For our game, the levels will be defined by the time period in which they are set. I will be looking into the visuals and aesthetics of our chosen eras to establish an understanding of how we might want each level to be presented.
1. Stone Age (Paleolithic Era)
> 8700 BCE – 2000 BCE
In the Stone Ages, humans lived in natural caves, teepees or huts. This was the time in which the Ice Age occurred and humans will have needed fire for survival.
Large animals or megafauna were known to populate the land – they were often featured in cave paintings as the wildlife that humans had come across and targeted. These animals included giant sloths, mastodons, sabre-toothed cats, cave bears, horses, giant armadillos, woolly rhinos and more.
2. Middle Ages
> 500 CE – 1500 CE approx.
In early medieval England, noblemen and women would live in two-roomed cottages with only a small window and no chimney – one room being the main living area and the other containing a stone oven. Crops were grown on land surrounding the house and often stored in a separate building. Livestock such as sheep, pigs, cows and chickens were likely kept in a wooden barn.
For the peasants of this period, their homes had only one room and were made of sticks, straw and mud. Without sufficient funds, they would need to build the hut themselves instead of hiring someone and shared the space with their animals.
In the later medieval period, the wealthy lived in houses made of brick – a very costly material. They would often feature a slate tiled roof, a chimney, glass windows and two or more floors. For those who weren’t as rich as the noblemen and women, they would opt for half-timbered houses known as Tudor houses.
Peasants in the later middle ages had more money, as a great amount of the peasant population was wiped out by the Black Death. This meant that employers would pay anyone to work for them, raising the spectrum of wages. With these additional funds, the poor made Wattle and Daub houses; constructed of a framework of timber, it was then filled in with wattle, daubed with a combination of wet soil, clay, sand and animal dung and left to dry to create a hard wall.
Towns at this time were quite small in comparison to now. They would often be situated near crossroads, where people could meet for trading and the like. To have access to a water supply for washing, drinking and the disposal of sewage, towns would form by rivers also. If waste wasn’t thrown into the rivers, it would be left in the streets alongside other scraps and litter, making these areas unhygienic and attractive to rodents.
3. Viking Age
> 800 CE – 1050 CE approx.
Across Scandinavia, the majority of houses and buildings were made from timber – long and rectangular structures with reed or straw thatching for the roof. The walls consisted of wooden planks secured in the ground vertically that were lined with clay. There were also rows of indoor posts for support.
Central within the house was an oblong fireplace where the food was made and, along the walls were plank beds used for sleeping and seating. There were no chimneys or windows but only a hole in the roof, which lead to smokey houses due to lack of good ventilation. If there were no stables at the farm, the animals would be kept in stalls at one end of the home. Animals kept included sheep, goats and pigs but also domesticated pets like cats to aid in killing rodents.
The poorer kind often lived homes made from turf, stone or in pit-houses – a single-roomed hut with a timber roof and walls made from wattle or planks of wood.
These longhouses were situated in small farm villages, as a large proportion of Vikings tended to be farmers – towns and villages were not very common, however. Within the village, 6 -7 farms would be grouped in an open area or around a common street. The farm would be built up around the home, containing other key structures such as sheds, barns and workshops. They grew crops such as barley, oat and rye.
4. Victorian Era
> 1837 – 1901
In Victorian England, social class played a main part in one’s way of life. Upper and middle-class citizens would live in larger houses with flushing toilets, gas-powered lighting, indoor toilets and a water pump in the kitchen. The interiors were also well decorated with heavy curtains, rugs, ornaments, plants and more.
Those less fortunate were forced to make do with the cheap housing that landowners and factory owners would build for their workers. Victoria families were often larger, with 4 or 5 children but, they would be staying in small apartments with no water or toilets. On occasion, families would need to share a single apartment, which usually consisted of 4 rooms across two floors. Residents of a single street would have to share toilets and a water pump, from which the water was likely polluted.
Some of the worst accommodation was known as ‘back to backs’ or ‘courts’, with windows only at the front and the sewage running in the streets.
Victorian towns and cities were very overcrowded as many came from the country in search of work. Factories caused air pollution and sewage caused water pollution, making these areas dangerously unhygienic. As hotspots of activity, they featured markets, street-sellers, horse-drawn carriages, theatres and more.
sources:
https://news.softpedia.com/news/Paleolithic-The-Old-Stone-Age-81543.shtml
https://www.history.com/news/prehistoric-ages-timeline
https://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/Archaeology/stone-age/stoneage_living.html
https://www.britannica.com/event/Stone-Age
https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/stone-age
–
https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval-england/medieval-towns/
https://www.historyonthenet.com/medieval-life-housing
https://www.lostkingdom.net/medieval-architecture-building-materials/
http://cdalebrittain.blogspot.com/2014/08/medieval-farm-animals.html
–
https://www.q-files.com/history/vikings/everyday-life-in-viking-times/
https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-people/viking-homes/
https://norse-mythology.net/viking-houses/
–
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/victorian-homes/
https://victorianchildren.org/victorian-houses-how-victorians-lived/
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/victorian/daily-life/
https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/history/victorian-britain/victorian-cities/
Jasmine Cooper 