High Voltage continued its one-of-a-kind marketing blitz for The Conduit this evening with a new contest. It’s a pretty simple, pretty cool little contest that effectively gives you, the gamer, a chance to map the game’s controls.
Update: High Voltage’s Eric Nofsinger wrote us to clarify the prize: “The prize is getting your name in a videogame, e.g. the Jack Loftus control scheme. =) We will likely send a lot of other junk too (T-shirts, etc) but the real prize is credits / bragging rights,” he said.
More from the release, including contest rules, below the fold.
“Given how flexible our control scheme code is, and how we’re going to have several pre-set mappings to choose from,” said Lead Programmer for The Conduit, Ed Federmeyer in a press release delivered to Infendo. “Wouldn’t it be a cool contest to allow gamers to propose schemes and we can take the best and burn them into the game as additional preset control mappings?”
The High Voltage folks are making no secret of the fact that this game is designed with a certain type of person in mind, and they’re doing it in a way that I hope gets noticed by other developers in the genre.
“From the start of the project our primary goal has been to make the definitive first person shooter for the Wii, and specifically for core gamers. Asking core gamers for their input is just a logical extension of that rationale,” said High Voltage CEO Kerry J. Ganofsky.
What a concept. One of the biggest barriers to entry for the FPS is often the control scheme. Making the process more “open source,” to borrow a term from my previous job, could be pretty revolutionary. Well, maybe not revolutionary, but pretty neat.
The contest rules are simple; using a standard Wii-Remote and Nunchuk combination, fans should send in what control mapping they think would be best for the following functions:
1. Move Forward/Back
2. Strafe Left/Right
3. Jump/Activate
4. Shoot Weapon
5. Target Lock
6. Crouch
7. Reload Weapon
8. Scope/Binocular Mode
9. Switch Between Weapons Carried
10. Switch Between Grenades Carried
11. Pause Menu
12. Swap Between Weapon Carried and Weapon on Ground
13. Equip ASE (All-Seeing-Eye) / Special
14. Aim Reticule/Turn Camera
15. Melee Attack
16. Throw GrenadeFans should also feel free to also suggest Wii-motions (gestures) to trigger actions – just be sure to describe motions thoroughly enough that they are clear to High Voltage Software’s design team.
Entries should be sent to Feedback@High-Voltage.com with the subject line of “Conduit Controller Mapping Contest”. Winning entries will be made available for selection through the UI as official controller schemes for The Conduit, with appropriate in-game credit given to their creators.
Contest entries must be received prior to November 14, 2008. Entries using duplicate schemes will be awarded based on whichever was received first. Winners grant permission to High Voltage Software (HVS) to use his/her name for professional and promotional purposes. All entries become the property of HVS and under no conditions does HVS promise any financial or monetary compensation to those who enter.
Now, all they need is that publisher…