14 DAY TRIAL // The development teams at Artplant and Bigpoint have offered some details on their Game of the Thrones MMO at the Game Developers Conference, showing potential players how they plan to bring the world of the books to virtual life.
All players will be able to explore from as far North as the iconic wall to as the southern holdings that lie beyond King’s Landing.
The three major houses that gamers can align themselves to are the Starks, the family that sits at the core of the narrative of the book series and the television series, and Baratheons and the Lannisters.
But the main allegiance for each player will be linked to a smaller organization, either a guild or a minor house, based on the playing style that they choose, and these entities will be able to switch between major houses at will.
This means that beyond the scenes negotiations, treachery and espionage will play a major part in the Game of Thrones MMO, just like they do in the book universe that R.R. Martin created.
The Player versus Player battles in the MMO will initially take place in small arenas across the game world and will then evolve into skirmishes, which take place spontaneously and challenge groups of players to complete a set number of objectives with limited resources.
An alert system will allow gamers to quickly find PvP events and engage with them, and the endgame will also include siege battles, which are fought in order to control important pieces of real estate like keeps, forts and castles.
Iconic locations from the Game of Thrones universe will be included and the development team is also looking to add other locations in order to give all player groups a place they can call home and use to organize.
Combat will include both combos and finishing moves and will reflect both skill choice and the actual movements of the player.
The Game of Thrones MMO will be launched before the end of the year and a beta stage is planned before launch.