Westeros

The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco is in full swing, and massive online game developer Bigpoint is there to give journalists an early preview of their progress with the licensed, Game of Thrones MMORPG. With an Iron Throne on hand to draw attention to their close ties with HBO’s successful fantasy series.

Here’s what we’ve gleaned from two reports, from Games Radar and MMORPG.com, each of which has a new screenshot of the game:

• Based on the television series, it takes place shortly after the end of season 1 as the war for the throne begins. There are three (initial?) factions: Stark, Lannister, and Baratheon. You can also avoid picking a faction for awhile, but there are benefits to having one… but you and your guild (representing a minor house) can always jump ship to a different faction if it benefits you, which is touted as one of the means of playing out the political aspects of the game.
• The game is a sandbox-style game focused on PvP (that’s player vs. player) action and warfare. Players can take part in ranked 5 on 5 duels, or battle for control of castles and fortresses in the massive, open-world sandbox. From what Games Radar reports, the combat is action-based, with players able to earn “cards” that allow them to summon NPCs like Jaime Lannister to help your side out in a fight. Games Radar found these mechanics clunky, but Bigpoint noted this was still quite early in the process.
• Using the Unity graphics system, this is a browser-based game… but it’s indicated that the graphics look really amazing for this sort of game. That said, it’s clear from comments that hardcore gamers are dubious of browser-based, free-to-play games.
• The game is skill-based rather than class-based, but you can specialize your character down the route of melee, ranged, or commander skills (which allow you to provide positive modifiers to allies and negative modifiers to enemies).

All in all, sounds interesting, and we’re going to try and keep atop the news as the game approaches its beta in the Fall. Bigpoint has also launched the official site for the game, where you can presently sign up to indicate your interest in receiving news updates concerning the game. They also have an official twitter account.