Bejeweled 2 Deluxe

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe is a delightful puzzle game in which you must match gems in a line to form a group of three or more. The simple gameplay and controls makes it something that would be a great choice for anyone to play. There are several games modes available right away for some variety, as well as a handful of hidden game modes to unlock. Bejeweled 2 Deluxe is an incredibly addictive game that can keep you playing for hours at a time.

Basic Gameplay

In Bejeweled 2 Deluxe, you have a grid that is full of different types of gems. Your goal is to match three or more of one gem type in a horizontal or vertical line. You must do this by swapping gems with one another. Swapping gems can only be done between two gems at a time, and causes them to switch positions if the swap will create a match. You can swap a gem with another gem that is directly above, below, to the left, or to the right of it. It might sound a bit complicated, but it's fairly simple in practice.
Matching more than three gems at once can give special gems, such as a power gem for a match of four that explodes and destroys other gems. A lot of strategy can come into play in trying to get larger matches, or create several matches with one move.

Gradually Increasing Difficulty

While Bejeweled 2 Deluxe does contain levels, there is little difference between them. All levels are just a random selection and placement of gems on the game grid (except for Puzzle Mode). A different background or slightly higher difficulty are the only real changes from level to level.

4 Different Game Modes

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe comes with four modes available to you from the start. You choose between Classic Mode, Action Mode, Puzzle Mode, or Endless Mode. In Classic Mode, matches you make fill a bar at the bottom of the screen. Once you fill the bar, you advance to the next level (which needs even more matches to fill the bar). Action Mode is where you must be quick, because you only have a limited amount of time to play. Matches in this mode will increase the time before the game ends.
The Puzzle Mode provides a variety of different puzzle to complete by skillfully matching gems. Endless Mode lives up to its name, with an endless gameplay experience in which you can never run out of moves or time. The are an additional four hidden game modes unlocked through playing the first four modes that add even more challenge and complexity.

Modes Fit a Wide Range of Puzzle Players

While Bejeweled 2 Deluxe does not provide multiple difficulty levels, the different modes can provide a variety of challenges. Newer or less-skilled players could play the Endless Mode, in which they don't have to deal with the possibility of running out of moves or time. Players looking for something a bit more challenging, or something that requires a lot of thought could find it in the Puzzle Mode. Players wanting something fast-paced that will keep them on the edge of their seat will enjoy Action Mode.
On top of the separate modes, there is always the option to receive a hint (at the cost of points) if you get stuck and can't find a match to make. Even without a difficulty setting, the game does a good job of providing something for players of all skill levels.

Easy to Learn and Play

Like many other similar games, the controls for Bejeweled 2 Deluxe are simple. The only thing you need to do in the game is swap gems, which can be done via clicking the mouse. The game gives you a quick explanation and demonstration on how to swap gems and create matches before you start playing.
As with many other matching puzzle games, the graphics in Bejeweled 2 Deluxe are not the most amazing thing you've ever seen. However, the simple nature of the game means that you don't need cutting-edge or over-the-top visuals. Likewise, the music and sound effects won't be part of any soundtrack of the year. At the same time, they are a net positive for the game.

Repetitive But That May Be a Good Thing

Despite the various modes you can choose from, the game can become repetitive as you constantly swap gems over and over again. This part never changes, regardless of the mode in which you play. The game can also be surprisingly addictive, bringing you back to play again and again. As a result, Bejeweled 2 Deluxe is a game that you can play anywhere from a few minutes to hours at a time.

Conclusion - An Addictive Gem

Whether you absolutely love puzzle and matching games or have never touched them before, Bejeweled 2 Deluxe is an excellent game to play. The simple gameplay and controls make it an easy game to learn and get into, while the different modes offer a wide variety of challenges to take on. It can be a bit repetitive, but it can also be extremely addicting. Bejeweled 2 Deluxe is a worthwhile game for anyone to play.
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18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul

 
This installment of the 18 Wheels of Steel (18 WOS) series puts you back behind the wheel of an enormous 18 wheel semi-truck. 18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul lets you get a taste of what life behind the wheel is really like. Following the rules of the road is a must since you will be fined heavily for any infractions you commit. From hitching your trailer to dropping it off no detail is left out.

