Prerelease:Command & Conquer: Generals

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Command & Conquer: Generals.

Development on Command & Conquer: Generals began on January 2001.. According to Mark Skaggs, the project lead, the team experimented with three game engines, the Quake engine, the Unreal engine, and LithTech, before finally settling on the W3D engine used previously by Command & Conquer: Renegade as the basis for what would later become the SAGE engine. By March 2001, the team was still unsure of what game they were going to create, although they had already decided it was going be named Generals. Different concepts for the game were thought of, including a fantasy game and a Lord of the Rings title."

Infantry models from Renegade were used in maps to test the capabilities of the engine. As a proof of concept, the team took a number of Red Alert 2 units and put them on a test map. Because these units had already been created in a 3D program, it was relatively easy for the team to get prism tanks up and running in the 3D engine. A few buildings were also added to a test map, including a nuclear silo from Red Alert 2. This could explain why there are Red Alert 2 leftovers in the Build 98 Alpha prototype.

The team strongly considered creating games set in the Tiberian series, including Tiberian Twilight, the sequel to Tiberian Sun that never came to be. The team also thought of creating a new product line, much like the Tiberian and Red Alert series. Ideas for such a product line were an "ancient warfare" game and a game with futuristic robot armies.

One of the factions that was potentially going to be in the final game was an African warlord faction. Freelance concept artist TJ Frame, who designed most units in Red Alert 2, drew few sketches of possible units but the idea of an African side was eventually rejected, and the team kept brainstorming about other potential factions. By mid-October, official design meetings commenced for Generals.

Early on in development, it was clear the game would feature three sides. During the final week of development on Yuri's Revenge, producer Harvard Bonin was still debating the sides and considering whether the team should drop the modern-warfare idea in Generals. The United States were considered as a possible evil faction.

By the end of 2001, the team had gone through five or six iterations of the unit list. However the exact factions had yet to be decided upon. A European faction was considered for inclusion in the game, and concept art was drawn for it but it didn't make the cut. Leftover data for this faction is found in the Build 98 Alpha prototype.

By the start of 2002, the team were fully dedicated on Generals' development. At one point during development, the SAGE engine was given to Westwood Studios for the creation of an upcoming project in the Tiberian series. Although unconfirmed to this day, said project may've been Command & Conquer 3: Incursion (Also known as Tiberian Twilight).

Concept Art

Concept Art Asian Empire, African Warlords and Europa Alliance are the factions that never came to be.

Screenshots

Early development

The following screenshots seem to from an old iteration of the game which had different factions and also a different artstyle based off the concept art. The game's original factions are the American Strike Force, The Asian Empire and the Europa alliance, however only the first two seem to have had any work created for them. The game also relied on .gdf files to store object data since many of the data entries in the file Generals(Data).gdf correlates to units and buildings seen below.

Common to these screenshots is cartoonish-looking terrain textures, early road textures, some scrapped buildings, water shaders which were removed from the game, early SFX effects and vastly different, more vibrant trees.

Iron Dragon

Screenshot	Notes
	A B52 carpet-bombing a bridge, on which cut Mammoth Tanks are driving. These Mammoth Tanks are likely taken from a game unrelated to Generals as evidenced by its model path ("..\Art\Models\GDI\Mammoth\GXMammothFX.w3d") in the file Generals(Assets).gdf. Thus, they were likely used as placeholder units. The B52 model is nowhere to be found in Build 98.
	The same B52 has reached gas station. This building was pretty early in development but it can still be found in Build 98.
	An enemy Raptor is firing on the Mammoth Tanks who just destroyed an enemy base.
	A dogfight between the same enemy Raptor and a friendly one. The map has scripts for this fight, meaning it is heavily staged.
	The Mammoth Tanks have pressed the attack. The Watchtower still has data in the GDF files but its model is nowhere to be found. The Soldiers' model seen here is edited from a model also taken from a game unrelated to Generals. The original model is Cmdo-Skin.W3D, but one used here is NIFOOTMAN.W3D.
	The Mammoth Tanks are about to level this skyscraper. Note the debris of the sandbags and the fire coming out of it.
	The Asian Empire base with their Predator tanks and Buggies, note their faction color and artstyle. The eponymous Iron Dragon is on the runway. The building on the right was cut but its model survived. After an apparent redesign for the game, the Asian Empire evolved into China. Their faction color was changed to red and the Buggies were given to the GLA.
	Ditto, late afternoon.
	Ditto, evening.
	The Mammoth Tanks attacking the previous base.

Other

Screenshot	Notes
	Screenshot of a map named "StyleMap3". USA Leopard tanks strolling through a European town. There are also Asian Empire Scorpion tanks and the Tomahawk Missile Launcher with old golden faction color scheme. The Statue in the center of the town was cut from the final game but its model can be found in Zero Hour. The map can still be found in build 98 files.
	The original Asian Empire Scorpion tanks and Buggies, firing at USA Leopard tanks in an unknown map.

Late development

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

EA_Pretty

Prerelease screenshot of a map named "EA_Pretty". It shows an untextured USA Barracks, Walls and Tomahawk Missile Launcher with the gold skin, the cut Guardian Control Center, an early Patriot Missile System model and Chinese Scorpion tanks and Buggies and Rangers with an old texture. The map can also be found in the prototype files.

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Cliff

Screenshot of a map named "Cliff". Other than the old textures for the Rangers and Rebels, and the old SFX effects there is not much to say here.

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Model Renders

Cover art renders

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  Paladin Tank

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  A render for the cover, showing Paladin Tanks, Overlord Tanks, AMX-30 (left), BRDM-2s with Strela-1 AAM System (background), Harrier jets and AH-1 Cobras.

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  Ditto, different positioning of tanks and different aircraft

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  Ditto, With Technicals instead of Paladin Tanks

USA

Model renders of some USA buildings and a tank, they match the models found in the prototype.

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  USA Barracks

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  USA Command Center

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  USA Strategy Center

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  USA Supply Center

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  USA Leopard Tank

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Model renders of the final game USA Command Center.

China

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  China Dragon Tank

Misc

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  Collection of various in-game models.

Promotional Artwork

Promotional artwork showing the Apocalypse Tank from Red Alert 2. It's possible the Apocalypse Tank was to appear in Generals as a Chinese tank since its name can be found in Chinese placeholder selection images from the prototype.

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  With the game logo

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  Ditto, no game logo

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  A much more clear image of the Apocalypse Tank

Logos

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  Faction logos

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Early promotional logos designs from 2002

Manual

The Zero Hour manual contains different cameos compared to the ones unused in the final game:

USA

Owner	Manual	Final
Laser Crusader
Aurora Alpha (used)
Aurora Alpha (unused)

China

Owner	Manual	Final
Listening Outpost
Helix
ECM Tank
Internet Center
Carpet Bomb
Minigunner
Advanced Reactor
Emperor Overlord

GLA

Owner	Manual	Final
Battle Bus
Combat Cycle
Sneak Attack

Music

Demo Track

The composer for most Command & Conquer games, Frank Klepacki, offered to compose the soundtrack for Command & Conquer: Generals and even submitted this demo track for EA, however he was not contacted by the latter.

The demo track can be described as warlike and features a grand and heroic choir.