David Perry, the man behind Shin Entertainment’s
Earthworm Jim and Interplay’s
Messiah (he also worked on
Ikari Warriors and
Paperboy) is to go the cross-over thing with a game called
Top Secret.
No, it’s not based on the hilarious Val Kilmer movie of the same name. According to Acclaim CEO Howard Marks, “
Top Secret is like
The Apprentice meets
American Idol meets ‘The Video Game Industry’. We’re giving our players a chance to work on an online game that we will actually develop and publish. Our community really loves these games and knows what it takes to make a hit. And it will be a dream come true for one lucky star that shines the most throughout the project,” says Acclaim CEO Howard Marks.”
Perry, who is now Chief Creative Officer for Acclaim Games, will be “…building the new online game from scratch and is offering members of the Acclaim player community a rare opportunity to help him develop this video game in a collaborative effort with some of the industry’s best talent”.
He also says that, “We will bring in some surprise guests along the way to inspire and mentor the contributors.
“One lucky winner who shines the most during the development process will be given the top prize. This is the only chance I know of to jumpstart a directorship career in the video game industry. Everyone wins. They get to learn how to make professional games, and if they get anything in, they get a real professional credit on their resume.”
In short, if David, Paula, Simon and the Donald Trump/Alan Sugar hybrid love you most, you get to a Game Directorship with Acclaim at the end of it.
Huzza! Of course, the difference between contributing your game ideas, and singing someone else’s song, or being talked-down to by the Donald Trump/Alan Sugar hybrid is that in both
The Apprentice and
American Idol you’d have to be a fool to bring your own intellectual property to the table without first getting some water-tight agreements in advance.
What are we saying,
American Idol and “you’d have to be a fool..”?
Cynicism aside, this could be an excellent way to get some serious mentoring... or at least find out how bad the competition is in your quest to make games.
Go
here to find out how to get involved in
Top Secret.