Mark Androvich
18:50 (BST)
07/09/2007
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Austin GDC: Dave Perry's Top Secret
Dave Perry revealed the next step in the development process of his Top Secret MMO project during a Q&A session at the Austin Game Developers Conference.
âWe are going to give people the tools that they need to make the game,â Perry said.
Specifically, IGNâs ModCenter is going to give the Top Secret development team an entire suite of tools. Additionally, Acclaim has offered to pay for the use of any game engine in the world. Unreal, id, Crysis...it doesn't matter.
âThis is what usually blocks their path,â Perry said. âThey cannot afford the money to license the engine.â
âThis is like Christmas for the mod community.â
It was been previously announced that Perry is working with Acclaim to create what he calls a âcool, edgy, different kind of racing game.â The project began on Internet forums that allowed people to post their ideas for creating the game.
âBecause it is community-created, you donât know what they are going to do next,â Perry noted. âWe thought weâd end up with a Mario Kart racing game or something, but not at all.â
As it turns out, the game involves breeding and training creatures which will then be raced in a somewhat brutal fashion.
The community has even thought of things that Perry admitted he would never have come up with, such as commentator mode allowing people to comment live and be heard by those playing the game.
The volunteer who makes the most significant contribution to the development process will be awarded the chance to direct their own fully-funded, Acclaim-published MMO. The only rule to the competition is that the winner must make the game that the community designed. The winner will receive an industry standard publishing deal as well as USD $100,000 from Acclaim representing the first royalty payment.
Even with the development tools and the game engine provided, however, Perry is not expecting a miracle.
âIâm not expecting Bioshock out of these people. Iâm not expecting them to go kick Tim Sweeneyâs ass,â Perry admitted.
âIf we can help the community make a title, it will shake things up a bit. And I like to shake things up a bit.â
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