Double Fine are asking the public for their opinions on the games of the annual Amnesia Fortnight and BioWare is asking the public where they think Mass Effect 4 should go.
This year, Double Fine has decided to change up its Amnesia Fortnight event by allowing fans to choose which ideas get made into games, live-streaming the entire development process, and then releasing those titles as a Humble Bundle.
The Amnesia Fortnight is a two-week prototyping period where Double Fine employees split into small teams to brainstorm and develop inventive new titles. Previous Amnesia Fortnight titles have included Costume Quest, Stacking, Middle Manager of Justice, and Iron Brigade.
The first step is for players to head to the Double Fine forums to discuss their favourite game ideas. Players then head to the Double Fine Humble Bundle page to vote for their favourite games.
After the first week, the four most popular ideas will be developed into prototypes. The teams have two weeks to make their games, with 2 Player Productions filming the entire development process and posting videos each day.
Double Fine founder Tim Schafer said “We do it to test out new ideas, and to test out new project leaders who feel ready to have a project of their own. Many of the games we’ve released in the last few years have come from the Amnesia Fortnight process. It’s really a great morale boost for the team, and a highly effective way to develop new game ideas”
Of course this being released through Humble Bundle means that a portion of the money made will go to the charity Child’s Play.
In addition BioWare has asked fans whether Mass Effect 4 should be a sequel to the existing trilogy or take place before the trilogy.
Mass Effect overlord Casey Hudson canvassed fans via his Twitter account, he wrote “Parsing through your thoughts on the next #ME game. Would you be more interested in a game that takes place before the trilogy, or after?”
A game set in the series past has many viable options like the war between the Rachni and the Krogans to the war between Turians and Humans following the Relay 314 Incident.
A game set later in the series’ history would have to tackle Mass Effect 3’s various ending choices, which leave the galaxy in varying states of repair.
It’s not the first time BioWare has asked fans their thoughts on the next Mass Effect game. BioWare previously questioned their fans on what they would like to see in Mass Effect 4.
BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy said earlier this month “While Mass Effect 4 will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts,
“You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling.”
From stories such as these and services like Greenlight and Kickstarter it seems that the public will start taking great effect on how and what games are made. This could see an interesting wave of fan made games come soon, from AAA to Indie titles.
