Meet the Creators of Gorgasali Battle Royale, the First Georgian Board Game

Interview

It’s impossible to deny the explosive growth of Battle Royale games over the past decade. In this golden age of gaming, the frantic action of last-man-standing mayhem has dominated the industry. While we’ve seen many games join the excitement over the past years, not many have sought to truly break the mold; but Gorgasali Battle Royale is aiming to do just that.

Founded in 2019 by a group of six friends, Gorgasali Battle Royale is the first Georgian board game that offers a perfect synergy of the Battle Royal genre and the board game world; a combination which is quite revolutionary. Gorgasali Battle Royale is working towards an experience that balances skill, strategy, and depth that is fun for all gamers.

And it has already achieved substantial success in Georgia. Now, Gorgasali Battle Royale is preparing to establish itself globally. Soon, anyone eager to immerse themselves into this world of refined fantasy, inspired by Georgia’s rich culture, will be able to purchase the game on Amazon.

We sat down with the creators of Gorgasali Battle Royale, Tazo Giorgadze and Vakhtang Inoridze, to understand the specificities of the game, their mission to put players at the forefront of everything they do, and how they’ve managed to create a unique Battle Royale experience they can be truly proud of.

Tells us the story of Gorgasali Battle Royale’s creation.

Our team is composed of six friends from different professions. As a group of enthusiastic board gamers and childhood friends, our hobbies varied from time to time; however, playing board and video games never left our circle of interest.

The idea to create a board game was born in 2018, and soon after, we decided to give it a go. We succeeded at turning our shared hobby into a daily activity that could entertain and benefit other people as well.

Today, after more than a year of hard work, we are confident that Gorgasali Battle Royale is ready to be shared worldwide. We’ve put immense effort into perfecting the game and eliminating all the risks that could possibly get in the way of our aim.

What historical event does Gorgasali Battle Royale cover and why did you want to design a game around it?

In the process of creating the game, we saw the prospect of entering the international market, which, first of all, made us want to make a modest contribution to the popularization of Georgia. We decided to name our game after the invincible Georgian king, Vakhtang Gorgasali, whose name is associated with the unification of the country, the establishment of the capital city, and the attainment of the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church. After his mysterious disappearance, tensions between the kingdoms increased, and they started to fight for individual gains. We created a fictional world whereby ten characters from ten different kingdoms fight to gain his place.

We use many other elements in our game to better introduce Georgia’s culture to the world; these include Armazi, the supreme pagan deity of the Kingdom of Iberia, and Medea, the Colchian princess of Greek mythology. The goal of popularizing our culture has been one of our main motivators throughout the one-year working process.

What are the mechanics of the game?

Although the design of the game has received great feedback on social networks, we believe that the main charm of the game is its mechanics. The process of perfecting those mechanics took about a year. During this period, we played more than 200 test games, and after each test, the game was perfected further.

Gorgasali Battle Royale is an RPG board game, where you play as a chosen warrior of your kingdom. The game includes 10 fictional characters. Players can pick their own characters and determine their unique strategies throughout the game, until a single winner is identified. All ten heroes in the game are distinguished by unique supernatural powers. We considered it vital to take care of the identity of each player. This is why we put huge effort into creating an alternate reality replete with interesting characters, their kingdoms, stories and adventures.

The game mechanics are built to derive unpredictable outcomes every time a new card is served or a new movement fulfilled. The abundance of cards, movement mechanics, character abilities and the rest of the game elements provide the players with unlimited variants of action possibilities and scenarios. Even with the least favorable situations, players are still able to turn the game around by coming up with alternative strategies to strengthen their positions.

What are your hopes for the future?

At this stage, we’re working on a new game, the mechanics of which are ready and under intensive testing within the company. We’ve also been working hard to perfect the existing product Gorgasali Battle Royale by enriching it with additional elements. At the same time, we’re negotiating with foreign publishers to raise awareness about our product on the global market. We’re also working on a computerized version of the game. We’re happy to announce that Gorgasali Battle Royale will soon be available for purchase on Amazon!

Our main goal with Gorgasali Battle Royale was to intertwine the best aspects of both worlds: visual pleasure from video games and thought-provoking, well-formulated board game scripts. We hope people all around the world will enjoy the game as much as we enjoyed the process of creating it.

If you’re interested in Gorgasali Battle Royale, you can order a copy from the official website: www.gorgasalibr.com/

By Elene Dzebisashvili