A Song of Ice and Fire

[Dasquian Belargic]

From the horse's mouth (i.e. http://grrm.livejournal.com/ ):


For years now fans of my epic fantasy series A Song of Ice & Fire have been writing and emailing me to suggest... ask... beg for the books to be made into a videogame. I'm thrilled to be able to announce that, at long last, those requests are being answered. Cyanide Studios, an independent videogame developer based in Nanterre, France, has acquired an exclusive option to develop Ice & Fire as both an RTS (Real Time Strategy) and RPG videogame for next generation consoles and PC.

Cyanide will begin development immediately, with an eye toward rolling out the games for release in the summer of 2011. "We are all huge fans of 'A Song of Ice and Fire', so it is a true honour for our teams to be entrusted with creating the first video games inspired by this masterpiece" said Patrick Pligersdorffer, Managing Director of Cyanide. "The twists and turns of the plot will allow us to deliver an experience which can be enjoyed by both long-time fans as well as gamers new to the series. Its rich web of characters, set in a universe where nothing is just black and white, make it an ideal background for both an RTS and an RPG."

First a TV series, now this :ohno

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I'd settle for G.R.R.M. to ACTUALLY WRITE A DANCE WITH DRAGONS!!! :shakefist

[Tear]

So funny I spent some time last night catching up on a Song of Fire and Ice. Apparently his last "estimate" was for him to finish the book in june. (This june) for release In Sept.

Good god that man. I found posts dating back to 2006 which was the original date he was supposed to have it out. Ugh.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I actually just started rereading the series. Its depressing. :lol All my favorite characters SUFFER and DIE or are BETRAYED.

A video game should be fun, though. Sorry to derail the thread immediately ^_^;

[Tear]

Oh tell me about it. I tend to pick favorite "horses" and root for them when I watch movies or read books. My first horse was Ned, then once I got over the shock of that happening I settled on Robb. Then it was Brienne. Martins worse then Joss Whedon when it comes to offing character you start to love.

I think the game could be pretty good if done right. If anyone has played the Medieval Total War 2 games. There is a Game of Thrones mod (http://www.modrealms.com/tag/a-song-of-ice-and-fire/)for it. I haven't played it myself but the Mod team behind it seem to be doing a decent job.

[Khendon Sevon]

Pff, the game will only be good if the team can pull it off.

[Dasquian Belargic]

...well, that seems pretty obvious, Khendon :lol


I'd settle for G.R.R.M. to ACTUALLY WRITE A DANCE WITH DRAGONS!!! :shakefist

Remember, as Neil Gaiman pointed out (http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html): George R.R. Martin is not your bitch! :mneh

[Tear]

...well, that seems pretty obvious, Khendon :lol


lol... next he'll tell us food is only as good as the cook who makes it. Confucius stand aside.

[Khendon Sevon]

If you look at the games the company has previously made, they're all budget titles.

That automatically doesn't bode well.

[Tear]

I would have to disagree. Its insanely hard for an independent game company to come out of the gate and make a huge games. If the game flops its over. Its far easier to learn the ropes of the industry and actual make money by making small low budget games.

Hell, its how every successful developer gets their start unless your an off shoot studio with a major publisher already behind you.

Not to mention just because its a big budget game does not mean its going to do well. I've seen a lot of developers make shit games. Even if they have a flashy brand name to add to the title.

Independent game companies don't have that luxury. They can't make several flops in a row or they're out of business. Cyanide studios has gone from no name brands to brand names pretty quickly. You just can't do that without being successful.

Granted games workshop originally sued them over a game that was too alike to their blood bowl board game. But in the settlement they gave them the rights to actually make a blood bowl video remake. Tells you 2 things.

1) Games workshop saw they were making money and decided to sue.
2) Games workshop saw they knew what they were doing making games and gave them rights to develop one for them.

Blood bowl is also not a low budget game. Its Cyanides probably first foray into mainstream distribution beyond their independent games and its due this June.

[Khendon Sevon]

I would have to disagree. Its insanely hard for an independent game company to come out of the gate and make a huge games. If the game flops its over. Its far easier to learn the ropes of the industry and actual make money by making small low budget games.


I don't think I said anything about that. But, if you'd like to have a conversation about independent studios, we can have that somewhere else. I happen to know a thing or two about them, being the chapter coordinator for IGDA NJ.



Hell, its how every successful developer gets their start unless your an off shoot studio with a major publisher already behind you.


Very few successful studios independently develop and publish. In fact, almost none do.



Not to mention just because its a big budget game does not mean its going to do well. I've seen a lot of developers make shit games. Even if they have a flashy brand name to add to the title.


Never said that. Don't know where you're going with this.



Independent game companies don't have that luxury. They can't make several flops in a row or they're out of business. Cyanide studios has gone from no name brands to brand names pretty quickly. You just can't do that without being successful.


