Map-A Calendar Of Important Dates English Language Arts And: Fill & Download for Free

It’s a calendar pointing to an exact date in time.“When in the course of time the composition of our world and those other worlds in space shall be more fully known, record it here for future men to see and, having seen, to speculate, investigate and carry on the search.” -Oskar J.W. Hansen, 1935Oskar J.W. Hansen's Commemorative Plaza Showing The Terrazzo Floor.This is the work of artist Oskar J.W. Hansen. He was commissioned to create art for the project to honor and commemorate the building and completion of the Hoover Dam (Bolder Dam). His basic plan was accepted after a competition that was held in the early 1930s by the US Reclamation Service.Oskar J.W. Hansen, 1930sCelestial Postions, A Universal CalendarThe memorial is the centerpiece of Hansen’s work, it consists of two winged sculptures. Surrounding the base is a terrazzo floor, inlaid with a star chart/celestial map. The chart preserves for future generations the exact date on which President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Dam. In the center of the floor are the important stars and features of the Polar region of the sky as they would appeared at 8:56pm 2.25 secs local apparent time on September 30, 1935 when the structure was dedicated.Hansen created one of the modern world’s most exact time reference. It is designed to be understood symbolically even if the English language had long since been replaced. It assumes that the future society that discovers this inlay understands the math and physics concepts of the mid 20th century. Using a base symbolic representation and then adding more exact complexity would be the best chance to relate the details of when this structure was built.The Pleiades showing Alcyone In The Center.The PleiadesThe center Star is Alcyone (η Tau, η Tauri, Eta Tauri) a system in the constellation Taurus. It is the brightest star in the Pleiades open cluster aged at less than 50 million years. Alcyone is approximately 371 light years from Earth and is named after the mythological figure Alcyone, one of the mythological Pleiades. In Greek mythology, Alcyone (Ancient Greek: Ἁλκυόνη Halkyónē) was the daughter of Aeolus, either by Enarete or Aegiale. Alcyone is also known as 昴宿六 (the Sixth Star of the Hairy Head) in Chinese.The apparent magnitudes of stars are shown as they would appear to the naked eye at a distance of about 190 trillion miles from earth (10 parsecs from our Earth). The center of the Sun is shown as the very center of the flag pole. The positions of the stars included in the map are then related in hour, minutes, and right ascension from this center of the Ecliptic.There is a section on along the edge that states:“This diagram traces a complete sidereal revolution of the Equinox, otherwise known as the Platonic or Great Year. The average length of a complete sidereal revolution is 25,694.8 tropical years; but may differ from the mean time of revolution by 281.2 years the mean line of the precession of the role of the Earth’s equator shown here by the outside circumference on this white metal circle. It’s 46.9 degrees in diameter.”Another section goes on to more detail:“The inclination of the Earth’s equator may vary relative to the fixed ecliptic, from 21 deg 59 min to 24 deg 36 min and her role therefore nutates in a zone 2 deg 37 min as shown here by this yellow band.”The design allows anyone versed in astronomy to calculate the precession (progressively earlier occurrence) of the Pole Star for approximately the next 14,000 years. Conversely, future generations could look upon this monument and determine, if no other means were available, the exact date on which Hoover Dam was dedicated.Hansen sated at the time of the dedication:“Instead of measuring 12 earthly hours, the dials measures a Platonic Year or Great Year, made up of 25,694.8 of our ordinary years. We cannot be sure of the exact length of the Platonic Year, because the civilized story of man, and hence, astronomy, is at the most only 10,000 years old; but we feel certain that it may not vary from the above mean time by more than 281.2 of our ordinary years…”A Message To The FutureThere are no other know public projects that have such an elaborate system for future generations to calculate the exact time a structure was built. Of course they do not need to actually be able to read the inscriptions to hopefully make sense of the symbolic references Hansen created.The big question is why? Hansen firmly believed that many ancient cultures used similar techniques. He argued that a number of structures could be “read” by the exact positioning that was used in construction. Hansen never publicly mentioned the ancient cultures and the structures he felt strongly suggested an exact date of construction, but he spoke of them in early interviews.There is very little doubt that Oskar Hansen a highly educated man and completely understood that history would look back at the Hover Dam as one of man’s largest modern building projects. He felt that just like the ancient Pyramids, this structure would last many 1000s of years and stand as a testament of the people that constructed it. Hansen created a message to the future and clearly understood that symbols would transcend time:“Man has always sought to express and preserve the magnitude of his exploits in symbols. The written words are symbols arranged so as to preserve in objectified form the thought of man and to record his variant states, both mental and physical. All other arts are similar as to their symbolic significance. They take their place among the category of human endeavor simply as the interpreter of life to itself. They serve as an outer object typifying the inner process. They form the connecting link between the spiritual and the material world. They are the shadows cast by the realities of the soul.” - Oskar J.W. Hansen, 1935

