Publisher Wants Users to Design and Fund Its Game

Publisher Roundhouse Interactive's new project, The Game Cartel, is an ambitious plan to create a game based wholly around the decisions of a community of gamers, that, as it happens, will be financing the project as well.

Roundhouse Interactive, recently in the news for adding WWE "diva" Trish Stratus to its team, is taking something of a gamble for its next game, thus far only known as "The Game Cartel." They're taking the idea of design-by-committee to the next level by building the game mostly around the decisions of what they hope will be a large community of gamers.

"It's going to be a democratic voting system and society," Roundhouse president Mike Montanaro told CNET. "We place a bunch of ideas out to the cartel members, and they get to decide the direction it goes, everything from the name of the game straight to what platform, the genre of the game, storylines, playability (and) controls. We're going to guide the consumer through the full development of the game."

The way it works is that during apparently every step of development, "cartel members" get a set of options. Just like a real democracy, people vote and the majority rules. Programmers then implement the community's decisions, effectively turning users into game designers. "It basically gives gamers the opportunity to participate in the creation and direction of a full-scale game," Montanaro said.

Trusting the design of your game to gamers? Sounds like a financial disaster in the making right? Not exactly. The catch here is that in order to join "the cartel," you have to fork over a $50 fee that'll guarantee your membership and a copy of the game, which is scheduled to be done by next December. Montanaro is hoping for 100,000 people to sign up, which would net his company a cool $5 million before the game's even finished. With a planned budget of $3 million, there'd effectively be money in the bank even before the game hit store shelves.

Would you pay $50 to help design a game? Montanaro expects you to. Gamers are drawn to the idea of being part of an exclusive project, he thinks. "They don't want it to be something that just anybody can be a part of," he said.

This could either be a comically epic disaster or maybe something genuinely innovative. We'll just have to wait and see.

[Via GameCulture]

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Pigs in Space!!!
Seriously, have you ever read half of the peoples 'sugjestions' for games out there? What will this game be? Mediocre Pile of Dung. Though, I guess Halo did sell a lot of copies...

This is...very interesting.

Well definitely wait and see. Would i personally give them my money? No, i tend to not trust things that ask for money upfront.

If we users are shaping and funding the game i want to see profits back to us - no pretending to be down to earth while simply milking us for cash damnit.

Design-by-committee is already considered to be a laughable mistake in our industry, and that's using paid professionals. Design-by-amateur-committee? I can't wait. The laughter will probably kill me.

So when am I to expect the internet taking this over and making Battletoads?

Wow, any one else dreamt of something like this?. FINALLY!, hopefully it shall reach my expectations.

Avida:
If we users are shaping and funding the game i want to see profits back to us - no pretending to be down to earth while simply milking us for cash damnit.

No, it's like you're.. er... a producer. You get to pay for a project, and depending on the amount you can hang around with the cast, and decide if there'll be a giant spider in the game somewhere.

And if that wasn't enough, you get to be trated like 1 billionth part of royalty by the publisher and the devs. Awesome, yeah?

I have never been a fan of design by committee. Even if I am on the committee. I expect them to vote to create a game that is well beyond the scope of what the development team can produce in a reasonable time. Then the development team will cut some corners and deliver a game that technicaly meets the design paramiters but does not live up to the multiple visions of the game each $50 customer had in mind. Finaly everyone walks away unsatisfied.

Edit:
Alternatly 4chan or the Colbert Nation could sweep in and rock the vote to make a joke game that may or may not be actualy good.

This is what would happen:

I give them some money along with some ideas i would like to see in the game.

They churn out a generic shit heap FPS/Family Game that has the same ideas as most other games already on the market.

nipsen:

Avida:
If we users are shaping and funding the game i want to see profits back to us - no pretending to be down to earth while simply milking us for cash damnit.

No, it's like you're.. er... a producer. You get to pay for a project, and depending on the amount you can hang around with the cast, and decide if there'll be a giant spider in the game somewhere.

And if that wasn't enough, you get to be trated like 1 billionth part of royalty by the publisher and the devs. Awesome, yeah?

Aah, thats a little better then, i may even have to check it out, if the forums havnt ruined it by now XD.

Oh dear. A person can be smart. People are just stupid. This game is doomed.

I think everyone's cynicism is a little misplaced, because of this:

We place a bunch of ideas out to the cartel members

It sounds like rather than being design-by-committee, it's going to be paying for the oppurtunity to be their market research.

As long as you don't have to pay for the game after it's developed, I'd buy into it. It would even save you ten bucks on a new game that you pretty much made.