Difficulty Adjustments

Free play is the only way to experience this edition of 18 WOS. You can adjust the difficulty setting from easy to hard. The differences between the difficulty levels is how much money you start with and how accurate you need to be when positioning the trailer to drop off. In easy you start with $50,000 and the trailer need not be properly aligned. Medium gives you $20,000 to start and trailers need to be fairly accurately parked. Finally, hard mode gives you $20,000 cash and a $100,000 debt to pay off, and trailers need to be parked very accurately. Other than the starting features and trailer parking not much changes with the difficulty rating. Parking trailers can be hard at first but with practice becomes quite easy. After paying off the initial debt, hard mode doesn't seem much more difficult than easy mode.

Pick Your Load to Haul

To start out you choose a load, attach the trailer and figure out how to get to your destination. There is a wide variety of loads to choose from such as construction equipment, food, gas, and more. Loads will have a specific location and an amount you will make for delivering. Make sure to choose loads that are profitable because, if you spend more on gas than you get for delivering you've wasted your time.

Upgradeable Trucks

After you have made some money you can upgrade your truck. You can purchase things like new engines, transmissions and brakes. Upgrades can make your truck faster and allow you to make your deliveries quicker which makes them well worth the money.

Excellent Graphics

The graphics, like in all the 18 WOS games, are phenomenal. Cities are modeled to reflect how they are in real life as well as the local vegetation. The trucks are modeled very well both inside and out. The interiors include rear view mirrors and even a CB radio to communicate with other truckers. Highways are all named correctly and include signs to tell you how to get to the city you need. Weather plays a factor in driving conditions. When it is snowy you will have to slow down to avoid slipping. The detail adds to the immersive effect of the game.

Annoying Traffic Laws and Long Drive Times

There are some downsides to the game. Traffic laws can at times be impossible to follow. Stopping at red lights in a moving truck with two trailers is not a quick thing, so on occasion you will run a red light. This infraction will cost you heavily. Also the large amount of time it requires to travel can get excessive. To travel from one side of the country to the other can involve several hours of driving. Without saving and coming back to it later this can get very boring.

Conclusion - Recommended for Trucking Enthusiasts

18 WOS: American Long Haul provides and awesome truck driving experience. Seeing the varying landscapes from Mexico all the way up to Canada gives you plenty to explore. The variety of loads and locations means you will never have to haul the same thing to the same place twice. With all the features in this game you will have endless hours of entertainment. Throw on your truckin' hat and hit the road.

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Army Men RTS

 
Army Men RTS is a real-time strategy title that lets you take command of your favorite little green soldiers to take on the Tan army and defeat a defecting Green general. It has all the traditional RTS elements such as resource harvesting, base building, and commanding armies of units around the battlefield. The interface is very simple and easy to use with most commands and camera movements controlled by the mouse.

What Army Men Were Meant to Do

The unique setting and world of Army Men provides a refreshing new twist to this classic game genre. There isn't anything like exploring flower gardens and counter tops as you take out Tan bases, try to capture an infinite power source, or escape from a basement infested with ants. It is really fun to send out your plastic soldiers and take advantage of the varied unit types, such as the grenadier, medic, half-track, and mortar men, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Hero Units and Resource Management

There are also several hero units like Sarge, Hoover, Riff, and Scorch, and the game does a good job of giving each of them their own personality and appeal. Also, the resource system is rather intriguing as you harvest various mundane items like toy robots, frisbees, and watches for plastic and electricity. You can even collect plastic from fallen soldiers and destroyed buildings!

Some Gameplay Constraints

There are, however, a few slight issues which can detract from the gameplay. For starters, you can only create four unit groups which is quite a constraint considering the varied unit types.
Also, the pathfinding for large groups of units isn't the best and can be the cause of frustration as your font-line units get stuck behind your support troops. This is further complicated by the fact that you can't really adjust your units' behavior and they attack any enemy unit on sight. This can cause some problems when attacking enemy bases since your mortar team needs one of your units in sight of the target but that unit tends to want to just rush in and attack, which can mess with your strategy.
Finally, there isn't a whole lot of replay value since there is only the linear campaign and single-scenario Great Battles, which have environments taken from the campaign.