Egyptian CalendarThe Egyptians are generally credited with devising the earliest known http://256.com/gray/docs/calendar.html#: 4236 B.C., the founding of the Egyptian calendar. Dividing the day into 24 hours was an Egyptian idea. They took math very seriously working out complicated equations, geometry, fractions and even the decimal system. They invented the clock, metal pipes, of all things the toilet seats, looms, potters wheel, carpentry tools, scissors, keys, toothpaste, cement, devised reservoirs, irrigation systems, measured flood levels and last but not least they started the 365 day calendar.The ancient civil Egyptian calendar dates back to the 5th Millennium, known as the Annus Vagus or "Wandering Year". The Ancient Egyptian astrologers had long studied the stars which helped them in forecasting the seasons of flood and sowing which was vital to the prosperity of Egypt. The astronomers identified the planets in the solar system and also took great interest in the stars. The brightest star in the Egyptian sky was Sirius. Sirius disappeared for a 70 day period and reappeared on the eastern horizon on July 19th which also coincided with the Nile floods.This was therefore the date of New Year's Day for the Ancient Egyptians. The Ancient Egyptians had a great interest in the passing of time and how this effected vital events such as the annual flooding of the Nile.Akhet was the time of the year that the Nile flooded. The name 'Akhet' literally means inundation. This occurred normally between July and December. During this time irrigation canals redirected water from the Nile to the more arid areas.Proyet was the time of the year when the Nile receded. Because the temperatures were much cooler than other times of the year this was the perfect time for the farmers to sow their crops. Proyet occurred normally from December to March.Shumo was summertime for the Egyptians. Lasting from March to July it was a dry time when the crops were harvested and was often one of the busiest times of the year. Because the crops were now in it was also the time when the tax collectors showed up for the Pharaoh's share.Bronze Age Sky DiskA group of German scientists has deciphered the meaning of one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries in recent years: The mystery-shrouded sky disc of Nebra was used as an advanced astronomical clock. The purpose of the 3,600 year-old sky disc of Nebra, which caused a world-wide sensation when it was brought to the attention of the German public in 2002, is no longer a matter of speculation.The Nebra disk may have been a ritual object or, more likely a calculating tool used with observations at Goseck or a similar site to determine planting and harvest times. The arrival of the stars in the night sky showed that it was time to start bringing in the harvest.The disc was originally smeared with rotten eggs. These would have caused a chemical reaction on its bronze surface, which would have turned the disc's background a deep violet color simulating a night sky out of which the gold-embossed stars would have shone.The third arc on the disk is also highly interesting. The ancients did not understand how the sun could set in the west and end up in the east the next morning. Representations of a disk in a ship, from Bronze Age Egypt and Scandinavia, reveal an age-old belief that a ship carried the sun across the night sky. The Nebra disk is the first evidence of such a faith in central Europe.Chinese CalendarThe Chinese calendar is a luni-solar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures as well.The mysterious Chinese calendar however has links with many different dimensions starting from astrology and agriculture to the solar terms and the four seasons. It is primarily a calendar that is still used for the purpose of marking traditional events such as the Chinese New Year which is probably the most important event for the Chinese.The calendar is based upon the Five Elements (metal, wood, water, fire,earth) concept which has been part of the Chinese concept of the essential components of the structure of the physical world. The other culturally important aspect of the ancient Chinese calendar is the zodiac animals that are assigned to each year.Animal Personality TraitsLegend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.If you want to look up your Zodiac Sign here is a link.The Chinese calendar is still used today to choose the most auspicious date for a wedding or the opening of a building. Because each month follows one cycle of the moon, it is also used to determine the phases of the moon.Bulgarian CalendarThe Ancient Bulgarian Calendar - 5505 years BC It is known that the ancient Bulgarians knew the basic laws of motion of the planets and the Earth around the Sun perfectly, and because of that they possess the most impeccable calendar ever created. The ancient Bulgarian calendar is based on observations of Jupiter and the Sun and is more precise than the modern Western (Gregorian) calendar we use today. The Bulgarians are the people with the most ancient system of measuring time – a fact, which indicates their early civilizing force. One of the primary uses of the early Bulgarian Calendar was to recognize the reign of each emperor.For its 1400 years of statehood history and interesting geopolitical location, forming a strategic bridge between Asia and Europe, the ancient kingdom saw a long succession of invaders, conquerors, traders and settlers, who mingled with the ancient civilization and left their marks and artifacts for the future generation and the world to finally discover.The Huns, in their travels, may have brought the Chinese method of timekeeping to Bulgaria. What is little known to most people is the striking resemblance of the Bulgarian calendar to the Chinese zodiac. If you look at the ancient calendar above you see that it is comprised of twelve signs, one for each month and each corresponding to an animal similar to the Chinese calendar.The Babylonian CalendarThe Babylonian calendar is one of the greatest achievements of Antiquity: it combines a solar and a lunar cycle in such a way that the beginning of the year never wanders far from the Spring equinox. The basic theoretical principle is well-known: in a cycle of nineteen years, we have twelve years of twelve lunar months and seven years of thirteen months.Theoretically, dates in ancient Babylonian texts can be converted to our calendar; Babylonia (Babylonian Bâbili,"gate of God"; Old Persian Babirush),Was the ancient country of Mesopotamia, known originally as Sumer and later as Sumer and Akkad, lying between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, south of modern Baghdâd, Iraq.The Babylonians excelled at astronomy. Many of the constellations that we see in the sky were first categorized by them. The kept careful records and recorded celestial events under the belief they could shape future events. Under Hammurabi the Lawgiver, in 1800 B.C., star catalogs and planetary records were compiled.Ziggurat or sky observatoryThe Neo-Babylonian used Ziggurat's as observatories and mapped the night time sky