One of the first things I got to see at PAX this week was Streamline, a new game from Proletariat. The game it self is really quite simple, you play either as the broadcaster, who runs around trying to wack the contestants with a giant stop sign, or as the contestnats who run around collecting pac-man dots of varying values. Thats the whole game. I spent time playing as one of the runners who has access to a variety of jumps and a sprint. Game play is really simple, deceptively so. There are tons of ups and down areas where you can jump, double jump, and wall run to. The complex part comes with the sort of fighting dynamic the game has. You can attack other runners, and the streamer attacks at you with that Sign. The whole thing feels very professor Genki from the Saints Row series. Everything is bright and neon. A lot of particle effects, and whole lot of pastels.
From my brief round with it the game plays fast and loose. Its in Beta right now so im sure there is a lot of tweaking still to do, but perhaps the most interesting thing is how this game is effected by the people watching the stream. Proletariat has built a companion app where the audience can vote, on what effects are applied to the game. So for example they may have wanted to add low gravity, and it will turn up or down the gravity in the game. This aspect really seems like something that bears exploring.