Majestic was one of the first alternate reality games (ARGs), a type of game that blurs the line between in-game and out-of-game experiences. Majestic was created by Neil Young.^[1][2] It debuted on July 31, 2001. While noted for its unusual concept, it did not fare well commercially.

Gameplay[edit]

Majestic was a science fictionthriller based on a Majestic 12 shadow government conspiracy theory. As an ARG, the game was played by phone, email, AOL Instant Messenger, BlackBerry messages, fax, and by visiting special websites. Gameplay frequently involved the player receiving clues that they would use to solve puzzles and unravel the story. All the messages were automated, with limited dialogue options, but AIM provided some interactive conversations. As an option to warn unsuspecting members in the same house you could enable a warning at the beginning of each phone call, and a small message on the top of all faxes. When this option was enabled, each phone call would begin with a woman saying 'This is a phone call from the video game Majestic', before the regular, prerecorded message. Some of the clues were videos featuring the game's cast. One of the more widely recognized actors was Joe Pantoliano, who portrayed Tim Pritchard in the game's final episode.

The game's tagline, 'It plays you', emphasized the nature of ARGs and the game's suspense. One of the first things the player experienced in Majestic was news that the game had stopped, yet they would receive messages suggesting that there was a conspiracy behind the stoppage. Majestic was said to have been inspired by The Game, a 1997 movie that featured something like an ARG which repeatedly confused the main character into thinking he was not playing. This game was also inspired by the 'Area 51 caller' on Art Bell's Coast to Coast AM.^[3]

• Majesty: Fantasy Kingdom Sim is a Strategy game developed by HeroCraft Ltd. BlueStacks app player is the best platform (emulator) to play this Android game on your PC or Mac for an immersive gaming experience.
• The base-building/city building games are a booming again now. But since Majesty 1, there isn't a game that has an ambition to make a 'fantasy kingdom sim'. As the title sugests: we need a sequel. When Paradox announced Imperator Rome, I gained hope, as EU:ROME was a great game, but almost forgot.
• Majesty attempting return to glory. Paradox to publish a sequel to cult-hit strategy PC game; Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim set for early-2009 release.

In Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim single-player mode, quests come in the guise of 19 missions or campaigns filled with random elements. The quests come in three levels of difficulty: beginner, advanced and expert and can be played in any order. Rally your citizens, grow your power, and reign supreme in Majesty: For the Realm, a game of strategically selecting who you want to work your lands set during the Middle Ages. Each game, you recruit characters to perform jobs that generate gold for your kingdom. Some characters work better with others, opening many paths to victory.

The game comprised five episodes: A pilot episode was free to try but the four remaining episodes required players to join EA.com's Platinum Service, which cost $9.95 USD per month.^[4] EA discontinued Majestic on April 30, 2002 citing too few players.^[5] There were 5 episodes per season. The game was cancelled before season 2 could be released.^[6] Retail copies of the game included the game on CD-ROM, a copy of Internet Explorer and AIM, and some bonus music tracks in MP3 format. Also included was the first season's subscription.

The game's interface consisted of a small application named the 'Majestic Alliance Application', which served as both a 'friends list' (when playing for the first time, the game randomly selected other players who were at the same 'level' as player, in game progress, and added them to Majestic Alliance Application as 'allies', enabling players to send and receive instant messages to and from other players for help) and to stream music related to what web page or section of the game you were at. Different web pages and different parts of the game triggered different music. The music was broken down into multiple genres such as techno, industrial, and ambient. The game would choose an appropriate genre for a particular section, and stream it. The track played would be random. Certain sections of the game featured the same track, such as the music heard when logging into the game.

The game took place in real time. If a character said that they would contact the player the next day at a particular time, they would. The game was meant to be played casually. In order to keep a player from going through the game's entire content in one day, progress was limited each day. Once a player had accomplished the goals for the day, they were placed on 'Standby', in which no progress could be made until they were taken off 'Standby'.

Anim-X[edit]

Anim-X was the name of a fictional video game developer created by Electronic Arts as part of Majestic.^[1]

Anim-X was represented In Majestic promotional videos by actors playing the company's two (fictional) lead developers, 'Brian Cale' and 'Mike Griffin'.

The story of the game begins with Cale's death and the destruction of the Anim-X offices. Players then received an email from EA regarding the official shutdown of Majestic's servers. Of course, the shutdown is only part of the game's fictional storyline and the game progresses, with players helping the surviving Anim-X employees to unravel the conspiracies surrounding the game.^[7]

Reception[edit]

Majestic was a commercial failure.^[10]

Majestic was recognized as the 'Best Original Game' at E3 in 2001 and one of the five 'Game Innovation Spotlights' at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2002. IGN questioned some of the suspension of disbelief required by the plot, but praised the ambition of the game, and the large potential it had and scored it 7.5/10.^[11]