into constellations. They developed the 12 signs of the zodiac, recorded the motions of the planets and even predicted eclipses.The Sumerian administration needed a time unit comprising the whole agricultural cycle; for example, from the delivery of new barley and the settling of pertinent accounts to the next crop. This financial year began about two months after barley cutting. For other purposes, a year began before or with the harvest. This fluctuating and discontinuous year was not precise enough for the meticulous accounting of Sumerian scribes, who by 2400 B.C.E. already used the schematic year of 30 x 12 = 360 days.At about the same time, the idea of a royal year took precise shape, beginning probably at the time of barley harvest, when the king celebrated the new (agricultural) year by offering first fruits to gods in expectation of their blessings for the year. When, in the course of this year, some royal exploit (conquest, temple building, and so on) demonstrated that the fates had been fixed favorably by the celestial powers, the year was named accordingly.Trundholm Sun ChariotSun chariot, one of the most famous Bronze Age artifacts from Denmark. The sun chariot depicts a horse-drawn, six-wheeled wagon in cast bronze with a gold-covered sun disk that displays a spiral motif The sculpture is dated by the Nationalmuseet to about 1400 BC, though other dates have been suggested. The belief is that the disk was designed by a person with some measure of astronomic knowledge and that the sculpture functioned as a calendar. There is some school of thought that the Sun Chariot indicates that the sun, stars and earth are in perpetual motion.The Sun Chariot illustrates the idea that the sun was drawn on its eternal journey by a divine horse. The two sides of the disk are considered as representations of the sun, on a chariot pulled by a horse across the heavens from East to West during the day, showing its bright side, the gilded one. During the night, it returns from West to East , showing his “dark side” to the Earth. A sun image and the horse have been placed on wheels to symbolize the motion of the sun.Sol (Sun) is called "the bride of the sky" , across which she journeys daily in a chariot drawn by the horses Arvak and Alsvid, the chariot itself fashioned by the gods from a spark that flew out of Muspellsheim (Norse mythology means realm of fire). The Bronze Age Trundholm sun-chariot indicates that the daily journey of Sun's horse-drawn chariot was an important component in Northern Europe's ancient sun-cult. Julius Caesar, in his simplified account of Germanic religion, reports that the Germans worshiped fire (or Vulcan), together with the sun and the moon, an indication (among many others) that solar religion must have been more significant in earlier periods. Sol will be swallowed at Ragnarok by the wolf Skoll/Fenrir , but her daughter will eventually take her place in the reordered world . In the language of men the sun is called Sol; in the language of the gods she is called Sunna, which is also her name in the Second Merseburg Charm.So revered is the Sun Chariot that it is the motif on the 1000-krone banknote.Phaistos DiskAlthough there has been some controversy over the authenticity of the Disk it is widely believed to be genuine and is on display in the Heraklion Museum of Crete, Greece. Numerous theories have been suggested and range from the Phaistos Disk being a prayer token to a calendar to a message from ancient aliens. A recent and quite plausible theory is that it was a coded message that was read and then disposed of by dropping it into the pits. If this is the case it would represent one of the earliest forms of sophisticated encryption.Genetic DiskThese are very strange artifacts from Colombia. They do not fit any existing pre-Colombian culture, the artifacts are considered to be at least 6,000 years old. To date there is no explanation as to what kind of technology was used to make such instruments and tools from lydite.On the disk there are carvings that describes the astonishing knowledge of our ancestors. The disk was examined by the Museum of Natural History in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Vera Hammer, expert for precious stones analyzed the object.On the edge of the disk there are symbols of a snake. There is a hole in the middle of the disk which give some indication that it may have been fixed to a rod or a stick and then turned so both sides could be seen. One side shows biological detail suchas sperms, female egg cells and genitals, the fertilized egg, fetus and a growing embryo. The other side shows what could be interpreted as cell division and the depiction of frog creatures at different stages.It could be that this is a calendar that shows different phases of human life and evolution. Very significant are the distant lying eyes and the broad nose which is characteristic of the embryonic structure of the head.Many scientist cried fraud when the disks was first discovered but this is not at all unusual when something does not fit into what we have been taught or what is out of the ordinary. There are many ancient relics that reside in museums around that globe that defy conventional explanation that have been quietly put into various museums. It seems that historians and academics would occasionally relegate these ancient technologies to a shelf in the museum storage room rather then attempt to explain them.Hindu CalendarPanchang is formed from two Hindu words, Panch and Ang. Panch means five and ang means limbs. Therefore,Panchang means five limbs. Panchang is a book of tables that lists the days of every month along with astronomical data and calculations. On the basis of this data, the days of Hindu festivals are fixed. It also mentions the auspicious days for marriages and special ceremonies.In the “Brahma-Vaivarta Purana”, Lord Krishna tells Ganga Devi that a Golden Age will come in the Kali Yuga - one of the four stages of development that the world goes through as part of the cycle of eras, as described in Hindu scriptures. Lord Krishna predicted that this Golden Age will start 5,000 years after the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and will last for 10,000 years.Mayan Calendar Matches Hindu CalendarIt is interesting that this prediction of the emergence of a new world is prophesied to appear about the same time that the Mayans predicted it to come! The Mayan calendar began with the Fifth Great Cycle in 3114 BC and will end on 21 December 2012 AD. The Hindu