BrightLocker is launching a platform that enables game developers to connect with players and offer them rewards in exchange for development suggestions.
The idea is to provide a platform where game fans can go to see works in development and for developers to share their works in progress so they can get better guidance on what players want. In exchange, the developers can offer rewards to players, building loyalty before they even launch a game.
Austin, Texas-based BrightLocker wants to help gamemakers with challenges such as discovery, which has become difficult as the app stores have become flooded with millions of games. It also aids in interacting with community and raising money via crowdfunding.
Above: Fans can get rewards for making suggestions on BrightLocker.
The company plans to support all types of game developers from early concept to after launch, as well as all platforms, including console, PC, mobile, and virtual reality. BrightLocker is launching with a few games and developers already using its platform.
“Our core mission is to revolutionize how games get made and how players relate to developers,” said John Burns, the chief operating officer of BrightLocker, in an interview with GamesBeat.
The platform has a crowdfunding feature that enables game companies to raise money directly from fans, and it has a way for developers to get direct feedback on what they want to see in a game.
“Gaming and streaming are a staple of today’s online activities,” said Ruben Cortez, the CEO of BrightLocker, in statement. “Our feature-rich platform pieces together these and other technologies to join players and developers like never before,”
Above: BrightLocker helps developers get games noticed.
Cortez’s team has worked on titles such as World of Warcraft, FIFA soccer, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and others. They see BrightLocker as a one-stop portal that provides game developers with the latest tools and technologies for communicating with and involving their player communities while giving them special access, exclusive rewards, and a new way to connect with their favorite games and developers.
The eight initial games on BrightLocker include one of my favorite projects in the works — Descent: Underground from Descendent Studios. The game is a prequel for the Descent series of 3D space-combat games.
Another title on the platform is Fractured Space from Edge Case Games. The title is a 5-on-5 team-based space-combat game from the United Kingdom studio. The combat takes place between gigantic capital ships with the intensity of a shooter and the big-picture thinking of a strategy game. Originally launched on Steam Early Access in November 2014 to critical and commercial success, Fractured Space is currently available for PC on BrightLocker.
Another title is Life Is Feudal: MMO, from Moscow-based Bitbox Studio. Life Is Feudal: MMO is a hardcore sandbox role-playing game set in a realistic medieval fictional world. Currently in the closed beta stage, Life Is Feudal invites players to dive into a living, breathing, and evolving world where they can carve out an area of land for a modest home before they ready themselves for large kingdom-to-kingdom trading and economics, huge siege battles against foes, and more.
The fourth title is Legends of the Brawl from Dark Tonic Games Studio. This title is a four-player co-op 3D action-brawler game. Other titles include Red from Bolder Games, which is making a horror, survival-style game; Solar Gun, a single-player puzzle game from Mechanical Boss; Guards!, a multiplayer isometric fantasy game from Mirum Studio; and Mindnight, a multiplayer manipulation game from No Moon Studios.
BrightLocker launched the first phase of its open beta testing a year ago, during which millions of votes were cast by players in support of their favorite game ideas. Today’s launch marks the next phase of the company’s plan to build the world’s most engaging and interactive gaming platform. The company has 20 employees.