Conclusion - Fun, Basic RTS

Army Men RTS provides a fun and gratifying RTS experience. The variety of units and heroes are a pleasure to play around with and the unique gameplay universe is both refreshing and fascinating. There are some issues which hamper the gameplay slightly, but the addicting gameplay tends to make up for this.
Overall, Army Men RTS is a great game for new players to the genre to jump right into and hard-core fans can find some enjoyment with its originality, though they might be turned off a bit by its lack of complexity.

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Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum

The original RollerCoaster Tycoon which came out in 1999 was received as one of the best games, let alone simulation games, of the decade. Naturally with that hype, sequels of the original are much anticipated and have huge expectations.

One of the Best

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum (RCT 3) will not let you down. This sequel is action packed and much improved. The graphics are phenomenal, the tutorial is more helpful, the water park feature will win you over, and the overall gameplay and quality is much better. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 lives up to the hype and is one of the best simulation games on the market.

Several Ways to Play

You begin the game by choosing between several game modes and game playing options. You can choose either the “sandbox” mode, which will allow you to create any kind of park you want, the “career” mode, which is a series of challenges, or you can elect to build custom coasters and buildings. In sandbox mode money is no option so you can build and design whatever you want regardless of price. This allows you to create parks even the game developers could not fathom.
The next mode, career, is a scenario mode that requires you to turn down-and-out parks into successful enterprises. This is similar to other simulation objective modes in that you are given a certain amount of money and a list of tasks. It becomes your job to use the money wisely and build a park, accomplishing each scenario's objectives.
The third mode allows you to build custom coasters, fireworks shows, and buildings that can later be imported into each scenario or free play park. This mode gives you the time and opportunity to make coasters without feeling rushed or under the gun, like in the career option.

The Same Rollercoaster Tycoon But Better

This game stays true to its roots when it comes to gameplay and game mechanics. As a park owner you are in complete control. You can set your parks prices, build rides, hire your own staff, and advertise your park. Like its predecessor you have control of every aspect of the park, however, the controls are easier to use and the graphics and overall enjoyment is much greater. New features of this game that are not in the previous versions are the addition of the water park element as well as the addition of the fireworks show. The fireworks show is especially cool because in it you are able to create vivid light shows accompanied by music of your liking, which can be imported from your computer. This allows you to create shows to your favorite songs or mixes.

Amazing Graphics

The graphics are superb and much improved in this sequel. The colors are vivid and the level of detail is impressive. An example of this can be seen with the pools or water in your parks. If you are to click on the water you will see ripples and contrasting shadows. This detail is lifelike and the graphics of this game are some of the best you will come across. The inclusion of the two expansion packs, “soaked” and “wild” is another great perk of this game. These will add to your enjoyment and provide you with hours and hours of added excitement.

Custom Rides Can Be Tricky to Create

The only obvious drawback of this game was with adding rides. If ride building is not your specialty, adding coasters to your park can be difficult because there are less “stock” coasters. This requires you to build rides, and though the coaster building is much improved from previous versions, it can still be difficult. If more stock options were available this game would be more playable for a larger group of people.

Conclusion - Excellent Modern Version of Rollercoaster Tycoon

Overall, this game is simply great. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is easy to play and the graphics are phenomenal. The new features like the fireworks show builder as well as the water parks are perfect additions to the original version—not departing too far from what makes the game great. Also, the expansion pack additions of “soaked” and “wild” make your investment in this game worth a lot more. The benefits of RCT 3 outweigh the slight difficulty you might face when trying to add pre-built roller coasters.
This is one of, if not the best business simulation game on the market and it comes highly recommended. No matter your age or interest in simulation games you will find something about this game that you love.
 

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RollerCoaster Tycoon 2

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 is a detailed and in-depth simulation game that puts you in control of your very own theme park. You are in total control and decide what rides are built, how much to charge for admission, who to hire, and more. You build your park from scratch as you see fit and work hard to attract more guests and make more money. You can even design your own coasters or build real Six Flags roller coasters.