Kali Yuga calendar began on 18 February 3102 B.C. There is only a difference of 12 years between the Hindu's beginning of the Kali Yuga and the Mayans beginning of the Fifth Great Cycle.Golden Age Could Begin in 2012The ancient Hindus mainly used lunar calendars but also used solar calendars. If an average lunar year equals 354.36 days, then this would be about 5270 lunar years from the time when the Kali Yuga started until 21 Dec 2012. This is the same year that the Mayans predict rebirth of our planet. It is also about 5113 solar years of 365.24 days per year, and is day number 1,867,817 into the Kali Yuga. By either solar or lunar years, we are over 5,000 years into the Kali Yuga and it is time for Lord Krishna's prophecy to happen according to the ancient Hindu scriptures. Lord Krishna's Golden Age could easily begin in 2012!Mayan Prophecy Matches Hindu ProphecyIt is amazing that both calendars began at about the same time over 5,000 years ago and both calendars predict a totally new world and/or golden age after about 5,000 years into their calendars! These two calendars seem to give us a strong indication that a new era, a new dimension is arriving in 2012. Historically, this is an amazing fact since these two ancient cultures did not have any contact.Jewish CalendarWhat does a calendar do? The simplest answer to this question is that it measures time. It also gives a sense of ‘controlling’ time which is another way of saying one has control of one’s life. But more than this, calendars were often produced for the purpose of worship, which is one of the primary focuses of the Jewish Calendar.The Number 7 is a special number in Scripture and symbolizes divine perfection or completion. It is woven into every aspect of the Hebrew calendar. The Sabbath is observed on the 7th day of the week and every seventh year God decreed a Sabbatical year, and every seventh sabbatical year was considered a Jubilee year. Seven weeks after the Passover came the feast of Pentecost. The feast of Tabernacles, which is the last feast and completes the cycle, lasts for seven days. The seventh month is known as Tishri, and it contains the most holy days within the Hebrew calendar. Today they are referred to as the "High Holy Days."The Lord indeed created time yet He dwelt in a dimension that is beyond time and space. Time and space is where the sovereign God would meet with His highest creation, man.Muslim CalendarThe Islamic Calendar, is as old as Islam. It dates back to the oldest known civilization. God in the Quran tells us that , our religion, Islam, is the oldest and same religion known to mankind. All God's prophets and messengers came with the same message of submission, to submit to the One and only God.Reviewing the history of calendars show that, when God created the universe, He created the Lunar and Solar calendar. It might be interesting to know that God used the word "MONTH" 12 times and the word "DAY" 365 times throughout the Quran.In ancient Arab culture, there were traditionally four months during which the tribes agreed to an amnesty on any ongoing fighting. During the months of Muharram, Rajab, Dhul-Qi'dah, and Dhul-Hijjah, any battles were to be automatically suspended in order to allow for trade and travel in the area. This tradition was upheld in Islam, and these four months are called the “forbidden months.” However, if only one side observes the automatic truce and the other side continues fighting, the party observing the truce is obliged to defend itself.Hopi CalendarThe Hopi religious calendar begins anew each year in November with the Kelmuya season. Only those who have been initiated into "manhood"may participate in the ceremonies, which celebrate the creation of the present world, the Fourth World. Kelmuya (November) Fourth World Creation, Month of the SparrowHawk, Native Americans followed the movements of the celestial markers - much as we do today. They called it Star Knowledge. Beyond the land where they lived, was the sky, and that beyond were dimensional portals or sky holes. Beyond that was an area that they called the Ocean of Pitch, were the beauty of the night sky and the galaxies spun out towards them. Beyond that were the boundaries of the universe. And that set along the rim at the boundaries of the universe were 4 different extraterrestrial groups.The Hopis called the Pleiadians the Chuhukon, meaning those who cling together. They considered themselves direct descendants of the Pleiadians. The Navajos named the Pleiades the Sparkling Suns or the Delyahey, the home of the Black God. The Iroquois pray to them for happiness. The Cree claim they came to earth from the stars in spirit form first and then became flesh and blood.Zuni CalendarThe Zuni year is divided into two seasons, inaugurated by the solstices, each of which is composed of six months--lunations, subdivided into three ten-day periods. The significations of the month names are interesting: the month of the winter solstice, which is the beginning of the year, is called Turning-Back, in reference to the Sun Father’s return from the south; it is followed by Limbs-of-the-Trees-Broken-by Snow, No-Snow-in-the-Road, Little-Wind, Big-Wind, and No-Name. For the remaining half of the year, these appellations, though now inappropriate, are used again, the months of the second half-year being, strictly speaking, nameless.Both Zuni and Hopi have priests whose special duty is to observe the annual course of the sun, and hence to determine the dates for the great festivals of the winter and summer solstices. The Zuni sun priest uses as his gnomon a petrified stump which stands at the outskirts of the village, and at which he sprinkles meal and makes his morning prayers to the sun, until, on the day when that luminary rises at a certain point of Corn Mountain, the priesthood is informed of the approaching change. Every fourth morning, for twenty days, the sun priest offers prayer-plumes to the Sun Father, the Moon Mother, and to departed sun priests.Cherokee CalendarWe are all made of stars. In Cherokee belief, the departed souls arise into the sky to become stars, and it is from the stars that souls come to earth to be born as children. The planets, stars, and constellations, the "Star People" showing their faces at the birth of a child, speak to his or her strengths and weaknesses and to destiny's role for that individual.The link between the People and the stars, between Earth and Heaven, is so strong that it's even claimed that our ancestors came to earth "from the