Twitch TV Opens New Paths of Interactive Streaming

The largest and most popular streaming platform, Twitch is looking for new methods of engaging the viewers and broadcasters alike, but giving both parties a way to interact in other ways than just via chat. Currently, there is a well-felt limit to the interaction between the viewer and the host of the channel that he is watching, simply because the level of involvement of the former is limited.

However, Amazon-owned Twitch is working on two whole new features that hope to change this limitation and give game developers some more tools to work with in order to change a portion of the gaming world and its community as it is today. The two planned features were announced yesterday at the Game Developers Conference and come as a conclusion that the company drew after the high success of the Twitch Plays Pokemon, and the other similar projects that followed such as Twitch Plays Mario and Twitch Plays Dark Souls.

The first of the two planned tools was dubbed ‘Developer Success’ and it revolves around an API, along with guidance and assistance for developers and the studios they belong to in regards to direct Twitch integration. By providing this kind of help to video game makers, Twitch opens new paths for all types of interactive gaming that can be done through their platform and not necessarily through a multiplayer feature. A few of such games already exist as they were made purely for the experience of live streaming and public involvement and cooperation: Streamline, Superfight and Wastelanders.

Secondly, Twitch also brings a new initiative the is partly related to the Twitch integration. To be more exact, the ‘Stream First’ concept is aiming to become the next video game subgenre that picks up knowledge gathered from the community and streamers until now and uses that as basis for the creation of new video games.

Although the three games mentioned earlier are still in their very early stages of development, they can already showcase the potential of gaming that bases its very structure on these two new features that Twitch is trying to bring out into the spotlight. For example, in Wastelanders, broadcasters may create teams of viewers that they can lead in battle, while other viewers can interact with them via chat controls that allow them to make changes to the battlefield and alter the course of the game.

Image Source: 1

Bio
Latest Posts

Deborah Campbell

Deborah Campbell grew up on a steady diet of fantasy stories, 19th century poetry and Greek mythology. It’s no wonder she turned into such a hopeless romantic. She has always had a knack for writing, but she has yet to publish any best-seller yet. At the beginning of 2013 she decided to try something a little different: she started working for a web design firm, as a creative artist. That’s where she discovered her second calling. Although seemingly opposite, fantasy and technology are Deborah’s two main passions. She is now part of the argyllfreepress.com team, for which she creates detailed tutorials & reviews for some of the world’s most exciting gadgets. She also tries to squeeze a verse or two in her reviews from time to time.