The gaming industry has started to realize how much power can be brought to bear with the effective inclusion of a game‘s player community in a game’s evolution. While grassroots movements of fans standing behind a game are nothing new, the technology to fully harness the power of a game’s fan base has become more advanced over the past few years. Now more than ever, fans are able to communicate with a game’s developers.
Get in Touch With Fans
Image via Flickr by otubo
A game’s developers can use new tools of communication to help their game’s respective player bases to voice their opinions on a game and have fun. With these new tools, a new breed of games has come into its own that emphasizes audience inclusiveness, fan feedback, and direct communication to make a distinctive entertaining experience.
Twitch.tv
With the power of streaming through Twitch, players are able to recreate the experience of going to friends’ homes to watch them play a new game. Live streaming has allowed fans to feel as though they are right there so that they can cheer and laugh together over assorted gaming adventures.
Game developers can use this opportunity to preview games via Twitch streams to curious gamers and play with them to get feedback on their design decisions. With this capability, the fluidity of a game’s evolution has increased with new features arriving at games based on what players have voiced to developers.
To take this idea further, games have now begun to be developed with Twitch.tv integration in mind. Developers know that plenty of gamers now have favorite Twitch streamers. They will watch a new game being played before they consider making the game purchase themselves. To make a purchase more appealing, developers have included features in games specifically for Twitch streamers that use fan participation through voting on power-ups or letting them join in on the fun directly.
Discord
Many voice applications have existed over the years, but none have been able to do what Discord has achieved. With a friendly interface and emphasis on community, Discord has carved a niche for itself as the voice-chatting application of choice. Developers can create servers for their gaming communities where players can meet and play together with developers. Sometimes, by simply watching the behavior of fans on these servers, developers can learn much about how they can tweak a game.
Agora
With the ability to not only create great communication but also communities, Agora offers real-time voice and video for mobile games. The Agora Quick Start Guide is an invaluable tool for gaming developers. With Agora, developers can seamlessly integrate real-time voice and video within mobile and desktop games to enhance the overall user experience. By connecting gamers, developers can start up their gaming communities and nurture a rich player base that can provide feedback. With the premium quality, voice, and video afforded by Agora, a game’s player base not only communicates but congregates.
With the above new technologies, developers can now enrich their gaming experiences further by allowing more audience participation and growing their player base communities.
