Molyneux wants devs to test his next game

Famed developer Peter Molyneux is calling on his peers to test his next game.

Speaking at last night’s Guildford G3 Expo – an event designed to bring the many studios in the area together – the 22cans founder suggested various ways in which the community could collaborate, and is even putting his next project out there as a guinea pig.

Suggesting an invite-only list for devs who wanted to test each other’s games, Molyneux proposed to make his current project available within the next few months, hoping that experienced developers will be able to help him identify any serious problems.

"One of the biggest challenges we have in development is assessing our own gamesm," he told attendees. "Why don’t we have an invite list for people to play the games that we’re working on? That’s very easy for mobile of course, and reasonably easy for console and PC.

"Why don’t we all be honest with each other’s games before they’re released? Because I know my games would be a quantum times better if they had experienced eyes looking at them.

"We’re not competitors, really. There’s seven billion people in the world – surely we don’t have to worry about competition.

"I’m going to propose that within the next two months, the game that I’m working on, we’ll use as the first sample for this beta list. It’ll come out, you can play it, give feedback and report bugs, and we’ll use that as a launch platform for us collaborating together."

Other suggestions for greater collaboration between Guildford studios included the creation of a Google Group where studios could offer and request support, and a ‘Made in Guildford’ logo to help show off the titles that come from within the prolific UK hub.

The premise of devs beta testing each other’s games has no doubt stemmed in part from the recent controversy over Molyneux’s ill-fated Godus. The Kickstarter project triggered controversy earlier this year when it was discovered that the game was not going to meet the promises made during the crowdfunding campaign.

This was exacerbated by reports that the game’s troubles had prompted several departures, and multiple members of the team had been transferred to the studio’s new game.

Molyneux admitted he had made some "horrendous mistakes" with Godus – mistakes he no doubt hopes to avoid by bringing in other studios to help test his new project.