Pleiades." At the end of the Seventh World, it's said that we will return to our home in the sky.Aztec [Sun] CalendarThe Aztec calendar was an alteration of the Mayan calendar. It consisted of a 365 day agricultural calendar as well as a 260-day sacred calendar. It is currently on display at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, Mexico. What’s fascinating about this calendar is that every year has a “no time” period-days “outside the calendar” to freely celebrate life. There are a total of five “nameless days” at the end of every Mayan solar year. This is supposed to be a phase of transition and preparation for the next year. Most people mistakenly believe the Aztec and the Mayans were philosophically and geographically kindred spirits. That is not the case at all, to read about the differences between the Aztec and Maya click here.Mayan CalendarAncient Maya Calendar Modern depiction of Ancient CalendarIncredibly, the Maya understood that our world turned, but they also knew that it was only a part of a larger solar system that moved independently through our galaxy. This end-date of the Long Count Calendar December 21, 2012 marks the coming of a truly rare cosmic event that will occur when this procession of the equinoxes positions our solar system in the very center of our galaxy when Earth will cross the ecliptic path of the sun.The world is talking about what will happen on this date, however, not everyone is looking forward to it with the same set of expectations. For some, 2012 hints at a coming apocalypse but more optimistic views believe that, as the Maya claimed, we would begin to experience some form of spiritual awakening, perhaps initiated by some cosmic event or compelling miracle. But, we have no way of knowing for sure what effects these cosmic events will have on Earth, as the last time an alignment like this took place was over 150,000 years ago!The notion of 2012 being the end of the world is actually fairly new, it was first suggested by New Age religionist José Argüelles in his 1987 book The Mayan Factor: 'Path Beyond Technology'. You can rest assured that when you wake up on Dec 22, 2012 there may have been a change in the cosmic universe but the earth as you know it will be intact!Gregorian CalendarThe Gregorian Calendar is what the vast majority of the world uses today. The original goal of the Gregorian calendar was to change the date of Easter.In 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII introduced his Gregorian calendar, Europe adhered to the Julian calendar, first implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. Since the Roman emperor’s system miscalculated the length of the solar year by 11 minutes, the calendar had since fallen out of sync with the seasons. This concerned Gregory because it meant that Easter, traditionally observed on March 21, fell further away from the spring equinox with each passing year.1. Leap years don’t really occur every four years in the Gregorian calendar.2. The Gregorian calendar differs from the solar year by 26 seconds per year.3. Some Protestants viewed the Gregorian calendar as a Catholic plot.4. Britain’s adoption of the Gregorian calendar sparked riots and protest.5. Before the Gregorian calendar’s adoption, the English new year began on March 25, or Lady Day.The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII , after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter gravissimas. The reformed calendar was adopted later that year by a handful of countries, with other countries adopting it over the following centuries. The motivation for the Gregorian reform was that the Julian calendar assumes that the time between vernal equinoxes is 365.25 days, when in fact it is presently almost exactly 11 minutes shorter. The error between these values accumulated at the rate of about three days every four centuries, resulting in the equinox occurring on March 11 (an accumulated error of about 10 days) and moving steadily earlier in the Julian calendar at the time of the Gregorian reform. Since the Spring equinox was tied to the celebration of Easter, the Roman Catholic Church considered that this steady movement in the date of the equinox was undesirable, hence the birth of the Gregorian Calendar.SourceBronze Age Sky DiscThe Kids Pages; Interesting Facts on Ancient Egyptians for ChildrenInteresting Calendar FactsRotation & Revolution and CalendarsPage on helium.comAncient CalendarsOther Ancient Calendars | CalendarsAmazing Art of Ancient CalendarsBronze Age Sky DiscThe Zuni and Hopi CalendarThe Zuni and Hopi CalendarThe Islamic CalendarIncredible Discovery - The World's Most Accurate Calendar20 Ancient Calendars to Screw up the Apocalypse Timetable - EgoTVOverview - Ancient Hebrew Calendarhttp://sjkt-keruh.blogspot.com/2011/04/it-is-5113-years-had-elapsed-in-hindu.html

-0. Disclaimer AI know people at a number of studios, but I don't know anyone that works at Rockstar now, that I am aware of.If I did and if I had any real first-hand knowledge of how they created the game, I would be under a Non Disclosure Agreement, which I would honor.So, there are questions that game makers should not answer. Any detailed, specific, literal answer to this question could harm the author's standing in the industry.1. Disclaimer BInstead of the headline question, I'll attempt a decent answer to this request from the answer details:" I'd like to know the process and the complexity involved in developing such an open world game, including all the technical aspects."So, not GTA V, but a big open world game.I'll speak to technical high points and some details, but not all technical details, because my family would eventually miss me and I'd starve. I also reserve the right to submit this answer, but keep editing and adding, over time, for the same reason.2. Prior ArtThe first step in building a bleeding edge, industry stand-out, amazing, open world game similar to GTA V is making at least 4 earlier versions that build up your muscles, experience, staff, technology, tools, funding, list of great partners and steely resolve.Few to no, big, skilled, professional teams could hope to match it, especially in one try. Similar franchises, like Saint's Row and Mercenaries, are trying to climb that mountain, but Rockstar is already on top.3. The EngineGTA V use a proprietary ga,e engine called the RAGE engine. (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine). Rockstar Advanced Game EngineThe engine has integrations of middleware, including a character animation