Twitch Plays Pokemon was an unqualified phenomenon, but it was incredibly messy. The concept of controlling the game solely through crowdsourced input was fascinating to see in practice, but it didn’t seem like it could hold attention long-term (at least not mine). I don’t know if Choice Chamber was thought up because of Twitch Plays Pokemon, or if it’s just coincidence, but it takes the concept of crowdsourced game impact and brings it to a functional single player game. And man, that game is actually pretty fun.
So, crowdsourced game impact; what’s the extent of the viewers’ impact? Well, the game’s controls aren’t affected by crowd input. The game is played by a single player, the player. Crowd input determines what kind of weapons and abilities the player will unlock based on a voting system, as well as any special bonuses and types of enemies, among other things yet to come.
The game is designed to be played while livestreaming on Twitch, in order to take advantage of viewer input to modify the game while it’s being played. It can be played offline, with the game itself making the choices viewers would have otherwise made. It has been successfully Kickstarted, and is a treat.