Pick a Scenario

You start RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 by selecting one of twenty-six theme park scenarios. Each scenario has a different location and objectives. Some scenarios place you in control of a castle or factory that you must turn into a popular and profitable theme park. Other scenarios may place you in control of real-life Six Flags theme parks. Possible objectives include having a certain number of guests in your park within a few years time, having a certain park rating, or even earning a certain income per month.

How You Meet the Scenario Goal is Up to You

Once you've selected your scenario, you'll be handed a theme park and $10,000. You must use this money to build attractions and amenities that will draw as many people to your park as possible. You have a huge array of options and choices in how you want to build your park. You can build rides that have already been designed for you or build your own from scratch. You can choose which food and drink stands you want to build. You make decisions on hiring staff such as a handyman to keep the park clean, or a mechanic to keep your rides running. You decide the prices and admission fees that fund your park. You even have control over the landscaping within your park. There are endless possibilities when it comes to creating an amazing theme park.

Difficulty Varies With Each Scenario

The various scenarios in RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 are split up into several difficulty levels that are all available at the start of the game. This lets you choose a difficult that's right for you, while still giving you some choice on the park you'll start with. If you're a more experiencing simulation player or played the first RollerCoaster Tycoon, you can skip right to the more challenging scenarios. Similarly, less-skilled players or those new to the series can start with easier parks.

Tutorials Are Helpful But Incomplete

There are also several tutorials provided to introduce players to the game and the basics of building a successful park. While the tutorials are quite useful and a requirement to anyone new to the game, they also only deal with the basics. To figure out the more advanced or difficult elements you'll need to experiment with your parks.

Easy Controls, Camera Angles Can Be Tricky

The controls in RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 are fairly simple. Objects are selected and placed with the mouse, while you can move your view around the park with the arrow keys. All of the buttons you use in building your park are labeled as well. It might be a bit difficult to learn these on your own or through experimentation, but the tutorials do a good job of covering what the buttons do (such as rotating the camera or building a ride). The biggest issue with the controls is the limited camera angles. You can only view your park from four directions, which can make seeing/building things like walkways in your park more difficult than it should be.

Older But Detailed Graphics

While RollerCoaster Tycoon 2's graphics are somewhat old, they are also very detailed. You can see individual people as they traverse your park, a roller coaster on its track, or even litter on the walkways and paths of your park. These small details add a great touch to the game and improve on the simulation. The sounds also play into the simulation nature of the game, as you can select the music played for each ride that adds to that ride's theme. You'll be able to hear the music you pick for a ride every time you click on it. They won't blow you away, but the graphics and sounds work very well with the game.

A Lot of Play Time Here

The variety of scenarios as well as the ability to custom build your parks and rides means that this game will last a long time, but also gives you a reason to replay scenarios multiple times. Each park provides unique challenges and locations to tackle. Even if you do the same scenario several times, you can create a completely different theme park each time.
The biggest issue with playing through the scenarios is the time investment required. It takes a long time to get through one scenario, and there is no way to speed up the game if you meet your objectives early or want to fast-forward to the point when you've earned enough money for more rides. Additionally, you're limited to the twenty-six scenarios when it comes to creating parks. It would have been great it there was an option to create a park with unlimited money and no restrictions or objectives.

Conclusion - As Fun As a Real Theme Park (Without the Motion Sickness)

Overall, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 is an excellent and detailed simulation game. Fans of the RollerCoaster Tycoon series and simulation games will not be disappointed. The game is also a great choice for players who may not be as familiar with the series or genre. You control every aspect of your park in one of twenty-six unique and interesting scenarios. Work with real-life parks and rides or build custom parks and rides from scratch.
A few minor issues pale in comparison to all that this game has to offer. RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 will provides hours upon hours of entertainment.
 

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Plants vs. Zombies

Plants vs. Zombies mixes two very unlikely enemies in this charming and fun tower defense game.

