Crowdfunding newcomer Brightlocker wants to turn gamers into devs

A new website is planning to turn crowdfunding on its head by allowing players to submit their own game ideas and help make them a reality.

Brightlocker was founded by veterans from triple-A publishers and studios including EA, Blizzard, Sony and BioWare.

The platform is based around the classic crowdfunding structure, in which people put forward concepts for games and attempt to gather support.

However, Brightlocker wants gamers – rather than devs – to be source of its ideas, with the most popular campaigns being partnered with experienced creators who can then turn them into tangible products. Meanwhile, players will be able to offer input to the creative process, from beginning to end.

“Brightlocker is leveraging the power of the crowd to choose and guide game design ideas, while managing experienced game developers to get projects done,” explained CEO Ruben Cortez.

“From the idea stage through production, Brightlocker is inviting players to be active participants throughout the full development process.”

The service is free to join, with rights to ideas and any related materials remaining with their creators if they fail to make it to the creation stage.

Brightlocker has already announced its first game, LightEaters (pictured), which will be published in June. A second release will be selected this summer, determined by the outcome of user voting.

LightEaters will serve an example for budding creators, with a behind-the-scenes look at the game’s development planned for release in the future.

“We are going to time-lapse the LightEaters production schedule and give gamers a feel for what’s to come on the BrightLocker platform,” Cortez said.

“We will use Make, one of our core pillars, to showcase the power of our platform and give gamers a glimpse of where we want to take the game development experience.”