Five Cutting-Edge Game Mechanics That Will Dominate Gaming

From VR/AR networking to ad-hoc online sessions, we will explore what will define the next generation of games.

The year of 2020 has brought on its many challenges, including a global pandemic, and has re-shaped society in the process. In the same vein, games and gamers have changed to adapt to social distancing and staying home, by shifting their focus to networked gaming and Discord communication. In time, the next wave of games released in 2021 and beyond will more greatly align to these changes, and integrate them into gameplay itself.

There is a large swath of APIs, methodologies and technology that can be used to level up gaming experiences to better match the social climate. Below we discuss a few options and their respective game mechanic applications.

Is it possible to blur the lines between streamer and viewer? Photo by ELLA DON on Unsplash

1. Twitch & Stream Integration

• Twitch API Integration — More and more gamers are turning to streams to see how content creators play their favorite games. “Among Us” gathers hundreds of thousands of viewers on Twitch, when it is a game meant to be played with groups of friends. Twitch Integration can give viewers a chance to participate in the game through their viewership, comments, and can either support their streamer or provide roadblocks for them. Either way it makes the game much more interesting!
• YouTube Presence In-game — Giving YouTubers the opportunity to bring their persona to life within the game is an appealing mechanic waiting to be utilized. With an API integration they can bring subscriber count to bare as an in-game stat, or pull in comments or channel logo for some great antics.

MMORPGs pack hundreds of players together, is the overhead worth the experience? Source, https://www.igdb.com/games/albion-online

2. Ad-Hoc Multiplayer

• Swap in-out players on the fly — Everyone is familiar with the concept of the MMORPG, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The model can be considered antiquated, most games of this nature require a thick client connecting to a network layer that can support networked data packets for 100s of players. Smaller scale…