The Mill and HBO Max Forge Augmented Reality App ‘House of The Dragon: DracARys’

DracARys is here!
Work July 25, 2022

In anticipation of the premiere of the new HBO original drama ‘House of the Dragon’ releasing August 21st, HBO has launched ‘House of Dragon: DracARys’, the official augmented reality app for the show.

With the app, fans around the world will be able to “hatch” and raise their own virtual dragons at home. Each dragon will be unique to its user, and as it grows it will experience developmental milestones that reveal dragon insights based on the lore from George R.R. Martin’s world. Users will also learn Valyrian words from “House of the Dragon” to command their dragon through a bespoke voice recognition system. Once the dragons reach adulthood, they gain the ability to roam the world for other users across the world to see and interact with.

Our Experience team of artists, technologists, and strategists collaborated with the team at HBO Max digital innovation to develop House of the Dragon: DracARys from scratch using the Unity game engine and Niantic’s Lightship technology with immersive sound design by London-based studio, Factory.

The highly-anticipated show acts as a prequel to worldwide sensation ‘Game of Thrones;’ taking place hundreds of years prior and tells the history of Westeros and House Targaryen.

“When the dragons of Westeros appear on the show it's always a breath-taking, awe-inspiring moment. With DracARys we wanted users to experience those moments of awe and wonder in the context of their everyday lives. Our ambitions are to complement the world of Westeros and the mythology of the show in an enriching way, while pushing the boundaries of what is possible with virtual characters existing in mixed realities.”
-Kevin Young, Creative Director at The Mill and Lead Creative on ‘House of the Dragon: DracARys

‘House of the Dragon: DracARys’ was first launched exclusively on July 20th at San Diego Comic-Con to attendees of the immersive guided experience “House of the Dragon: The Dragon’s Den.”  

The app is now available to download on Apple and Google Play app stores in 19 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, UK and USA. Additional countries will be announced at a later date. 

Video provided by Variety. Gameplay shown at 0:43

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