Bigpoint: Game of Thrones: Bringing Westeros to Life

2. My Background
• 22 years making video-games
• Started out as an artist
• Moved into Art management role
• Moved into production role
• Currently Sr. Producer on Game of Thrones at Bigpoint

3. World-Building
• I started my career creating 3D Stadiums for
sports games
• Worked on several large scale RPG and RTS
games with very large maps/levels – each
posing unique design, art and technical
production constraints.

4. What problem are we solving
We want to faithfully represent the look and feel
of Westeros in a richly detailed game.
The challenge for us is to do this in a web-
browser that runs on low spec machines.

5. What problem are we solving
Historically most web-browser games have been
2D or if they are 3D, they have been much
smaller games.
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms seeks to
change this paradigm in creating large-scale
terrain visualizations in 3D, playable through a
browser.

6. WESTEROS
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

7. WESTEROS
Isometric view with zoomable camera and
large scale terrain visualization.
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

8. WESTEROS
• There are seven “kingdoms” that occupy the different regions of Westeros
– each with it’s own geographic and architectural style

9. WESTEROS
• Westeros has several different ecosystems – a
snow filled Northern region, a desert-like
Southern region and many differing types of
regions in-between.

11. WESTEROS
• Westeros is supposed to be around the size of
South America – or 7000KM long*
• The Wall is estimated to be 500 KM long
*speculation!

12. WESTEROS
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

13. WESTEROS
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

14. EXPANSION
• We need enough space for the map to expand over time
– Additional areas will open up with new adventures and new factions

15. WESTEROS
• DIVERSITY OF ENVIRONMENTS

16. WESTEROS
• DIVERSITY OF ENVIRONMENTS

17. WHAT TOOLS DO WE USE
• Proprietary Engine - NEBULA
• World builder
• Brushes
• Maya
• Articy
• Various texture-making tools
• Proprietary tools

18. TECHNICAL FACTS
• SERVERS: The game world is split into
different servers – this allows us flexibility and
also to shift the server load around.
• It is technically still on the same map

19. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Persistent: Every change that happens on the
map happens for all players. You affect
everything in the world…..and can see
everything everyone else does to their game.

20. TECHNICAL FACTS

21. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Step 1 – Terrain Creation:
• Terrain is generated in World Machine 2
• Terrain is exported as Tiled Export
• Maps generated: Height map, Color map

22. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Step 2 – Terrain Export:
• Terrain is exported as Tiled Export to Nebula
(our proprietary game engine)
• Our engine automatically generates LOD´s
(Level of detail) for the Terrain

23. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Step 3
• Models and animations are exported from
Maya (Using Granny export)
GAME

24. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Step 4 – Tree Brushes:
• Tree Brushes: Artist Create a Point Cloud
(locators) in Maya and Export to engine

25. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Step 5 – Node Network:
• Import the Node Network Data from Articy into the Nebula Editor
• 3d Assets are connected to the Nodes automatically

26. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Step 6 – Placement of Assets on the World Map:
• Adjust the Node Network by repositioning the Nodes
• Adjust the Roads by adding and manipulating Road
Points

27. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Step 7 –Ground Detail:
• Decals are generated in Maya and exported in
the same way as Static Models
• Decals are placed on the World Map in the
same way as Environment Assets

28. Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

29. TECHNICAL FACTS
• Other Polish Steps include:
• Global Lighting
• Regional Lighting (Light Trigger Zones)
• Rivers – uses planes with animating shaders
• Ocean – uses planes with animating shaders
• Particle Effects place throughout game world
• UI Icons (3d Icons) place throughout game world

30. TECHNICAL FACTS
• ONLINE AND OFFLINE PLAY IN A PERSISTENT WORLD
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

31. TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
• OPTIMIZATION
• SERVERS
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

32. DESIGN
• Balancing such a big map is difficult……the design team uses custom made brushes
to paint on resources and player locations.
• As the designers can re-paint an entire region in a few hours using these brushes
helps to fine-tune the game balance which needs fast iteration.

33. DESIGN

34. DESIGN
• While the map is still huge – ensuring we can get enough players occupying a
specific region is always difficult. It takes time for the brushes to be created so
that the world does not feel too crowded.
• We will use a “instancing” of each region once they are filled with players –
however there will be common areas for all players (PVP region and special quest
locations)

35. DESIGN
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

36. DESIGN
• The designers also need to split up the PVP region (represented by the Riverlands
in the Game of Thrones world) so that we do not show too many players at once
and bog down the game engine.
• We also use a “fog of war” to prevent the PVP and PVE region from showing too
many players and becoming visually too noisy. Visual acuity is important to our
gameplay

37. DESIGN
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

38. DESIGN
• The world is connected by roads – we can block off many areas by not having any
roads lead through them until we are ready to unveil that region.
• Utilizing roads and a node network gives us tight control over where players travel
and also is an important part of our gameplay strategy.

39. DESIGN
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

40. DESIGN
• We also utilize a separate screen to showcase the players base – this allows us to
add in more detail than what is possible on the main map. The Castle (or Keep)
will show it’s visual upgrades in both screens so players can see where other
players are at around them.

41. DESIGN
• In order for players to travel around the map without taking hours we have added
in fast travel locations – these are represented by camps and docks throughout all
of the regions. Each of these regions is on a different server.
• We originally allowed players to travel without using the fast travel system but the
gameplay was simply not fun and did not fit with the game style.

42. DESIGN
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

43. DESIGN
• Strategic map

44. DESIGN
• Questing
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

45. DESIGN
• Questing
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

46. DESIGN
• Questing
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

47. ART
• We try to use all the latest tools we can to
build up the map as quickly as possible.
• Iteration is key to building a great game

48. ART
• Everything can be upgraded or edited requiring several
versions of one asset
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

49. ART
• We will unveil new regions as the game
progresses.
• Animals and interesting landmarks are also
spread throughout the map

50. ART
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

51. ART
• Lighting
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

52. ART
• Water
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

53. ART
• Trees
Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – Pre-Alpha in-game screenshot

54. ART
• What’s next?

55. SUMMARY

56. QUESTIONS?
If you have more please e-mail me at:
m.swanson@bigpoint.net