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Lenovo isn't just about PCs – the company also makes tablets, phones, servers, software and even smart TVs – and now the Chinese outfit has announced it's dabbling in video games.

Yes, you read correctly, Lenovo has fired up a crowdsourcing campaign to develop a new indie game in conjunction with game studio Dark Rift, and various other industry players such as Machinima and Nerdist who will help promote the title.

The project is called Game State, and the central idea is that any gamer out there can contribute ideas and inspiration in terms of designing missions, levels, game mechanics, character development and plot, and even finer details such as sound effects, music and lighting.

Essentially then, the future players of the game will be much more than beta-testers, and will have far more of a hand in shaping the experience – although design by committee is obviously something of a tricky process with its own dangers, and it will be interesting to see how Lenovo and company handle the process.

February 2016 deadline


Development of the game begins now, with core elements already in place – you need to register at the official site to be part of the team of contributors – and it continues until February of next year (a pretty short window, really). That final month will be spent testing the preview version and the demo.

Everyone who signs up and creates a profile is informed of the game's progress and any opportunities to participate in development, plus things like badges are awarded for those who come up with suggestions which are adopted.

We're definitely interested to see how this one turns out. Whether the game ends up being good or not, if nothing else, there will likely be something to learn from an experiment in game development on a wide scale.

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