Now, I have to admit, I am far from being an expert on videogames. In fact, I've never played any of the current RTS games. My experience with videogaming was almost entirely with older, turn-based DOS strategy games like ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS, PIRATES, MASTER OF ORION, RAILROAD TYCOON, and the like. And as you can probably tell from those titles, I stopped videogaming some years ago (not because I did not like it -- truth to tell, I liked it too much, and found that I was spending way too much time playing games on my computer when I should have been writing).
That being said... I thought what I saw looked really cool. And Ty, who DOES play a lot of videogames, seemed impressed as well. The gang at Cyanide (Montreal) have come up with some innovative features for this one, that should help make A GAME OF THRONES: GENESIS unlike any other RTS on the market at present. And fun to play as well, we hope... but that's a verdict that will need to come from the gamers out there.
Focus, our publisher, has opened an official website for GENESIS. Check it out:
http://www.agot-genesis.com/
(Just to be clear. This is the RTS game, designed and developed by Cyanide's studio in Montreal. A second videogame, an RPG, is also under development at Cyanide's studio in France, but that one won't be along for a while yet. The two games are very different, so please don't get them confused).
Anyway, I enjoyed having the crew from Cyanide down here, and liked what they had to show me. I hope you will as well.
- Current Location:Santa Fe
- Current Mood:
pleased
Profile
grrm- George R.R. Martin
- George R. R. Martin
Page Summary
- metaciplenariy : (no subject) [+0]
- strayth : (no subject) [+0]
- megmca : (no subject) [+4]
spitphyre : (no subject) [+5]
- emil_miljkovic : (no subject) [+0]
- linguafranca : (no subject) [+0]
- terraprime : (no subject) [+1]
- bigus : (no subject) [+0]
Arron Robertson : (no subject) [+0] 
Shane Killian : Very impressed [+0] - born_phoenix : (no subject) [+0]
- thefirstalicat : (no subject) [+0]
- hwin : (no subject) [+0]
- g_na : (no subject) [+0]
- concerndgamedev : Comment from a Game Developer [+3]
- evilknick : (no subject) [+0]
- king_baratheon : Damn! [+0]
- memyselfandrye : Awesome [+0]
- cygmund : RTS [+0]
- joker5769 : (no subject) [+0]
- redmage58 : (no subject) [+0]
- matthewrodney : (no subject) [+0]
- galganog : (no subject) [+0]
- goldenprophet : (no subject) [+0]
- wydileie : (no subject) [+0]
Comments
thank you for your greatest book!
But there will be a multiplayer version available. Up to eight can play at once.
Balancing it just means making sure that there is no one way to victory that makes all the other possible choices pointless.
"Electronic sports, abbreviated e-sports is used as a general term to describe the play of video games competitively. They are played competitively at amateur, semi-professional and professional levels including in leagues and tournaments.
There are a number of titles that have a professional gaming scene. The top players can make a living playing the games on the marketing value they gain as a result. Hundreds, thousands and even millions of dollars in prize money are turned out each year for competitors in these titles."
What makes a good e-sports game (article): http://riflesready.wordpress.com/2008/1
Unfortunately, most strategy games "break" (devolve into doing the best strategy using the best of the available races) in days because they aren't crafted with enough depth to handle this kind of "competitive" gameplay.
It's definitely a hard world for a new RTS game to enter right now, because Starcraft 2 didn't "break" and has thusly killed almost every RTS game on the market and stolen its audience :-)
An for a MMORPG... that's possible as well, although HBO now controls those rights, so any MMORPG would be based on the TV series, whereas the two Cyanide games are based on the books.
Having said that, at least you got paid for it :P And I'll probably buy it.
To me, RPGs allow you not only to exist in another fantasy world but to manipulate it as well. It becomes more real in a different way.
I would wish for an RPG similar in structure to the original Dragon Age.
We do have a Wii, and very few months I go bowling in the tv room. That's about all I can handle.
Here's hoping these games hold a candle to the books...
I am assuming you will also be able to play multiplayer online, rather than just on LAN?
Speaking of Medieval 2: Total War, there is a Westeros mod in the makig there, and with the modding standards being so high for that community (Stainless Steel, TATW etc.) I'm expecting great things.
Mr. Martin I'd urge you to stay away from Medieval 2, it's a medieval strategy game to end all medieval strategy games, and it has eaten a lot of my hours. I think I must follow your example If I ever hope to write.
What's telling for me is that two to three weeks before the RTS is released, the first and only place I've heard about it is on notablog, despite being a gamer, having many GRRM-fan gamer friends, and having a "Game of Thrones" Google+ Spark.
All that said, and despite the seemingly poor graphics, I'll still buy it and at least play the single-player campaigns. (Hmm, there's another point - it's an 8-faction RTS game, and they've omitted Houses Frey and Greyjoy, yet include House Arryn, whose lords haven't left the Vale through six books...)
About the houses, the game is a prequel set in the time of dragons, so they chose houses that had stuff to do then. I'm not well versed enough in westeros history to know if they were accurate, but this could explain the choices.
As far as gamer's are concerned, the biggest issue with Cyanide is their graphics look about ten years behind the industry standard in places, but hopefully the gameplay makes up for that sort of thing.
Being a skinchanger at the Wall looks like a fun action RPG mechanic.
BTW the Romance series of games are some of the best strategy games of all time. Poetry Contest!
2) George, you have awesome taste in games. I understand why you would give it up. It is a hobby that eats up too much time. As an aspiring writer, I have fallen into the trap where I spend too much time "having fun" and not working on the craft.
3) Who is your Favourite Romance of the Three Kingdoms character? Have you ever read the actual novel it is based on. It's riveting.
Btw, I loved Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I was very young when I played it, but that as well as other turn based games like Genghis Khan and Nobunaga's Ambition were some of my most favorite games.
With the RPG, I think I will be nothing but disappointed because I think I will hope for a Bethesda-style Oblivion/Morrowind game and end up with a LotR style game that is purely action based with no exploration or real character involvement.
On another note, can you please insert more Asians into GoT please, that way by season 12 maybe I can make a cameo as a handsome sailor or drunken mercenary or something...