With developers more frequently turning to fans for help in making development decisions, one studio is handing the public the opportunity to choose its next game.
Microsoft today announced the initiative along with Press Play, the developer of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, Kalimba, and Max & The Magic Marker. Press Play has come up with three game concepts that are detailed on the Microsoft Studios website. You can learn about each of them and then vote for the one you’d like to see Press Play make as its next game, not unlike what Double Fine has done in the past.
Knoxville is described as “an original multiplayer action game dealing with fragile alliances and survival in a game show setting.” This game show is compared to those in The Hunger Games and The Running Man, and rather than taking place in a persistent world like other survival games, Knoxville is comprised of round-based matches like in Left 4 Dead or Counter-Strike.
“Our motivation for coming up with the concept is that we miss games where cooperation and competitive gameplay is more dynamic and interesting,” the pitch reads. “This concept will combine high-tension action-gameplay with interesting strategic elements based on social interaction with other players.”
Karoo is said to be “a physics-based multiplayer construction game set in an open world.” While Press Play admits there is no shortage of construction games, it says that “very few support multiplayer and … even fewer give the constructions the context and purpose that a character and an open world do. So we have set out to create a physics-based construction game that allows for multiplayer and lets the players control a character in a huge, believable world.”
The final game of the three is Dwarka, “an action-packed first-person co-op game set in a dark fantasy world.” Featuring procedurally generated worlds, you’ll play as dwarves exploring an underworld over a series of missions lasting 10-30 minutes. You’ll upgrade your gear, level up, and move between classes from mission to mission. The specifics aren’t detailed, but Press Play claims its “approach to co-op isn’t something [it has] come across before.”
Voting is now live and runs until September 1. Simply visit the respective game’s page (Knoxville, Karoo, Dwarka) and you’ll be able to log in using your Xbox account to vote.
Once a game has been chosen, Press Play will continue to include the community in the development process. Early versions of the game will be released for fans to try, and people will get to take part in meetings and project reviews remotely through Skype.
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