You've Never Played Anything Like This Before

There is a horde of goofy zombies on the loose full of pole-vaulters, snorkelers, and Zamboni drivers and it is up to you to fill your garden with a wide array of protective plants, be it peashooters, sunflowers, wall-nuts, or cherry bombs. The gameplay itself is strongly in the realm of the tower defense genre where there are a set number of plots in your lawn where you can plant your plants and avenues which the zombies will then approach your house in waves, all of which you must repel to save your brains.

Truly Addictive and Strategic

What makes Plants vs. Zombies so enjoyable is how addictive and accessible it is as well as the hilarious and zany setting. Whether it's planting a potato mine to take out a “Thriller” zombie or watching a poor wall-nut's look of despair as he gets eaten, the visuals and music do a great job of drawing you into the action. One of the great things about the gameplay though is the sheer variety, such as just when you get used to fighting the zombies in the day they start to attack at night and you have to learn a whole different strategy for your night-time vegetation.
The use of unlocking new plants at the end of each level and slowly changing the game dynamic is great for new players since it eases them into the difficulty. The only downside to this gentle learning curve is that it can take a while to reach truly challenging levels for more experienced players and this could be an annoyance. Yet even with this small issue, there are plenty of game modes that tower defense fans can test their skills on without too much main adventure gameplay.

So Many Other Game Modes and Mini-Games to Enjoy

For instance there is a survival mode which lets you keep your plants between levels and requires you to constantly change your garden as different waves of zombies come at you. This means you can try out some of the more exotic plants and has its own strategic challenges. Then there are several mini-games and puzzles which are quite entertaining, such as I, Zombie which flips the tables and has you deploying zombies in a delightfully evil twist.

Conclusion - One of the Best PC Strategy Values Available

Overall, Plants vs. Zombies provides an entertaining and addictive gameplay experience that draws you in with its charm and strategic complexity. Its wide array of plants, zombies, and level conditions keeps things fresh as you work your way through the 50 level main adventure and through the various other game modes. While the pace may not be to everyone's liking, the action can get rather intense and challenging if you only stick with it for a little while.
Considering the hours of enjoyable gameplay you can find, plus the relatively cheap price, Plants vs. Zombies is a great game for tower defense fans of any age.
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Art of the Title: There seem to be a lot of interesting, almost non-standard, edits in the piece. It doesn’t look like the usual choices were made in terms of what to cut to next.

Angus Wall: Well I didn’t want it to be predictable. I suppose I wanted to push it without being completely disorienting. Although there’s a cut in one of the versions where we do a 180 degree reverse cut... we had many conversations about that cut because it is a little disorienting. But I like that kind of stuff. I like things that throw you off just for a moment. Not to confuse you permanently, but where you go “Whoa, where am I right now?” Then you reorient yourself. I like films that do that, stay ahead of the viewer. You can be a little bit more adventurous about your shot construction, blocking and staging in a title sequence. I just didn’t want it to feel too pre-programmed. There were limitations on how the shots were constructed and yes, they were designed as a sequence, but they were also designed to be good standalone shots as well.

Pentos final render (Click to Enlarge)

Art of the Title: Are you working with the same people that you worked with before, or is it different for every production?

Angus Wall: It was by in large the same people that I've worked with before, which is nice. They were very, very supportive of what we were doing. One of the things that came out of our conversations were the bands on the astrolabe — they’re the bands that surround the sun. We show three close-ups of those bands that tell the pre-history of the world in relief-sculpture form. They tell about dragons attacking Westeros. They tell about how the different houses on Westeros got together and defeated those dragons, and how those houses, represented by their respective animals, bowed in allegiance to the Baretheon stag.

Astrolabe concept art (Click to Enlarge)

We initially had five of these depictions, but found that even with three, we were right on the edge of being able to understand what's happening in the sequence... which is a place I like. I like the fact that you think, "I'm not sure that I got everything that I was supposed to be getting out of that." You're going to see this ten times during the first season and we wanted to make sure that there was room for people to see new things with each viewing.

Astrolabe final render (Click to Enlarge)

Art of the Title: There was feedback from fans almost immediately regarding certain inaccuracies within the sequence. Were you prepared for that level of scrutiny?