The editors of PC Gamer US awarded Majestic their 2001 'Most Innovative' prize, and wrote: 'When the concepts Majestic pioneered are rekindled in the future, we'll remember it for inspiring a new direction for game developers'.^[12]The Electric Playground and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Majestic for their 2001 'Most Innovative Game of the Year' and 'Innovation in Computer Gaming' awards, but these went to Grand Theft Auto III and Black & White, respectively.^[13][14][15]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abThe Game Archaeologist: EA's MajesticArchived 2013-06-27 at the Wayback Machine, www.engadget.com
2. ^Marriott, Michel (2001-08-23). 'Game Designer Who Breaks the Mold'. The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
3. ^Brown, Janelle (2001-08-10). 'Salon.com Technology | Paranoia for fun and profit'. Archive.salon.com. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
4. ^Walker, Trey (2001-09-12). 'Majestic suspended'. GameSpot.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-30. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
5. ^Kushner, David (2002-03-07). 'So What, Exactly, Do Online Gamers Want?'. New York Times. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
6. ^Walker, Trey (2001-07-31). 'No second chance for Majestic'. GameSpot.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-30. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
7. ^Szulborski, Dave (2005). This is Not a Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming. ISBN9781411625952.
8. ^Chick, Tom (November 28, 2001). 'Majestic'. Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on August 9, 2004. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
9. ^Reaume, Paula (August 16, 2001). 'The Longest Journey'. The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on October 23, 2003. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
10. ^'Innovation at risk?'. www.money.cnn.com. December 19, 2001. Archived from the original on 2004-02-15.
11. ^'Majestic'. IGN.
12. ^Staff (March 2002). 'The Eighth Annual PC Gamer Awards'. PC Gamer US. 9 (3): 32, 33, 36, 36, 37, 40, 42.
13. ^Staff. 'Blister Awards 2001'. The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on October 13, 2003. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
14. ^'Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Announces Finalists for the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards' (Press release). Los Angeles: Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. February 5, 2002. Archived from the original on June 2, 2002.
15. ^'Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Announces Recipients of Fifth Annual Interactive Achievement Awards' (Press release). Las Vegas: Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. March 1, 2002. Archived from the original on March 6, 2002.

External links[edit]

The Kingdom of Ardania needs a sovereign ruler. Although diversity flourishes in the many races that make up its population, this ancient land of magic, strange creatures and shifting aspects is in dire need of a ruler to unite the people and defeat the creeping evil that is causing the dead to grow restless. It needs a strong hand at the reins -- a strong leader to reign supreme and bring the kingdom once again to the heights of its Majesty. That leader is you.

In Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim single-player mode, quests come in the guise of 19 missions or campaigns filled with random elements. The quests come in three levels of difficulty: beginner, advanced and expert and can be played in any order. However, certain quests are not available at the start of a new game and can only be accessed after pre-determined quests are completed. Each quest is preceded by a briefing from a Royal Advisor and is then, in turn, followed by an outline of the goals for the quest.

In multi-player mode, randomly generated freestyle scenarios must be created (they can also be played as single-player scenarios). The game's map generator creates a new and different map for every quest each time it's played. Although gameplay varies with each new quest, certain actions form the core of kingdom-generation such as building guilds and temples from which to recruit heroes.

It is through these heroes that you'll accomplish goals by offering rewards for various activities such as fighting monsters and enemies, finding gold, exploring the surroundings, gathering magic and so forth. All heroes have unique abilities and attributes as well as individual priorities and goals. Only through the offer of rewards can you motivate them to do your bidding as you establish attack and exploration flags on various locales, buildings and enemies throughout the land.

Through the use of control windows for each major area in the game (palace, heroes and buildings), all levels of activity are tracked. Current focus, experience, weapon usage, armor, spells available, statistics, items, hit points, name and more are but some of the aspects that can be maintained and manipulated. Heroes gain experience and, thus, enhanced abilities through several means including training and competition at Fairgrounds, libraries (researching spells and increasing magical ability) and improvement in equipment as well as through purchase of potions, items, research and magic at Marketplaces.

Majesty Game Map

Victory conditions in Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim are adjustable and include elimination of all foes, gathering a set amount of gold, surviving a specified amount of time and having the last palace standing. Other areas of customization include numbers of player and enemy forces and heroes allowed in each scenario, types and numbers of wandering monsters, terrain options (freestyle scenarios) and amount of gold. All maps have a generation number that can be used for replay purposes.

By the numbers, the game contains more than two dozen buildings available for construction, eight buildings that 'appear' during gameplay, 16 types of heroes, a half-dozen indigenous units (e.g., tax collectors, peasants, guards) who operate outside your influence, more than 20 monster-types (some with sub-levels), 22 hero spells and 22 sovereign spells connected to specific temples and guilds.

Multi-player action over a LAN and the Internet supports up to four players, each controlling a single kingdom at the start of the game. Victory conditions are chosen by the host of each multi-player game.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

Majesty Game Tips

People who downloaded Majesty: Gold Edition have also downloaded:
Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, Magic: The Gathering, Lords of Magic: Special Edition, Lords of the Realm III, Lord of the Rings, The: Battle for Middle-Earth, Lord of the Rings, The: War of the Ring, Medieval Lords: Build, Defend, Expand, Lord of the Rings, The: The Battle for Middle Earth II