For example, take a look at these three versions of the Public Dining Room.

We went through several iterations on how this room could look and intentionally left the images sparse (no color or shading) since it saved timed and we were aware that changes would more than likely happen. We conjured up the first version (below) using our initial research such as books, maps, the Monticello website, etc. Using these we found out the size of the room and its contents such as dining table (who would of thought?), a dumbwaiter, girandoles, etc.

Version 1 of the Public Dining Room (click on image for full view)

The version 2 image below shows added content using the feedback from Barb Kubik, who is our super awesome historian. She noted that according to her resources, the fireplace was actually on the east wall, there were actually four doors, and more furniture was in the room.

Version 2 of the Public Dining Room (click on image for full view)

Version 3 displays small changes like a dining set on the table, a note to modelers on where the pier table would be, and switching around the dumbwaiter and sidebar based on further research.

Version 3 of the Public Dining Room (click on image for full view)

The following image is the Public Dining room in its final iteration.

The Public Dining Room's final iteration (click on image for full view).

We made this final iteration after showing Barb the version 3 image. She made comments based on her further research that there were actually two small dumbwaiters that would be by the tables and one on the south east door. Also, one of my favorite details, is the square crumb catcher under the dining table. Barb noted that during the time, textile workers would make square crumb catchers because it was more practical as circular carpets wasted too much material. The numbers at the top of the image are the room dimensions for modeling purposes.

You could spend 5 seconds in this room, but knowing that you were in a super accurate rendition of that room makes the experience so much more rewarding and meaningful. I think that’s a huge part of this game and is a big draw for players. Much thanks to Barb for all the help and time she put in. The team loves her for it. Thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Justin – Concept Artist/Modeler

One of the highlights for me was visiting an archaeological site of a Nez Perce longhouse, and many round houses from the early 19th century, in Hells Canyon. It is likely that these houses were part of the village at which Ordway, Weiser, and Frazer traded for Salmon (which rotted before they could get it back to the Corps!) It’s impossible to see in the photos, but there are depressions in the ground where the houses were.

[site of Nez Perce archaeological site visited by Ordway]

[a young Nez Perce dancer]

[Nez Perce beaded Imperial Stormtrooper!]

[Weippe Prairie, where the Corps of Discovery first met the Nez Perce after coming out of the Bitterroots]

The highlight for me was visiting the Newberry library, which houses many primary documents related to the expedition. My iPhone’s camera hardly does these items justice, but in this photo you several of them.

Private Joseph Whitehouse’s journal is front and center. This went with him to the Pacific and back! Top right above that is his rewritten journal, which he revised after the expedition based on his journal, recollections, and likely information from the other men. To the upper left of Whitehouse’s journal is William Clark’s cash book. The contents are not very interesting, just accounting information. However, on the back cover, Clark kept a running tally of the deaths of the expedition members. This cover is very important to scholars because it proves that Sacagawea was dead by 1825.

In this photo you can see several copies of the original 1814 Biddle edition of the journal. Cool, but the one on the top right is very special. It was Thomas Jefferson’s private copy. He initialed certain pages so that he would be able to prove his ownership. Also cool, but then he gave it to William Clark! Both Clark and his wife Julia signed the book as well.

We saw a lot of other things and places, that irrelevant to this game, but were still very interesting. Many thanks to Lou who made this trip a reality!

The major influence I can point to when developing terrain are the many hours I’ve spent driving across Kansas and Missouri. The two states are nearly opposite as far as terrain goes, but both have great examples of terrain layouts.  Missouri, for the most part, is covered in large rolling hills covered in trees. It also has some interesting rock formations along the Missouri River, especially around the Columbia area. These bluffs are a hundred feet tall and go all the way down to the river. It’s taken thousands of years to carve those out. I pulled from this image to shape the bluffs of the Fish Camp level.  I wanted to make the bluffs in the game look like the actual bluffs I have seen along the Missouri river. It’s still a work in progress but I think its coming off well. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum is Kansas, especially the western half of the state.  Kansas is known for being flat, and it is to an extent. Kansas has miles and miles of beautiful gently rolling hills covered in grass. Most of this land is fairly untouched and looks like it did a couple of hundred years ago at the time of Lewis and Clark. This feel of wide open space and gently rolling hills is important to our Fish Camp level. We have a nice open area, covered in grass and other discoverable plants, animals, and items, for the player to explore.  I’ve tried to simulate the gently rolling feeling of those Kansas prairies. I really wanted to give the player the realistic feel of being in that open environment.

So far, I’ve been very pleased with how the terrain has turned out.  There are gentle, rolling hills, realistic shore lines along the rivers, and tall bluffs that really add flair to the level.  The Fish Camp level has come a long way in a short amount of time!

 Eric B. – Level Designer

This level occurs about 1/3 of the way into the game. It was our first in-depth exploration of how we would handle the Corps’ interaction with American Indians, in this case, the Otoe. I’ll post about the process at a later date. We also focused on the disciple issues with the men, and with Sergeant Floyd’s death.

Please keep in mind that we have been focusing on the core gameplay, interaction, and dialogue, and at this point all the art in the game at this point is placeholder.

Thomas Jefferson--pimped out in fur!

One of my first tasks when I signed on to Meriwether was to begin fleshing out how we would portray Jefferson. I humbly submit to you that there are few prospects capable of instilling more terror in the American writer than to try to create an historically-accurate yet fictional version of our third president. I mean, he slept with his slaves. Where do you go from there?

Less facetiously, Jefferson continues to be among the most polarizing of the Founding Fathers, as the Texas Board of Education demonstrated by removing him from a list of “great world political thinkers” of the 18th and 19th century. But it’s not only Ultraconservatives who find him a problematic figure: he felt that African Americans were racially inferior to whites, while believing that Native Americans were primitive but “redeemable”–that they could be assimilated into American/European cultures. And Sally Hemings was probably his long-time consort, as well as his slave. He was a prisoner of his time in terms of his worldview: as we all are, of course. If you haven’t yet shuddered at how history will look back on us, start now. It won’t be pretty.

Still, we want our players to be immersed in the zeitgeist of the time while simultaneously enough outside of it to analyze and critique the time the way a historian would. We want our players to think like historians, in other words. How, then, should we portray Jefferson, the architect of the Corps of Discovery’s mission?

Since Jefferson’s role in the game is relatively minor–he only really appears in the first episode of the game, we decided to emphasize his far-ranging imagination, his wit, and his scientific bent–all undeniable facets of his character, no matter what your political bent may be. His interactions with Lewis are at first playful–the two were great friends, Jefferson serving as perhaps the most important father figure in Lewis’s life–and later switch to emphasize the spirit of adventure and the desire to explore North America that both share. Game-wise, we had time to incorporate little else in the dialogue, but the player will be able to learn a great deal more about Jefferson through other means: Jefferson’s servants lend insight about his character; some of the curiosities that he has collected and brought to the President’s House (that’s the name of the White House before it was the White House) are almost Steampunk; and, most directly, the game will give, as part of the “wunderkammer” of factual information we’ll be providing players, a biography of America’s third president.

And for the record, the Meriwether team is a big fan of Jefferson. For all his flaws and human weaknesses, he remains perhaps the single most visionary of all the visionary men who made America.

Working on this game has already been a very unique and incredible experience. It’s been a challenge creating something that is both historically accurate, yet stands on its own as a fun and interesting game. Because of this game, I have become immersed in the world of Lewis and Clark and met so many amazing people. I want to use this site as an opportunity to share part of this journey.