The Kingdom
The Kingdom is a mobile and browser game translating the ancient Armenian folktale Hazaran Blbul into a playable world, guided by music by Tigran Hamasyan and illustrations by Khoren Matevosyan. Players journey as Prince Areg through dreamlike landscapes in search of a mythical Bird.
a living myth, made playable
After a tragedy curses the royal court, Prince Areg sets out carrying a luminous egg; the vessel of a lost soul. His path leads through shifting landscapes, past a thousand-eyed demon, and toward the mythical bird that sleeps somewhere inside himself. The journey is linked to the music track. It moves the way myths move: by symbol, by threshold, by the logic of the dream…
The gameplay echoes the simplicity of early side-scrolling games, but the world it opens is layered and action driven. Tigran Hamasyan's music sets the tempo of the quest: atmospheric, restless, rooted in Armenian tonality. While Khoren Matevosyan's duotone artwork gives each screen the quality of a page from an illuminated manuscript, something between ancient and alive. Moving through the game feels like moving through a painting that is being made.
Designed as part of the larger transmedia project The Bird of a Thousand Voices, The Kingdom extends the myth into a space where the player becomes the one who must carry it forward.
Freely playable at www.bird1000.com
“Intense, atmospheric and emotional, the music guides players through the prince’s journey. The game is designed to evoke the experience of moving through a painting.””
credits
| Game Design & Script | Ruben Van Leer |
| Artwork | Khoren Matevosyan |
| Music | Tigran Hamasyan |
| Voice Over | Areni Agbabian |
| Development | |
| Lead Developer | Ilija Trbogazov |
| Animation |
Roman Fedorov Vialex Motion Lab Astghik Harutyunyan Ruben Van Leer |
| Audio | |
| Sound Design | Alexander Nezhinskiy – Evolsound |
| Audio Engineer | Ignacio Flores |
| Production | |
| Executive Producer | Ruben Van Leer |
| Produced by |
Truth.io Believe – Naïve Yergatun |
| Additional | |
| Social Media | Marie Lavis |
| Support | |
| Supported by | Creative Industries Fund NL |
| Thanks | |
| Special Thanks |
Johann Audiffren Juan Agustin Tibaldo – Ohzi Tom Korkidis – New Village |
| Source | |
| Inspired by | the Armenian folktale “Hazaran Blbul” by poet Serine |
filmmaker & media-artist
