The Future is Interactive Gaming
Crowd Control is making it easier for developers and gamers to take the next step in player/viewer immersion
By Tim PenixA Third Party Comes to Play
Back in 2014 there was a little cultural and groundbreaking event called “Twitch Plays Pokémon”, a live stream on Twitch where the chat (viewers) could “play” Pokémon Red by saying simple one-word commands in the chat, making real time choices for the game. That small, innovative idea gave rise to game designers and developers making in-game features and 3rd-party app extensions to alter gameplay for their respective player. Why would I say such a statement? I used this very topic as my Masters Thesis for Game Design at Full Sail University (2015-2016).
Tim Penix’s Master Thesis presented in Game Developer Conference (GDC) format
The idea of having a 3rd-party influence gameplay came about as a “social experiment” in February 2014 from an anonymous developer in Australia. This experiment was (and still is) called “Twitch Plays Pokémon” (TPP). The concept behind the experiment was to see how long it could take viewers in the Twitch chat to play and finish Pokémon Red (in a Gameboy E-simulator) by only entering a single, case-insensitive command in the chat (B, A, Select, Start, and directional commands). To add further “chaos” to the gameplay, two modes were then added to the experiment, Anarchy or Democracy. These modes made it to where all commands entered are accepted (Anarchy) or all commands over a set time (a few seconds) would be tallied and the command with the most requests was accepted (Democracy). TPP currently holds the Guinness World Record for “the most participants in a single-player online video game” at 1.17 million players.
Everyone is Invited!
Since the launch of TPP, numerous games have been released involving a “audience” or “crowd” effect, allowing outside persons to influence the gameplay for a player. For instance, Games like Quiplash (2015, Jackbox Games), Move or Die (2016, Those Awesome Guys), One Troll Army (2016, Tiny Build), Marbles on Stream (2018, Pixel by Pixel Studios) and most recently Cult of the Lamb (2022, Massive Monster) all have an audience influence on how the game is played. Additionally, community mod developers have made interactive features to add to the viewing experience for games like Don’t Starve Together (2016, Klei Entertainment) and Noita (2019, Nolla Games).
Twitch launched a program called “Stream First” in 2016 empowering developers and designers to work directly with Twitch to make their game more “chat-influenced”.
Cult of the Lamb, released in August 2022, has seen over 90K creators broadcast the game with 25.6 million hours watched in their first 90 days and this is just on Twitch. Twitch Plays Pokémon, which is still running, has 903K hours watched in the last year. These are examples of how chat interaction with a game resulted in high watch times and continued support by creators.
Enter, Crowd Control!
Crowd Control (CC), is an interactive application for live creators that allows their viewers to interact with the games they play in real time. The creators of Crowd Control Are “creators turned developers”. The extension launched by Warp World in 2018 follows the same concept as outlined above but with a new addition: creator customization. Created as a Twitch-based extension in the beginning, this front end, ready-made solution for game developers allows viewers or 3rd parties to interact, manipulate, or alter the mechanics of a game the content creator is playing in near real time.
CC currently supports over 100 games ranging from retro platformers to complex role play gaming and continues to expand. Implementation comes in two ways for creators; for everyday use (via the in-house monetary system called Twitch Bits or channel based loyalty rewards called Twitch Channel Points) or charity fundraising where viewers that donate to a linked nonprofit event are awarded coins to interact with the app. CC brings a new and fresh way to revisit games, adding replayability to the forefront and allowing for additional revenue to the creator or the nonprofit.
The opportunity is bigger than game developers and creators, what about brands advertising in games? Here are some potential examples how we envision brands could leverage interacting gaming features:
7-Eleven adds a special “power-up” to a platformer genre game on July 11th to include a Slurpee® that viewers can unlock for the creator so when the creator’s character drinks it, the character is now “super energized” with added perks.
When LV® releases their new spring collection, items from the collection are added as a limited time item in The Sims 4 and viewers can help the creator earn enough in-game currency to purchase the items for their character.
The creator is playing an interior design video game like House Flipper (2018, Empyrean) and IKEA makes some of their furniture available for “purchase”. The viewers can change how difficult the assembly is or if any pieces are missing.
Content creation on all platforms, not just Twitch, is expanding; and games with creator-interactive features provide a “win-win” opportunity for developers and creators. It won’t be long before brands see the potential too.
Are you a game developer looking for a solution to deploy creator-viewer interactive features in your game? We would love to connect with you to talk about our client Crowd Control, email us at CrowdControl@player2.gg.
Tim Penix
Manager, Marketing
Tim brings a multitude of backgrounds to the table at Player 2. To complement his passion for gaming and philanthropy, his military background, Master's in Video Game Design from Full Sail University, and over 10 years of experience in and around content creation showcases the diversity of his experience. Tim is a Wounded Warrior Project alumnus and an ambassador for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Variety - The Children's Charity.
