Speaking of big happenings in crowdsourcing, Schell Games’s Puzzle Clubhouse, an ambitious experiment in, well, most every way, really, has launched its first game. You should go play it. (Yes, those links go to the same place.)
Puzzle Clubhouse began earlier in the year on Kickstarter and managed to hit its goal of $10K: pretty modest for a video game Kickstarter. The plan: launch an episodic game series in which users – users! – would submit significant components of the game, from art & sound assets to names, story bits, and even game design, which would then be voted on by the PCH community. On paper this sounds kind of crazy, what with making new games at intervals and being somewhat beholden to the community when it comes to content. Crazy, but also pretty cool. I’d be uncertain about it in the hands of basically anyone but Jesse Schell and his team.
Now Schell Games has launchedPuzzle Clubhouse Episode 0, “Laz0r Fr0gs”, the very first such attempt. It’s a fun little 13-level maze game involving frogs with lasers and lead bowler hats. A short (and free) play, and entertaining.
Puzzle Clubhouse is free to play and free to vote on, so you can go right now and check out the brainstorming and voting going on for future episodes. To submit stuff for voting you’ll need to be a member, which comes with a small subscription fee attached. There’s still a lot of unknowns as to how, exactly, this little experiment will evolve, but it’s definitely one to watch.
A nice little bit of old fashioned fun – well done guys and thanks!