Wait, wait, wait a moment! So basically, you pay 50 bucks for something that you don't even know what it will turn out to be? The following analogy might suck but what the hell, I'll roll with it. It's like ordering a game from an online store, paying for it and then when it arrives after a loooooong time, it just "might" not be the game you ordered but something much worse. And worse, you can't get a refund. (Though, you could possibly sell it at Ebay or something :P)
Anyway, my own personal opinion:

/Facepalm

So if I pay for a game before it's made, I can attempt to influence it to be the game I actually wanted to spend my money on?

Awesome...

I'm SURE this has been tried before. What if half wants a RPG, and the other wants an FPS? You'll need a pretty strong basic idea before you start; or you risk alienating half your "Developers" before a single line of code is written.

Why does this remind me of the Simpsons where they get kids to improve Itchy and Scratchy and end up with a down to earth show that's completely off the wall.

This is an interesting concept, I can't say for certain if it will be good or not. Though I don't think it will be a democracy, well at lest not a normal democracy.

I'd like to see it turn in to an Athenian democracy, just because it would be funny.

Player1: I want to be able to rape other characters.
Designer:... No... Just no.
Player1: I paid 50 fucking bucks now let me rape people!
Designer: I quite.

The users get to choose what platform it will be in?

That's going to be hilarious.

At first it sounded like Little Big Planet meets Eve Online, but now, ehhhh, I'm not so sure.

Avida:
Aah, thats a little better then, i may even have to check it out, if the forums havnt ruined it by now XD.

:p Hey, if you survive the trip, maybe come back and tell us about what sort of game- design decisions people would choose from? Whether it's "what should the boss look like", or if it's "who should be the main character in this sequence", or "which art- style and music fits this segment best", "what sort of people should this faction be" and so on. Hate to say it, but if it's not about deciding the colours on the carpets, it does sound a bit interesting..

..anyone followed "The Masterson's Inheritence" on bbc4? I've seen very good creative work being done with a model like that before. Could be seriously hit and miss - but if they're very good.. ..I mean, they better be, if they want you to pay up front :D

hang on, since when does a game have to be serious to be good, it could be a very good game thats just rediculious. if i had the moeny i might go for it.

"Well team, we have some options for you to pick from for the main weapon in the game. Should it shoot...

- Shurikens

or:

- Lightning."

'Hey! I want it to shoot Shurikens and Lightning, but I can only vote for one...'

Well at least this time users could actually bitch about being owed something by a company and be right.

One Word:
Phail.

This is bound to either fail their expectations, or the game will make no sense at all.

The Surfer Wardongs of Narcissus IV

There's a game title for you.

MaxTheReaper:
This is...very interesting.

You could even say, 'Shockingly' interesting. This may be good, may be bad, it all depends on the type of person who would fork over money for this kind of thing.

Forget it. I've seen the Complete Annihilation mod team in action and those were already selected for their ability to deal with game development. If you let every random idiot have a vote you won't get ANYTHING done.

...I'm going to pay for it.

Here's my take on it; the developers aren't (total) idiots, and they're not going to let absolute power rest within the hands of the populace. They're going to take suggestions seriously, but I don't expect them to do much more. The idea for the name to be "Dong Master 4-D!" is going to be shot down, and a more reasonable one will be taken.

If the developers aren't complete dicks, they'll probably send a large amount of feedback to each member. What they send will probably not be massive amounts of advertising, but it could be useless drivel. Or it could be valuable insight into an industry I have no interest in joining, but would love to partake of anyway.

And in any case, new and refreshing development cycles like this is healthy for the industry. For companies to have to dance to get their money severely impacts the quality of a game. It's $50 for me, and I gain bragging rights to say that I'm part of the solution. I think it's innovative, even if it doesn't pan out. If it's a success, who knows? Maybe it'll become the norm. If it does, then everything related to gaming will be massively changed.

Well if it is $50 and that gets you the game, it is not so bad, if you are interested. Though the idea of voting on which platform well...some people may get screwed out of their money on THAT vote.

Hey Montanaro, throw in a mile high club night with me and your wife together on a private jet bound for a Maui penthouse and you have a deal.

Either their group is influenced by one gaming demographic. E.G This game must be hardcore! Everything must kill you and it must make I wanna be the guy look like new super mario bros.

Or it gets influenced by random forces at every step from an overly large voter base. Effectivly causing a mash where every level is a roulette wheel between fps, rts, racing, sports, hack and slash etc.

If the people coming up with ideas are the same people who post their ideas online, the game will fail horribly.