Saturday, July 20, 2013

RYSE: Sword of Damocles



The digital and print comic book RYSE: Sword of Damocles was unveiled yesterday at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con. The announcement took place during the panel: Bringing the Roman Empire to Life on Xbox One: The Creation of “Ryse: Son of Rome." The panel was hosted by Major Nelson, and it included Justin Robey, producer from Microsoft, Mike Read, producer from Crytek, and Peter Gornstein, cinematic director at Crytek. 

Here is what Justin Robey, producer from Microsoft said: "One of the cool exclusives we've built is a digital interactive comic that you can check out online, created in partnership with IDW and artist Sami Makkonen. It's a really cool interactive comic where you can find hidden gold that will be awarded to you when you play the game. We have also printed a limited edition run of this comic to give out throughout Comic-Con. Pick one up on your way out!"


People were excited to get their hands on a comic. Before closing, every copy the team had brought for the day had been claimed. The digital comic went live on http://xbox.com/ryse, and was announced on the official Xbox Twitter and Facebook accounts.
This project introduced many firsts, from the ability to unlock in-game rewards by reading a digital comic, to being able to track Xbox One and game pre-orders triggered from comic ads, to getting telemetry and metrics on how readers use, share, and enjoy the comic, to being able to host a truly multi-platform interactive HTML5 app on xbox.com infrastructure, to a major comics house working very closely with Microsoft Studios, instead of working off on their own, to create an incredible work of art that stemmed from the minds of engineers, artists, writers, sound designers, animators, and producers alike.
“Comic is bitch'n and apparently you earn gold for the full game in it.”
-NeoGaf
"Oh...my....god.... Take my money now!"
"Cool art!"
"The interactions were pretty cool!"
-Facebook
"Cool comic, and I like the motion comic aspects of it. Plus, I can't complain about free items for the game later."
-Reddit
“I love this graphic novel!”
-Twitter