to the gravel base helps a lot, so the contrast between the grey and the reddish stones isn't that harsh. @wowgetoffyourcellphone do you think you could work from here? My skills with colours and picture editing are very limited.

 

 

862891456_kurgan0_28.1.zip

Edited 12 hours ago by nifa

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Honestly, something simpler looks great as well. Without all of the props on the hill. The base surrounded by stelae. 

 

[Genava55]

10 hours ago, nifa said:

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/polovtsian-baba-fe8b7acd672f4f9cb2ab1ea7d7cf8bd3

What do you think Polovtsian Baba means?

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

2 minutes ago, Genava55 said:

What do you think Polovtsian Baba means?

Maybe stop being so pretentious 

[Genava55]

8 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Maybe stop being so pretentious 

Polovtsian is related to Polovtsy, it is how the early Russians called the Cumans. 

[Genava55]

 

[Genava55]

[Genava55]

28 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Maybe stop being so pretentious 

I am pretentious but I explained something in March 2023 and still you made the same mistake in October 2023:

And I know you saw the post I made in March 2023:

Edited 2 hours ago by Genava55

[nifa]

2 hours ago, Genava55 said:

What do you think Polovtsian Baba means?

As I said, I started this over a year ago, so when I took it back up, I might have forgotten details about earlier discussions. As far as what I remember, although these stone babas aren't necessarily scythians, the scythians had similar ones too, so I figured if there's not much artistic difference, we could use a HP model from later times.

Sculpting is a ton of work, so if there is an existing similar model, it's always welcome, even if it's not 100 % accurate. What about the other sitting baba, is it also historically wrong?

Anyway, I spent a lot of time to recreate the other steles you suggested here: https://wildfiregames.com/forum/topic/20550-civ-scythians/?do=findComment&comment=561420 I'm open for references and historical advice

Edited 31 minutes ago by nifa

[nifa]

2 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Honestly, something simpler looks great as well. Without all of the props on the hill. The base surrounded by stelae. 

 

 

True. I was afraid it wouldn't look "wonderly" enough

Maybe in this case elevate the gravel base a bit?

[Genava55]

5 minutes ago, nifa said:

You are welcome to sculpt 100 % historically accurate babas/steles yourself.

If you can't take criticism, don't participate in a community project.

6 minutes ago, nifa said:

Sculpting is a ton of work, so if there is an existing similar model, it's always welcome, even if it's not 100 % accurate. What about the other sitting baba, is it also historically wrong?

Besides the two Cuman statues, yes I think the others are not anachronistic.