subsystem made by NaturalMotion. Morpheme with Euphoria and The open-source Bullet physics system Game Physics Simulation(thanks to Nicholas Marsh for corrections to this section)Morpheme is known for unique character animation technology that both allows smooth, organic feeling character movements, driven from AI, and a means to store and relate many of them in an efficient way.Open world games require a huge number of character animations - walking, running, turning, shooting, jumping, climbing, falling, crouching, taking damage, idle poses and many more.Many of them must loop perfectly so you can play the run cycle animation over and over, as long as the player holds the button, or you run into something.Animations must be interruptible, in some cases. If you have 3 bullets in your revolver and start the reload animation, but someone shoots at you, just like real life, you must be able to snap the cylinder closed and return fire at once.More on related topics later, like anim trees and anim notifies, but for now, let's just say the NaturalMotion tools are top shelf for flexible character animations.Bullet physics allows game objects to have mass, respond to gravity and other forces applied to them, have properties that influence how they react to forces, collide with other game objects and come to rest in a believable looking way.4. Making Art Assets3D game engines use polygonal art assets for most everything in the game from characters to buildings to guns to cars. The pipeline for making these game assets are all similar.1. Start with concept art or reference material ConceptArt.org2. Sculpt a lovely, high resolution, high poly count version of the thing. If it is a gun or car, use Maya | 3D Animation Software | Computer Animation | Autodesk or Luxology.com :: MODO 701. If it is a person or animal, use Pixolgic Home of ZBrush3. Apply great surfaces to the 3D model via 2D mapping - texture mapping, environment mapping, reflection mapping, bump mapping, displacement mapping, transparency mapping, wear mapping and so on. Texture mapping see also UV's, Wrapping and Baking4. Render your wonderful image on a fast machine and after long minutes, behold the beauty of it. Now the hard part begins. Because games have to run smooth and fast and render, not in long minutes, but in 60th's of a second, reduce your hard work down to a low-poly, game-res version that will meet the game's memory and draw call budgets, yet still look good. [cue magic sfx]5. Check everything in to the version control software before you wrap up for the night, because all pro developers keep things safe in a version control system, like Perforce - BTW, all these tasks will be listed in project management software as an aid to memory and tracking. We use Issue & Project Tracking Software6. Special considerations - landscape parts may be built a little differently or even use landsat data. There are also skyboxes to make, software that places trees and grass procedurally and so on. Not all game objects have collision geometry, but most do, else you could walk through them. Collision is another set of 3D objects that are invisible, like pathing nodes, so AI can walk and drive.Characters and other animating things must be rigged with internal bones, joints, pivots and attachment points for guns, pipes, sunglasses and the like. Oh, and changing clothes - don't get me started - whew.4.5 Interlude: MeetingsWhile your memory budgets are being calculated and the scale of the world assets are being agreed upon, you are having design meetings. 8 or 13 people in a conference room, with white boards and PowerPoint presentations, laser pointers Keurig coffee and bottled water. Will our huntable animals have good hearing like real ones? How will the lobby help you meet up with your friends? How will we scale buttons to hold the longer German version of "Save" (Speichurn)? The EU will not allow us to show violence to women, so how do pimps act? What do we do if players use speed hacks, macros or auto-aim hacks?5. Other AssetsAudio is so important to the experience that it causes players to perceive the graphics as higher resolution, if the sound is good.These days we need real voice actors, to meet the quality bar. That means dealing with unions. Most now have a guideline for interactive entertainment, so we don't pay the same rate as Hollywood movies, but the rules are still strict. New Media Signatory InformationRoughly $900 per day for a voice actor, plus contributions to the retirement fund, breaks, food, drinks and more. They can only do so much in a "union day" and we need so many more lines than a film. "So, you want to buy, a pistol, a rifle, a sandwich, a raincoat, a drink, a pony, a pastry, a map" and so on.Meanwhile, have someone write a lot of music. Let's say, short little themes in the key of C...and the relative minor key of A for sad bits, all at 68 Beats Per Minute for one scene, that an interactive music system can crossfade between, remixing on the fly, depending on what you do. The mini-tunes should have names like triumph, hurting, confused, going south fast, cocky or anxious.There are also environmental sounds like waves and wind and freeway noise and crickets and, and, and.With those hit and hurt sound effects, you'll want some particle effects like muzzle flashes, smoke, sparks, electric arcs, hit effects on stone, wood, metal, dirt, water and flesh.Oh, and then there is localization (AKA translation). These days, games are expected to support EFIGS - English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. This requires 5 versions of every spoken line, every sign on every building, every button text, hint system, error message and help file.Many games also support 5 alternate languages, with different character sets, like Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese (kanji, hiragana, katakana), Korean (hangul) and Russian Cyrillic.6. Native CodeThe engine itself will be written in a low level language, probably C++ with a smattering of in-line assembly language (which C++ allows), esp for rendering. If the engine does not provide all of the features your game requires - a 98% probability since it is written for the general case - you'll need to write some "native code" in the guts of the engine itself.Maybe you want Instagram-like post-processing filters, to switch on at sunsets or you want the render engine to automatically detect when the local device is a flat screen TV, instead of a monitor or enable the physics engine to use a different