Kickstarter has proven itself to be an incredibly powerful tool for developers, but it’s also brought a few major caveats along for the ride. Primarily, it’s cultivated a relationship where the user will often play a role in the trajectory of the game they donated to. With Puzzle Clubhouse, Schell Games has decided to embrace that concept, inviting any and all users to speak up about what they want out of the game.
Kickstarter has proven itself to be an incredibly powerful tool for developers, but it’s also brought a few major caveats along for the ride. Primarily, it’s cultivated a relationship where the user will often play a role in the trajectory of the game they donated to. With Puzzle Clubhouse, Schell Games has decided to embrace that concept, inviting any and all users to speak up about what they want out of the game.
Puzzle Clubhouse will be episodic, with a new episode arriving each month. In the interim between releases, players will be consulted about what they want to see next. Despite this emphasis on user input, it’s not a completely wild frontier: Each episode will consist of an animated story and a short (and, I’m willing to wager, weird) game, so there’s at least some level of structure.
Despite its origins as a Kickstarter project, Puzzle Clubhouse isn’t exclusive to just those who backed it. In fact, the developers are giving away a free 6-month subscription to the service over on Twitter every single day. To win, you have to solve a riddle of some sorts. We’re only on day three of the giveaway, but the riddles thus far have been pretty tough. Or maybe I’m just bad at riddles. That’s totally possible, too.
The game will be formally released on August 30. If you didn’t become a member of the project through Kickstarter, you’ll have to pay a subscription fee to gain the ability to submit ideas. That said, those who register and choose not to purchase a subscription will be able to vote on the ideas submitted by others. There’s a little something for everyone, really.