Angus Wall: You know, I honestly haven't read any of the backlash. I knew there was going to be some. Basically, we had an existing map of Westeros and a xeroxed hand drawn map of Essos — both done by George R. R. Martin — and I took those into Photoshop and played with their scale until they lined up perfectly. The actual dimensions, the locations and their placement, and the different terrains are all based strictly on George R. R. Martin's maps. It was really important that we stay as absolutely true to the books as possible because of the ardent fans out there.

Winterfell and The Wall final renders (2 images)

Art of the Title: Was Martin himself involved in any way? Did he see any of the work that you guys were doing?
Angus Wall: He created the foundation of what we did by writing the books and drawing the maps. He didn’t see the sequence until the premiere though... and he was very happy with it, which meant a huge amount to us.
Art of the Title: So how long were you involved with this?
Angus Wall: We probably worked on it for five or six months with varying scales of crew, but the first conversation we had with Carolyn Strauss was probably two years ago.
Art of the Title: You said "scales of crew." How big to how small?
Angus Wall: I think in total there were about twenty to twenty-five people who worked on it. There was an amazing level craftsmanship, which is a testament to Rob and Kirk and everyone who worked on their teams.
Art of the Title: How large is Elastic?
Angus Wall: It depends. We have several people on staff, and we bring in freelancers for their specific skills. Between "Rock Paper Scissors," "a52" and "Elastic" it's well over a hundred people.
Art of the Title: A fair amount then!
Angus Wall: Yeah, that’s why I wake up at 2:15am some mornings with morning terror...
Art of the Title: How was the collaboration with HBO?
Angus Wall: It was great. They are an amazing company to work with because they’re always about trying to make the idea better. I think in any situation where you're trying to do something creative, you want all of the energy going into the work, and with HBO, everyone really wanted to do what was right for the show, and subsequently for the title sequence.

Art of the Title: So you've got the idea; you know that it's going to be a Dyson type sphere and you know it's going to light it. Where do you go from there?

Angus Wall: With the shape of the world determined, we started doing concept art, detailing what these places would look like given the fact that the world is round and they're made of wood and stone and they're of a certain size. We had several very talented concept artists working on this. At the same time we set up the world in previs and started blocking out the sequence. It seemed fruitless to do storyboards because they don't move and in my mind this whole sequence had to be really dynamic. The camera had to be moving the whole time, taking you on a journey. So we blocked the big moves, the moves from place to place, then focused on how we were revealing the different locations and how they were emerging from the surface of the map.

Godswood sketches (2 images)

As soon as we had final concept art, we pushed it to the model makers working in Maya. These guys were amazing, taking sketches and turning them into working objects, adding tons of their own inventive details in the process. These models in turn, got incorporated back into the previs. It's really too bad the sequence is only 90 seconds long, because there's so much detail we were not able to show. If you're going to create a world, in order for it to feel legit, you have to have this fractal sense of detail. There are dust motes in the air when you're passing through, and all the cogs have a logic to them. There are cogs actually under the surface of the map that you can barely see in the gaps between the model and the surfaces of the world itself. There's such an amazing amount of detail in the models.
It was a very organic process. It's basically going back and forth and whenever we had a new model we'd add it to the world and refine the previs accordingly. Kirk and his team worked incredibly hard to keep us on schedule. And eventually that previs became the blueprint for what was finally rendered out.

The Eyrie sketches to concept art (3 images)

Art of the Title: It’s interesting that you were trying to answer these practical problems even though it would eventually be created all in the computer. You're still asking questions like, "Well what's beyond the horizon, is it a room? Oh, so let's make it a sphere" or "How do you light it?" as opposed to just saying "Well it's lit."

Angus Wall: One thing that was really important was to make it feel like it was a physical thing and not to use CG as a kind of “magic camera.” I thought about it in terms of shooting practically with a motion controlled camera. I think you’d have to shoot everything with motion control due to the narrow depth of field and size of the camera moves, but the whole idea was to make it feel real. Early on, we did a test render of the Red Keep, which is the main structure at King's Landing. We placed the fully rendered model on a CG board skinned with a sample of beautifully damaged plywood, and showed it to the executives. Somebody said, "We didn't know that you guys had a workshop." And at that point we knew we were on to something... that the artists working on the sequence had really started making something extraordinary.