constant for gravity when you travel to the moon base. Those changes all require the team to edit the base engine code, also known as the native code. It is the scary, deep, mysterious bug generating code that challenges even superstar coders. "Weird, every time my character puts on a hoodie, the language preference switches to French and Halley's comet appears in the sky?!"7. ScriptingMost game engines use a second kind of programming service for routine, gameplay events, generically called script. In some systems this second kind of code may be interpreted at run time or it may get compiled; it may be a real language like Python or it may be a C-like invention of the engine creators, like Unreal script.In any case, this will be the main tool for creating gameplay actions and activities. Often times, this takes the shape of a huge number of "functions" that designers can call, with If, Then, Else loops like "Umbrella" - If raining equals True and Has_Umbrella equals True, then play open_umbrella animation and sound, else set get_wet to true.8. AI SystemsMy limited human intelligence can not tell you very much about the arcane world of artificial intelligence, but open world games all use it.Once you are able to change native code and create gameplay script, both can be combined to make some AI routines for the game's NPC's (Non Player Characters).Rather than discuss the smart enemies that can defeat most human players, let's start with something basic, like pedestrians. The AI system will generally make evaluations of the situation (Am I on an area I can walk on? Is the nearest traffic light green? Is anyone shooting near me? Am I on a collision course with anything?) then apply one or more possible actions (walk_straight, turn_at_corner, lookat_phone, lookat_store window, flag_taxi, run_away, take_cover) in the service of a goal ( walk a looping path, search for cafe, avoid danger) that is part of a schedule (sleep, go to work, go to lunch, return to work, go home)At the level of an actual AI enemy there would far more complex evaluations and behaviors for managing ammo, flanking, using cover and so on. Often this can include casting invisible rays to check for obstructions or in-path objects before moving or shooting. As you can imagine, AI requires NPC's to have many properties that the code can check or change during gameplay. These might include things like group membership, friend or foe, angry, reputation/renown, aggression toward player and many more.8.5 Interlude: BusinessAs Matthew suggests, to construct a game at this scale requires a team of hundreds and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars.Looking at GTA IV, we see that it broke the records for best single day and seven day sales numbers. By 2011 it had sold more than 15M units. That suggests revenue well above $500M. Subtract maybe $200M for costs to produce and market and you are left with a nice profit. >2:1 ROIStill there is a risk. If the new game cost $300M, the number of unit sales required to break even is high. They must be a huge success. While I think they are ok, if sales were just a little slow, the harm could be amplified by putting a drag on Take-Two's stock price. This is a case of go big or go home.9. User Interface & InputGames do very little until a human player acts on them. That requires 3 levels of human-to-machine interface.The first level of interface is the hardware user interface - Xbox controller, mouse, keyboard, screen, Occulus Rift, surround sound system, Wii remote or cybersexual haptic feedback device.There are some important considerations around the equipment that couples human to machine. Over the last several years we've started using remotes or cameras that sense player positions with mixed results, while TV makers got all excited about 3D TV until we remembered that headaches are no fun. Head mounted hardware is coming up and it will be briefly interesting until we run out of liniment for our stiff necks.Because of Flow (psychology) the best option is almost always the least invasive, smallest movement choice. Though the limbic system (limb movement) can play a role in the brain chemistry rewards we get while playing a game, flow is more important and it requires tight coupling. So subtle little key clicks and button presses from any number of slack, lazy, slumping postures is better than pretending to swing an invisible tennis racket at the cat.The second layer is the graphical user interface including all on-screen instructions, clickable, dragable objects, legends, scoreboards, text chat, inventory, graphics setting and load/save screens. This layer takes real mechanical and electrical input from the player and virtualizes it, into software. Of course, clever user experience and interface designers are very important to smooth, intuitive game play.At the thrid and deeper level of handling user input we find code that watches cursors and key for activity. When a change in state is detected, this system determines what input the player provided and goes spinning through the on-screen objects to determine what was "hit" by a click.Recall that even 3D games render out to flat 2D renderports / graphics buffers, in real time. While in 3D we know an enemy is hiding behind a curtain, in the 60 2D frames that fly by in a second, anything obscured by the curtain has been culled for better performance - the enemy, the wall, the mountainscape outside and the rest are not there now.When the correct target is identified, the click is passed to a specific game object. Clickable objects, from virtual buttons to NPC characters know how to handle a set of user input message, to trigger actions.10. Camera ControlOpen world games make you the movie star. They use a cinematic style of presentation that follows a familiar ruleset for telling a story visually. In film and TV, the best camera operators and editors are totally transparent - they never draw attention to their existence by always showing you just what you want to see. One challenge of open world games then, is to code camera objects that have similar skills to a good human camera crew.You mostly see yourself in 3rd person, moving and talking. There are wide shots, 2 shots, over the shoulder shots, reverse angles and reactions shots, like those in a film. At times you switch to first person views, for using iron sights or scopes, for instance. One of the trickiest things the camera control code does, is keeping the camera far enough away from the player to get an appropriate shot, while