1. THE GAME OF
GAME OF THRONES
The Transmedial World of A Song of Ice and Fire
and its Video Game Adaptations
Winter School Transmedial Worlds in Convergent Media Culture
University of Tübingen, February 24-28, 2014!
!
Felix Schröter, University of Hamburg!
felix.schroeter@uni-hamburg.de

2. Overview
• (Almost No) Theory
• Looking For Games In All The Wrong Places
• Three Case Studies In Five Minutes
!2

3. (ALMOST NO) THEORY

4. Medium-Specificity Thesis
“A transmedia story unfolds across
multiple media platforms, with each new
text making a distinctive and valuable
contribution to the whole. In the ideal
form of transmedia storytelling, each
medium does what it does best [...]”
- Jenkins 2006, Convergence Culture, 95-96
!5

5. Medium-Specificity Thesis
“While it is clear that stories can be
passed between a novel and a movie and
back, it is also clear that not everything
passes equally well.”
- Juul 2005, Half-Real, 48
!6

6. Medium-Specificity Thesis
“We do not want to claim that some
media forms are better at presenting
worlds than other, though we believe
that each media form has particular
advantages.”
- Klastrup/Tosca 2004,
“Transmedial Worlds”, n. pag.
!7

7. Medium-Specificity Thesis*
Video games contribute to the representation
of transmedial worlds in a medium-specific
way, relying on their distinctive combination of
narrative, ludic, and social features.
!8

8. Limited Adaptability Thesis
“Most often, transmedia stories are
based not on individual characters or
specific plots but rather complex
fictional worlds which can sustain
multiple interrelated characters and
their stories.”
- Jenkins 2007,
“Transmedia Storytelling 101”, n. pag.
!10

9. Limited Adaptability Thesis
Mythos: the establishing conflicts and
battles of the world
Topos: setting (history and geography)
Ethos: explicit and implicit ethics,
world laws, characters' moral codex
- Klastrup/Tosca 2004,
“Transmedial Worlds”, n. pag.
!11

10. Limited Adaptability Thesis
“However, the ultimate success of a
transmedial cyberworld depends on how
the designers are able to implement and
expand on the mythos, topos and ethos
of the ur-transmedial world.”
- Klastrup/Tosca 2004,
“Transmedial Worlds”, n. pag.
!12

11. Limited Adaptability Thesis*
Not every transmedial world lends itself
to being instantiated in every medium.
!13

12. (Almost No) Theory
• Medium Specificity Thesis
• Limited Adaptability Thesis
If different media contribute to transmedial worlds in
such a medium-specific way, that not every transmedial
world is equally adaptable in every medium, then there
must be some transmedial worlds that translate easily to
video games while others do not.
!15

13. (Almost No) Theory
Some fictions lend themselves particularly well
to an adaptation as a video game, namely those
that feature a distinctive game logic.
The novel-based
transmedial world
of George Martin’s
A Song of Ice and Fire
is such a world.
!16

14. LOOKING FOR GAMES
IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

15. What Is a Game?
“A game is a system in which players
engage in an artificial conflict, defined
by rules, that results in a quantifiable
outcome.”
- Salen/Zimmerman 2004, Rules of Play, 83
!18

16. Narrative and Game Logic
“Such narratives reveal the arbitrariness
of the particular choices made, and the
possibility of making other combinations
which would create alternative stories.”
- Kinder 2002, "Hot Spots, Avatars,
and Narrative Fields Forever”, 6
!19

17. Narrative and Game Logic
“Die Figurengruppe eines
Mehrfigurenspiels wird nicht […] aus
den Merkmalen der Einzelfiguren
konstituiert, sondern […] aus dem
Spielziel, das unterschiedslos für die
gesamte Figurengruppe gilt.”
- Venus 2007,“Teamspirit”, 314
!20

18. Narrative and Game Logic
“In contrast to most games, most narratives
do not require algorithm-like behavior
from their readers. However, narratives
and games are similar in that the user,
while proceeding through them, must
uncover its underlying logic - its algorithm
[…] which the writer used to create the
settings, the characters, and the events.”
- Manovich 2001,
The Language of New Media, 225
!21

19. !22

20. The Game of Game of Thrones
“When you play the game of thrones, you
win or you die. There is no middle ground.”
- Cersei Lannister, A Game of Thrones
!
“The wars, the intrigues, the great bloody
game, and me in the center of it.”
- Tyrion Lannister, A Clash of Kings
!23

21. The Game of Game of Thrones
“Too many strange faces, […] too many new players.
The game changed while I lay rotting in my bed, and
no one will tell me the rules.”
- Tyrion Lannister, A Storm of Swords
“I might have to remove her from the game sooner
than I’d planned. Provided she does not remove herself
first. […] In the game of thrones, even the humblest
pieces can have wills of their own. Sometimes they
refuse to make the moves you’ve planned for them.”
- Littlefinger, A Feast For Crows
!24

22. THREE CASE STUDIES
IN FIVE MINUTES

23. Game of Thrones
Cyanide/Atlus 2012
• action role-playing game
• set in parallel to A Game of Thrones
• gameplay alternating ‚chapter-based‘
between two protagonists
• focus on real-time combat, cut-scenes,
dialogue, character progression
!26

24. Game of Thrones (Cyanide/Atlus 2012)
!27

25. Game of Thrones (Cyanide/Atlus 2012)
!28

26. Game of Thrones: Ascent
Disruptor Beam 2013-2014
• online/Facebook game
• spans 3 books (yet): A Game of Thrones –
A Clash of Kings – A Storm of Swords
• focus on ‚social features‘, progression,
time investment
!29

27. Game of Thrones: Ascent (Disruptor Beam 2013-2014)
!30

28. Game of Thrones: Ascent (Disruptor Beam 2013-2014)
!31

29. Game of Thrones: Ascent (Disruptor Beam 2013-2014)
!32

30. Game of Thrones: Genesis
Cyanide/Focus Home Entertainment 2011
• real-time strategy game
• starts 700 years before A Game of
Thrones, but also covers books 1-3
• single- and multiplayer mode
• focus on resource management,
underhand tactics, real-time combat
!33

31. Game of Thrones: Genesis (Cyanide/Focus Home Entertainment 2011)
!34

32. Game of Thrones: Genesis (Cyanide/Focus Home Entertainment 2011)
!35

33. Game of Thrones: Genesis (Cyanide/Focus Home Entertainment 2011)
!36

34. Three Case Studies in Five Minutes
Mythos
Topos
Ethos
Game Logic
Game of Thrones
*Action RPG
Game of Thrones: Ascent
*Online/Facebook
!37
Game of Thrones: Genesis
*RTS

35. Three Case Studies in Five Minutes
Some fictions lend themselves particularly well
to an adaptation as a video game, namely those
that feature a distinctive game logic.
The novel-based
transmedial world
of George Martin’s
A Song of Ice and Fire
is such a world.
!38

36. Thank you!
Felix Schröter
felix.schroter@uni-hamburg.de
felixjs
www.felixschroeter.de