HBO’s first Game of Thrones collection did not characteristic almost sufficient dragon scenes, if you happen to ask me. My favourite legendary beasties principally confirmed up for a passing greeting or to die inside seconds, but it surely sounds like that is a drawback PlaySide’s upcoming RTS, Game of Thrones: Struggle for Westeros, may treatment.
“The dragons have been a massive focus for us,” sport director Ryan McMahon informed me throughout a Summer time Game Fest interview. “We have really acquired a bit of an R&D team particularly for dragons. Folks, in addition to tasks, which might be dedicated to simply making the dragons.”
At the same time as somebody who learn and watched all of it, I am nonetheless impressed by how thorough and intense followers get in Game of Thrones lore debates. McMahon mentioned the PlaySide team finds themselves in lots of of those self same debates, that are difficult by unreliable character sources and variations between the books and reveals.
There’s one query specifically they’ve spent ages debating: What occurs when a dragon dies?
McMahon did not appear absolutely dedicated to anyone idea simply but, however clearly desires Struggle for Westeros to examine these particulars and the way it impacts the surroundings. PlaySide’s world head of advertising and communications, Michael McAlister, even chimed in, explaining the questions that got here up as they investigated the precedents set by the books and present.
“The dragons are like bombs,” mentioned McAlister. “The implication is that when a dragon crashes into the floor, it explodes like a nuclear bomb. The backwards and forwards about what really occurs when a dragon is not alive is totally fascinating.”
“You realize, in Home of the Dragon, you are going to see them die a lot, and there is often some type of explosion. There are issues about why they would explode in demise,” mentioned McMahon, referencing their hearth breath and totally different deaths all through the collection. “That is a actually fascinating debate. Does it [the explosion] occur all the time? Or does it occur in any respect?”
I can see how that issues when we’re speaking technique on the battlefield. Ought to I strategically take my very own dragon out over an enemy unit so the explosion catches all of them? Or do they simply type of crash and roll into the floor? Does it rely on what they hit, like a barrel of explosives? If I get to decide how some iconic Game of Thrones battles play out, then the flying Targaryen beasts will star in all of them.

The unique HBO collection had its justifiable share of spectacular dragon expertise, too, however CGI ain’t free, so they have been usually relegated to offscreen adventures and distant roaring. Naturally, Home of the Dragon has given them a little extra airtime, however do not depend on Struggle for Westeros together with something from the prequel, at the very least not but.
Once I requested if we would see extra characters from the books or HBO’s Home of the Dragon, McMahon clarified Struggle for Westeros “is only for the Game of Thrones IP” since the newer collection is a separate license. Although he added, “That does not imply that is what we’re going to do without end.”