avoiding collisions with the environment - walls, trees, etc. Even when you run through tight spaces.11. MultiPlayer ConsiderationsThe trailer mentions, but does not discuss on-line play. On line, multiplayer functionality greatly increases the complexity of the game tech. Here are just a few examples:Ed and Ted want to play together online. Ed has Google fiber into his house and Ted has DSL with one eighth of the bandwidth.Ed is in Kansas and Ted is in Oregon, 2 time zones apart which complicates selecting the right server and server ping times (lag).Once they enter the game, Ed shoots at Ted.To accomplish this,The server periodically tells Ed's client software where Ted is standing, so he can be drawn at the correct location, on Ed's screen.Ed aims and fires.Ed's client software contacts the server to say, hey, I've fired a shot, from point A toward point B (a vector) toward Ted's last known location.The server replies, ok, but he has moved 1 meter west.Ted's client is now drawing a muzzle flash, so he speeds up.Ed still sees Ted where he was a half second ago, still in the bullet's path.When the projectile arrives, the outcome must be resolved in a believable way for each player.Schrodinger's Ted.Some systems use server side hit detection, some use client side hit detection and other use a hybrid but all are tricky systems with variables beyond control - changing ping times, electrical outages from storms, different local router/switch/modem devices, ISP bandwidth limits and more.This list doesn't even consider the potential of differences in content. Maybe Ed bought the Pro Pistol Pack DLC. On his client, he sees himself holding a fancy engraved .45. Ted didn't buy any DLC, so what shall we draw in Ed's hand, on Ted's client? Nothing? a plain 45?11.5 NoticeApologies to people that have seen too many notifications, saying I've made more edits to this too long answer. This is the last blast, but in a way, even more critical to making a successful open world video game. Now that we got making assets down, we move to even higher skills12. Project ManagementYou expected the producer type to try to convince you that his work was super important, right? Well, I believe it is and I wouldsay it is even more important on very large projects with big teams. Certainly I respect Valve's Gabe Newell and his forward looking approach, but I still see a lot of value in coordinating and facilitating game teams.For a game like this, your team could easily be around 300 people. 80 artists (environment artists, character artists, concept artists, riggers, animators, texture artists, UI artists, FX artists, prop artists) and about 80 programmers (engine programmers, client and server programmers, database programmers, graphics programmers, gameplay programmers, audio programmers, 3D math and physics people and mAI specialists) plus 80ish designers (map/environment/level designers, systems designers, gameplay designers and narrative designers). There will also be a dozen producer/project manager/scrum master people, some sound designers, a few composers, recording engineers, writers, admins, embedded test leads, a pod full or marketers and community people and a few executives.So, if the average, fully-loaded, monthly cost of each person was $8500, a team-hour (like a meeting) costs $16,000; a team day costs $127,000; a team week costs $640,000 and a team month costs $2.55M... or a Kia, a 911 Turbo, 2 Lambo Aventadors and a Bugatti Veyron. Waste gets expensive faster than a fast car.I am a big believer in the Agile methodology known as Scrum, especially for the first half of the development cycle. Three week sprints, working on the most important parts first, ending with a review of everything we completed, to inform planning for the next sprint, the following day. Small tasks only (2D or less) created buy the workers, can be scoped, but must be finished, daily stand up meetings, commitment, player focused, Army-buddy teamwork. That is the best pre-production phase yet devised.Later, when you get your core playable - your vertical slice- and you move to production mode, you can get a little more cut and dried about tasking and cut back on the incense and peppermints. We know how to do this, at this point because we solved for all the scary stuff. Now it is just work.Finally, when you start booking print ads and scheduling interviews and making swag for trade shows, feel free to return to a waterfall-like traditional schedule. They will not change the date of E3 because you are running late, so make that a hard date on your calendar. Count backward from target launch data and get those milestones chiseled in - alpha (first winnable/completeable), beta (asset, content and code complete), test candidates, localized test candidates, gold master candidates and the release version (and probably first patch too).The team is an engine that consumes tasks at a variable rate. Run the engine hard and wear it out fast, run it too slow and it stalls, fouls and wastes fuel.13. MarketingI am not a marketer, but I sit near them. I work with them and sometimes we disagree. We come from different worlds, but you need the best ones you can find. There is nothing sadder than a great game that doesn't sell because the public wasn't informed about it.14. Theory & DesignThis is the game version of the Olympics. Great design can forgive some bugs, some older graphics tech or overcome weak marketing. Fun wins; more fun wins more.There have been some debates going on in the industry about the place of narrative in games. I've had some pointy ones here on Quora. Though I side with ludology, rather than a narratology, we all love a good story. But...I strongly believe that personal, interactive experience is the parent of narrative stories. Narrative implies a narrator, telling a flattened version of their interactive experience from the past. Narratives are data compression. They leave out branches.Personal action is greater, IMO. It is what we do differently than movies. Emergent story - your story, in the present tense. You are the author, we are just the party planners. You are the rockstar, we are just the backing band. You play, we'll follow your lead.Open world games are the premium proof of the player's authorship. Sure, writers and designers create many possible scenarios, variations and branches, but if the player does not feel like they are making their own way through the game world, it is not an open world game. This is our new literature.Many thanks to patient readers.