The release of the DracARys augemented reality app was a fun approach by HBO to market House of the Dragon, letting anyone with a mobile phone have their own pet dragon. While we were never stirred by Pókemon-mania, we’d each had Tamagotchi when we were young, and playing with the app definitely inspired some nostalgia. So much so that we check in with our dragons several times each day and rush outside whenever there’s a notice of something interesting (such as the first visit by a dragon from Westeros).
Given our interest and seeing that there’s a small but active community for the app, we reached out to HBO to see if we could talk to the creatives and developers behind the app. HBO led us to Victor Piñeiro and Samantha Garrison from HBO Max, as well as Kevin Young at The Mill, who kindly answered our many questions.
How familiar were the developers with GAME OF THRONES and the source material for HOUSE OF THE DRAGONS prior to the work on the app?
Can you talk a bit about the genesis of the app and the collaborative process between HBO Max/Warner Bros. and the development team?
In terms of designing the look of the eggs and the dragons, were there specific guidelines given regarding this? HOUSE OF THE DRAGON is making a point of varying the silhouette and proportions of the dragons in relation to those of GAME OF THRONES, and we wonder if that is going to be reflected in the models used for dragons down the road?
Were the Valyrian commands (other than dracarys) created specifically for the app or will we see them used in the show as well? If created for the app, was that done in consultation with David Peterson? And are there more commands to look forward to?
The dragons you see in the wild have some very old dates at times, suggesting they are pre-generated. But will users eventually start to see the dragons of other users from around the world?
Can you share anything about future plans for the app?
Read the full interview on Westeros.org. You can also get in touch with our Experience team to discuss your upcoming project via our contact page.