digital, featuredRuben van LeerJune 18, 2025

The Kingdom

digital, featuredRuben van LeerJune 18, 2025

A mobile game translating an ancient Armenian folktale into a contemporary digital quest. Guided by music and illustration, players journey as Prince Areg through a symbolic world where myth, memory and personal awakening converge.

ancient myth reawakened through interactive game

The Kingdom is an interactive mobile and browser game inspired by the Armenian folktale Hazaran Blbul (The Bird of a Thousand Voices). Designed as part of a larger transmedia project, the game translates an ancient myth into a contemporary digital experience where music, storytelling and illustration merge into gameplay.

Players follow Prince Areg on a quest to restore harmony to his kingdom after a tragic event curses the royal court. Carrying a luminous egg - the symbol of a lost soul - he travels through dreamlike landscapes, collecting light, confronting a thousand-eyed demon and ultimately awakening the mythical bird within himself.

The gameplay intentionally echoes the simplicity of early side-scrolling games, while the artistic layers expand beyond it: atmospheric music by Tigran Hamasyan structures the rhythm of the journey, and Khoren Matevosyan’s illustrations immerse the player in a duotone world that feels like moving through a living painting.

The game explores themes of resilience, cultural memory and inner transformation. By translating a centuries-old oral story into a freely accessible browser experience, the project asks how ancient mythologies can find new life in the digital age. How interactive media can become a poetic space for reflection rather than purely entertainment.

Play the game online: 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.””

— It's Nice That

credits

  
  game design & scriptRuben Van Leer
artworkKhoren Matevosyan
musicTigran Hamasyan
voice overAreni Agbabian
lead developerIlija Trbogazov

    animation
    
      Roman Fedorov

      Vialex Motion Lab

      Astghik Harutyunyan

      Ruben Van Leer
    
sound designAlexander Nezhinskiy – Evolsound
audio engineerIgnacio Flores
social mediaMarie Lavis
executive producerRuben Van Leer
produced byTruth.io
Believe – Naïve
Yergatun
supported byCreative Industries Fund NL

    thanks to
    
      Johann Audiffren

      Juan Agustin Tibaldo – Ohzi

      Tom Korkidis – New Village
    
inspired bythe Armenian folktale “Hazaran Blbul” by poet Serine