Twitch wants to help developers build "Stream First" games

Twitch today announced Developer Success, a new initiative aimed at helping developers build games with streaming in mind. Building on the success of the Twitch Plays phenomenon and other titles, the company wants to assist developers in using Twitch as a major part of their games. Twitch believes that Stream First titles are an emerging trend in game design and it's looking to provide more services for studios developing those games.

"In the last few years, we have seen a great deal of creativity in online interaction methods from the Twitch community, including Twitch Plays games, channel loyalty currencies, and subscriber tournaments, among many others," said Brooke Van Dusen, Director of Game Developer Success, Twitch. "However, these systems have always been external to the games broadcasters are playing. Stream First games by nature embrace these developments, incorporate features inspired by these creative concepts of Twitch community interaction, and bring about an entirely new genre of video games."

Demos of the first Stream First games are available at GDC 2016, in the Twitch section of Amazon's GDC booth. (South Hall #1224)

The three Stream First games available at GDC include:

• Superfight - Published by 505 Games in association with Skybound Entertainment and developed by Pipeworks.

Superfight a game of absurd arguments. Players battle with their wits to determine who would win hypothetical fights between characters with superpowers and super problems. Create ridiculous fighters from the cards you draw, argue with one another over who would win in a fight, then let the audience decide the winner. Superfight features innovative technology built from the ground up to enable cutting-edge Twitch integration and bring players an unparalleled community experience with four-way live video, integrated Twitch streaming, and voting within Twitch chat. Sign-up today at SuperfightLive.com to receive the latest news on the game, access to the beta, and a free deck at launch.

• Wastelanders - Published and Developed by Schell Games

Wastelanders is a turn-based strategy game built for Twitch, where both broadcasters and viewers play in a live stream. Broadcasters take on the role of a Warlord in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and lead their viewers in battle against another broadcaster-led team. By watching the stream and chatting, viewers can control warriors on the battlefield, set bounties on opposition Warriors, place land mines, and alter the battle in other fun and surprising ways. With Wastelanders, broadcasters have a new way to interact with their followers as viewers become players on their team. Broadcasters can reward their most loyal followers and subscribers with more chances to play and gain game experience. Wastelanders is in the very early stages of development at Schell Games, led by veteran game designer Jesse Schell, and located across the river from beautiful downtown Pittsburgh.

• Streamline - Published and Developed by Proletariat

Streamline is a fast-paced, arena-based game that allows a broadcaster to quickly create a party for up to 15 of their viewers and immediately jump into one of several game modes, such as a fast-paced game of cat and mouse, with the broadcaster as a Hunter chasing down the other players as Runners or a stream versus stream team game pitting the broadcasters and their communities against one another. Meanwhile, the other Viewers can bet on or sponsor Runners, vote to change the rules of the game, and play mini-games driven by the on-stream action for rewards and recognition using a web browser or a mobile device. This unique second screen experience allows the broadcaster and viewers to interact in a natural and lag-free way and keep the channel conversation flowing without being interrupted by "chat commands".