Gwabs Desktop Fighter

January 7th, 2009 in News, by Head Honcho

Startups made use of crowdsourcing in different platforms – in crowdfunding like Kiva, in writing like WeBook, and in art like The Sheep Market. These are to name a few. They have been mostly successful although some who attempt might not get to the direction that they are expecting. Of course, it’s because the crowd itself can make or break a crowdsourcing-based startup. But what about gaming? Is there such thing as a crowdsourced gaming idea?

We have recently talked about Cambrian House and how they have moved their community to VenCorps. But before this move, the Home of Crowdsourcing together with a Vancouver-based game developer – Hothead Games, revolutionized gaming development and spearheaded the market for crowdsourced games. Introducing their first game - Gwabs.

Let us talk history first though. Gwabs was inspired by two community members’ ideas. They combined the concepts of desktop creatures and online area combat game. The result is a casual desktop-to-desktop combat game (a bloody one too!). Check out this video below and see a Gwabs game:

The complete name for the game is said to be “Gwabs Desktop Fighter”. The goal, of course, is to kill your opponent. Yet, the unique thing or way to kill your opponent is by using icons, folders and even your taskbar. The software which integrates instant messaging will connect players in a peer to peer network. The next step is to challenge other players in three types of matches:
• a fun match where there is nothing at stake
• a wager match where you can bet gwablets (sort of a currency)
• a death match (pink slips for your character)

Gwabs is the first product that was commercialized out of the innovation of the crowd at Cambrian House. It has become a platform for community members to actively play a role in creating and developing a game which they can never do with other traditional game developers. What do they get in return? The experience in developing games, the marketing skills learned and the royalties they can get.