Forging the White City
Breaking the Silence
Greetings everyone,
Brandon Elder here, Game Director for Shadows of the Past.
It has been some time since our last development update, and we want to begin by addressing that. Shadows of the Past has not been silent due to lack of progress, but rather, quite the opposite. The past months have been full of restructuring, technical breakthroughs, and massive undertakings that demanded our focus. On a personal note, I also recently got married and spent a couple of months on my honeymoon, which added to the quieter stretch.
Our vision has always been ambitious, and to honor it we sometimes have to step away from updates and dedicate ourselves fully to the work. Today, we return with something very special to share.
WIP: City overview
Why Minas Tirith?
Among all the landmarks of Middle-earth, few stand taller, both literally and symbolically, than Minas Tirith, the White City. For us, choosing Minas Tirith as a core focus wasn’t just about building another level. It was about proving that we can take on Tolkien’s grandest environments, and do so with respect, detail, and scale.
Minas Tirith is more than a fortress. It is a city of kings, a bastion of Gondor, and the heart of resistance against the shadow of Mordor. To build it properly is to capture a piece of the legend itself.
Building a Legend
The construction of the White City is still very much a work in progress. Our environment team has been tirelessly blocking out massive walls, shaping the layered tiers, and establishing the foundation of the White Tower that crowns the city. Each new pass adds fidelity, from modular stonework to lighting experiments that capture the right balance of grandeur and realism.
One of the biggest challenges has been scale. Minas Tirith must feel overwhelming, yet functional. We’ve had to rethink workflows, modular asset design, redo parts of the city over and over again, and optimization strategies to ensure the city doesn’t just look cinematic in still shots, but also runs smoothly in large-scale battles when dozens of soldiers clash in its streets.
A Living Work in Progress
What you’ll see in the following images are not final shots, but milestones along the way. Each screenshot represents hours of experimentation, collaboration, and iteration. From the outer walls to the winding inner streets, the White City is slowly taking shape, stone by stone.
Acknowledgment
We want to give special thanks to Owen Westfield-Bell & Adam Dotlačil, who have collaborated on the Minas Tirith build. Their incredible work on the structures, layout and fine details have been the foundation for bringing Gondor's White City to life.
What’s Next?
While Minas Tirith is the focus of this blog, it is also laying groundwork for the future. The systems, assets, and workflows developed here will guide our work on Pelennor Fields, Osgiliath, and beyond. Parallel to this, our combat systems and multiplayer foundation are continuing to evolve, so when the White City is ready, it will be more than a backdrop. It will be a battlefield alive with strategy, danger, and epic clashes
We want to thank all of you for your patience and continued support during our quieter months. This project is built by passionate developers around the world, and every moment of progress brings us closer to realizing the dream of Shadows of the Past. Minas Tirith is rising, and while it is still under construction, it already speaks to the scale and ambition of what lies ahead.
Stay tuned. Much more is coming. Soon…. Very soon….
