George R. R. Martin

George Raymond Richard Martin, otherwise known was George R. R. Martin or as GRRM, is a American best-selling author and television producer. One of his most popular works is the book series "A Song of Ice and Fire", which has been adapted into television in the hit HBO series "Game of Thrones". Martin says that he always loved writing stories, and wrote many unfinished ones.

Elden Ring

Game director Hidetaka Miyazaki has explained how the collaboration with Martin came to be:

"I loved A Song of Ice and Fire as well as the Tuf Voyaging series, however if I had to pick a favorite I would probably say Fevre Dream. I personally see Fevre Dream as a masterpiece among vampire fantasy and had even previously recommended it to all new employees. Me being such a known fan of Mr. Martin caused our executive business director Eiichi Nakajima to reach out to him with the expectation that we would get turned down."

As George Martin recants:

A few years back, Hidetaka Miyazaki and his incredible team of game designers, the creators of the DARK SOULS videogame series, reached out from Japan to ask me to help them create the backstory and history for a new game they were working on. Now, video games are not really my thing [...] but this offer was too exciting to refuse. Miyazaki and his team from FromSoftware were doing groundbreaking stuff with gorgeous art...

Miyazaki:

[...] we were then given the rare opportunity to talk one-on-one with Mr. Martin which was an incredibly fun and stimulating experience. It was then that I strongly felt that I wanted to work with Mr. Martin.
I am still unable to put into words how grateful I am to Mr. Martin for agreeing to our offer.

Mr. Martin respected the fact that we didn't want him to write the game's story or the in-game text. Because we felt that would actually limit his creative output, [...] and then it would limit the inspirations we could possibly get from him. 

So we established very early that he would be writing that foundation, that historical element to the game, something that took place long before the events of the game itself. 

GRRM:

What they wanted from me was just a bit of worldbuilding: a deep, dark, resonant world to serve as a foundation for the game they planned to create. And as it happens, I love creating worlds and writing imaginary history.

Miyazaki:

The actual collaboration itself begun with Mr. Martin ever so politely confirming what sorts of themes, ideas as well as many game-related aspects I had envisioned for the game.

We started off by giving him these very vague and broad themes and ideas for the mythos that I had swimming around in my head. [...] Then he would come back to us with a lot of ideas: how about this, this, and this?

This allowed us to have many free and creative conversations regarding the game, in which Mr. Martin later used as a base to write the overarching mythos for the game world itself.

GRRM:

So I did my bit, and handed off to my new friends in Japan, and they took it from there.  

Miyazaki:

[The mythos I received] was nothing visual - they were all text. Rather than being a short story, it was something that depicted the setting or set the scene for the game and for the world, detailing the flow of history and the figures who appeared throughout it. 

These dramatic and heroic characters weren't really in our previous titles, so this was something that was really appealing to me - how he would depict the mystique and heroic qualities of those characters.

There was, of course a story that came with this as a sort of backbone, but it played as more of an introduction to that world and a natural course of events for these characters to follow. [...] And then we were able to interpret this in our own way and provide visual to go along with that.

In response to questions about the project, Martin said, “Building the world of Elden Ring with Miyazaki-san and his team was a treat! The graphics, mythos, and action-RPG gameplay will deliver an unforgettable experience. I can’t wait for people to see what Elden Ring has in store for them.”

After the game's release Martin blogged:

" Take a look at a few of the reviews:
[...]

“Once in a generation… masterpiece… beautiful and brutal… a sumptuous open world… ”

Music to the ears.

Of course, almost all the credit should go to Hidetaka Miyazaki and his astonishing team of games designers who have been laboring on this game for half a decade or more, determined to create the best videogame ever. I am honored to have met them and worked with them, and to have have played a part, however small, in creating this fantastic world and making ELDEN RING the landmark megahit that it is. 

See Also

• Interviews
• Hidetaka Miyazaki