Look at their line up, they predominantly make cycling games and other very low budget sports games. That's a great way to make money, though. However, it does not train your crew in how to make an RPG, or how to build a contemporary, powerful engine, or how to generate the content required.

Loki, the one RPG they made, has a 61 metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/loki?q=loki).

RPG's require a specific collection of individuals. Odd story, the lead designer for Oblivion gave a talk to my chapter the other month. He had some great lessons from Morrowind and Oblivion that he shared (he was also lead on Morrowind).

You need skilled, talented, and passionate individuals like that with a proven track record to succeed. Not an IP and a bunch of sports games behind you.



Granted games workshop originally sued them over a game that was too alike to their blood bowl board game. But in the settlement they gave them the rights to actually make a blood bowl video remake. Tells you 2 things.

1) Games workshop saw they were making money and decided to sue.
2) Games workshop saw they knew what they were doing making games and gave them rights to develop one for them.


It tells us nothing of the sort.

It tells us that Games Workshop saw them using something that infringed on their IP and that a settlement was reached that involved licensing the IP instead of trashing the project.



Blood bowl is also not a low budget game. Its Cyanides probably first foray into mainstream distribution beyond their independent games and its due this June.

The publisher is "Focus Home Interactive".

They publish budget level games. The other games they've published include: Virtual Skipper, Fire Fighter, The Westerner, etc. You'll note that the last game the publisher put out was in '05, according to their website.

I'm still not sure what we're talking about.

Cyanide is a small, budget-level studio that had the cash to purchase the GRRM license. That's it. Knowing how difficult it is to develop a high quality game, I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt.

[Tear]

I don't think I said anything about that. But, if you'd like to have a conversation about independent studios, we can have that somewhere else. I happen to know a thing or two about them, being the chapter coordinator for IGDA NJ.

I know you didn't say anything about it. I brought it up...

I was making the point that because their an independent studio they need to make budget games to make money. It looked like you were frowning on the fact they just made low budget games. Ah preconceived notions eh?


Very few successful studios independently develop and publish. In fact, almost none do.

I know. Thanks though.


Never said that. Don't know where you're going with this.

I never inclined that you did say this. I was just making conversation on a point of view I have toward independent studios and brand names.

I'm saying regardless of the developer, no matter their history, can make crap games. Budget titles or not. If I saw this in the hands of EA I would probably be more inclined to worry. Successful studios don't need to prove themselves to the industry beyond trying to be consistent. If they flop a game someone is still going to toss them work because of past performances. Not to mention big developers and their growing trend of slapping franchise names to games then shoving them out the door to make a buck on a crappy game.



Look at their line up, they predominantly make cycling games and other very low budget sports games. That's a great way to make money, though. However, it does not train your crew in how to make an RPG, or how to build a contemporary, powerful engine, or how to generate the content required.

Loki, the one RPG they made, has a 61 metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/loki?q=loki) (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/loki?q=loki%29).

RPG's require a specific collection of individuals. Odd story, the lead designer for Oblivion gave a talk to my chapter the other month. He had some great lessons from Morrowind and Oblivion that he shared (he was also lead on Morrowind).

You need skilled, talented, and passionate individuals like that with a proven track record to succeed. Not an IP and a bunch of sports games behind you.

I agree skilled, talented and passionate individuals that's a given and past games involving the same genre help. But really only the experience in making games, any games is key. Sometimes having someone outside of the box who doesn't have experience with a certain type of genre can bring something really innovative to the experience.



It tells us nothing of the sort.

It tells us that Games Workshop saw them using something that infringed on their IP and that a settlement was reached that involved licensing the IP instead of trashing the project.

Please. You don't give your brand name to a company you just sued if there wasn't a sort of trust or confidence that they would do well with it.


The publisher is "Focus Home Interactive".

They publish budget level games. The other games they've published include: Virtual Skipper, Fire Fighter, The Westerner, etc. You'll note that the last game the publisher put out was in '05, according to their website.

I'm still not sure what we're talking about.

We're talking about the possibility that Cyanide can create a quality game above a simply iphone port.

blood bowl (http://www.bloodbowl-game.com/) regardless of its publishers track record sure as hell doesn't look like a low budget title to me in any sense. Not that I'm saying its in the leagues of gears of war, or big budget games either. But its definitely not some low price iphone port.


Cyanide is a small, budget-level studio that had the cash to purchase the GRRM license. That's it. Knowing how difficult it is to develop a high quality game, I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah I guess that is the difference there. I don't see that fact its a smaller studio as a mark against them. I also can't picture GRRM's decision to give the rights to Cyanide as being a financial decision. Tossing up A song of fire and Ice to the highest bidder? Dunno...

Like Games workshop I doubt he would have given them the brand name unless he had confidence in their abilities.

[Dasquian Belargic]

DING DING ROUND ONE OVER, GENTLEMEN

I don't know anything about Cyanide but I am willing to reserve judgement until we see some actual evidence of game development.