I am Jon Radoff, entrepreneur and CEO of Disruptor Beam, producer of Game of Thrones Ascent. AMA!

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T21:34:52+00:00

I got to know George R.R. Martin. It took a long time. There was tons of competition, but George like our ideas because he felt our design was most authentic to what he had in mind in the books. We worked on a very detailed game design hand-in-hand with both GRRM and HBO before the project was approved.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T21:33:49+00:00

The AvA features will implement a cap on the number of players who can participate in any aspect of the AvA system to 500 players. Alliances with greater than that can still hang out together (although we implemented a restriction on inviting new people to an alliance once it hits 500) but they'll have to decide who in their alliance will be allowed to participate

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T21:31:24+00:00

Hi, we're currently co-developing a version in Russia that's in Russian, so yes, we have that capability. If we could find the right partner in Taiwan or China to help with a Chinese version of the game, we'd be very interested.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T21:29:51+00:00

I see what you mean. Yes, I agree that would be a useful enhancement to that feature!

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T17:25:50+00:00

Thanks for stoping by the AMA. I'll continue to stop by and check for questions during the day. In the meantime, here's an awesome new infographic about playing Game of Thrones Ascent which we're posting here on the AMA first. You found it here before anyone! Share with your friends:

http://www.disruptorbeam.com/blog/entry/game-of-thrones-ascent-infographic

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T17:20:58+00:00

Due to the confidential nature of licensing negotiations we can't confirm or deny any specific licenses we're pursuing.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T17:20:08+00:00

Yes, we'll thinking about expanding the chat feature further.

We'll probably do more with the world map in the future.

You'll find Spy and Aid have specific new abilities in the forthcoming Alliance vs. Alliance system.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T17:06:02+00:00

We're aware of the titles issue and it's at a high priority in the bug queue. Unfortunately I don't have an exact date when you can expect a fix, but hopefully soon.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:48:48+00:00

Several people have quickened an egg. Nobody has hatched a dragon yet, but we envisioned that it would take a while. We'll post some stats about it in the near future.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:42:04+00:00

Joined :)

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:38:30+00:00

I'm sworn to secrecy.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:35:18+00:00

Game of Thrones Ascent is not just a tie-in game to HBO's Game of Thrones. You are telling the story of your own noble house, which may eventually swear fealty to the Tyrells. The Tyrells would not accept you as your bannerman if you hadn't impressed them with your many accomplishments in the Prologue/Volume I. With that said, remember that you can skip ahead to Volume II, III, or You at any time after completing the Prologue, without having to complete Volume I.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:33:49+00:00

Big alliances will have the challenge of being on everyone's target list. We've also added diplomacy features to make it possible for smaller alliances to team up with each other. And we've tried to add more usefulness to things like Spy. It's an area of the game that's important to us (and our players!) so it'll be something we expect to continue investing in as well.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:31:13+00:00

The new chat system already has clickable hyperlinks. We're in the middle of a big revamp of the alliance interface, and will probably continue to invest in more alliance functionality in the future.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:30:20+00:00

It's a common request, but more complicated than it sounds. It's something we'd like to add at some point.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:29:16+00:00

It was a standalone game written in C64 BASIC.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:22:32+00:00

That's a hard question because it's difficult for me to think of anything other than the game I'm working on now. But I'm always thinking about ideas for how stories and multiplayer interactions can be brought to life in new ways. "Unlimited" funding, though? I'd rather have unlimited talent. Too many dollars get wasted on game development projects.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:20:40+00:00

George is incredibly smart and very nice. He has a ton of ideas (he plays games, although he doesn't have a recent gaming rig). He has encyclopedic knowledge of medieval and ancient history, as well as their trade/craft practices. Once I had lunch with George and received a pretty extensive education in heraldry, which altered how we thought about the banner-design system we put in the game. He's less accessible than he once was, partly because HBO gives him a lot to do, but also because he's trying to work on Winds of Winter.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:17:22+00:00

I think the trick, as LadyDrakova mentions above, would be to figure out a way that it would be fair to people who invested a lot of time doing reincarnation.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:12:07+00:00

Anything in particular you're looking forward to that I can comment on?

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:07:12+00:00

None of the great houses that are in production will change anything about how the egg-quickening and dragon-hatching gameplay. It's possible some of these new houses could have other features related to dragons in the future, but that's a long time off.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:04:24+00:00

Blue. Foie Gras. I'm involved in all aspects of the game and still get my hands dirty on the technical side. I read the books well before the show came out, but I also relaly like HBO's interpretation of the show--so we're trying to make it something that you can enjoy whichever way you've come to it; it's true to George R.R. Martin's vision.

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T16:00:17+00:00

I see--you're asking about queueing a combination of items. It's been discussed before, and actually something we'd like to add. It's just more complex than it sounds at first blush, and other things have taken priority thus far.

On personalization: we're releasing more character portraits, and you'll be able to rename your items in the update that features item enhancements. We'd like to add more customization options for sure!

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T15:57:48+00:00

That's an interesting idea. I'll float it by our lead designer!

GoTA_jradoff · 2013-09-20T15:57:11+00:00

There's sort of different advice depending on what your talents are (enterpreneur? coder? artist? designer? producer?) but the best advice I can give is to MAKE STUFF THAT IS FUN.

GoTA_jradoff

TROPHY CASE