King's Landing concept art (Click to Enlarge)

Art of the Title: So who’s involved at this point?

Angus Wall: It was Hameed Shaukat (Producer), Rob Feng (Art Director), Kirk Shintani (CG Supervisor) and I just talking about what the different things should look like. A lot of the solutions were just pragmatic ones. The fact that I wanted to be able to move the camera anywhere led us to the fact that this whole world had to exist on the inside of a sphere, which took us a while to figure out. I had initially thought, okay, the shape of this thing... imagine it’s in a medieval tower and monks are watching over it and it’s a living map and it’s shaped like a bowl that’s 30 feet in diameter and these guys watch over it, kind of like they would the Book of Kells or something... they’re the caretakers of this map. I quickly realized we were still going to shoot off the map. So the next thought was, what happens when you put two bowls together? You have a sphere. Next question was “how is it lit?” And obviously, If you have a whole world inside a sphere, what would be in the middle of that sphere? The sun! Or whatever the light source of this world is.

Castle Black sketches to concept art (2 images)

Art of the Title: Detail how Elastic became involved with the show.

Angus Wall:I got a call two years ago from Carolyn Strauss who we had worked with on Carnivàle, Rome and several other main titles for HBO. She is a friend and a co-executive producer on this show. We discussed a concern which is that [Game of Thrones] doesn’t take place on the Earth that we know. It takes place in a world that exists only in the books. So similar to how the legend or map at the front of fantasy book works, she felt like there was a need for a map to the show. Now in the original pilot script, Dan Weiss and Dave Benioff had written a title sequence in which a raven flies from King’s Landing to Winterfell. We did some concept sketches around that idea but when the pilot was shot, they called us in and said, “People are confused about where they are. Can you guys create little map pieces? Not a title sequence per se, but something that shows us exactly where we are when we go from place to place.” We created five previs map shots that were cut in every time the show went from one place to the next. It worked really well in terms of telling you where you were, but it interrupted the narrative flow of the show. We looked at the synopsis for season one and identified what it would take to make these little interstitial shots for all ten episodes, but due to the fact they somewhat disrupted the narrative, the whole map idea got pushed back into the title sequence.

World map concept art (Click to Enlarge)

At this point, we made a list of the locations we needed to build. Then we figured out how many different versions of the sequence we would need to create, the idea being that the opening title would show you all the places you would visit in each episode. And we boiled it down to four different sequences, each a subtle variation.
Title sequences can do a lot of different things, and besides taking you on a journey, this one offers a lot of information about the world you’re going to see. It allowed us to really create our own little world. HBO and the creators of the show really let us run with this idea and we wanted to do something distinctive with it. We didn’t want to create something that’s been done before like what you’ve seen in Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Those things are wonderful, but we wanted to do something different.

House sigil examples (6 images)

Art of the Title: During the pilot stage, when you’re dealing with the maps that are throughout the show, had you gotten into the style that we see now in the final piece?
Angus Wall: No. In the beginning, it was very simple, nothing animating and everything very flat. One of the things we realized early on was that you couldn’t really tilt the camera up very far because it raised the question, what’s beyond the map? I kept thinking that if you had all the money and craftsmen in the world, and you could do whatever you wanted, what would you do? In my mind, you’d build the most intricate, beautiful map you could possibly imagine. You’d get the best craftsmen in the world, give them the materials they’d need and give them five years to make this crazy, working, super-detailed miniature.
Art of the Title: So about the same amount of time that it takes Martin to write one of the books?
Angus Wall: [laughter] Exactly. Our goal was to try to replicate something that looks and acts like a physical object. Art Director Rob Feng referenced Leonardo’s machines which have a timeless sense of design. We wanted the title sequence to be rooted in world of the show, which is a technically unsophisticated place, but to also have a complexity that gives it life. It’s definitely not contemporary! Everything is made of wood, metal, leather, fabric, all natural materials... stuff you could see human hands hammering out and molding.