Is this the largest team in games development?

David Perry’s Project Top Secret MMO – which invites would-be game designers to participate in development – has signed up industry veteran Mark Skaggs as an advisory member, saying his experience leading big teams will help the game’s reported 60,000 distributed developers.

Skaggs helped manage EA’s Irvine Studios and oversaw production of the Command and Conquer titles.

Perry’s Top Secret project has secured support of over 60,000 would-be developers working in 11 teams on submissions for the Top Secret project. The winner will be appointed director, get paid $100,000, sign a development contract and given $1m to spend on engine licensing so they can build their game.

“Mark is one of the guys placing a lot of value and respect on the talent that’s emerging from indie teams and colleges all over the world," commented Perry.

“As a benefit to Mark, working closely with these people, I’m positive he will find amazing talent on this team that he will want to work with in the future. I certainly have been hiring people directly out of the forums, so the system is already working.”

Skaggs added: “I’ve known Perry for years and love to see companies like Acclaim still willing to take serious creative risks in the name of growing our industry.

“Maybe this is the future? For example, when we made the Command & Conquer games, instead of our small team having to make every single bit of content – imagine if 1,000 or 10,000 people were on the team making the content – how would that change the concept of today’s video game design? I’m sure there’s a lot to be learned here and there’s no sign of the internet’s influence on gaming even slightly slowing, so I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and helping out.”