Streaming service provider Twitch is updating its software development kit to help its developer partners increase engagement with players and viewers that are tuning in to their games. The new online toolkit will be especially useful for community portals, providing more social features, as well as tools to improve content discovery.
Twitch has been working to get its platform for live broadcasting video game sessions embedded in a wide range of games and gaming consoles. Last summer, it introduced an SDK to make it easier for developers to do so. And, since then, it’s done pretty well for itself, with adoption on major game franchises such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and from developers such as Electronic Arts, Activision, and Ubisoft.
The latest update to the SDK will add features that are designed to make it easier for users to find and watch streams that they want, while also providing new ways for them to engage with content within a game. One feature, for instance, will automatically identify key highlights from a gaming session and suggest that users share them.
Oh yeah, that dude you killed? Now you can tag him and he’ll be notified that you’re shaming him publicly to all your friends, and he, too can share being PWNED with his friends.
There’s also a discovery aspect that will help viewers check out interesting video streams. The SDK will help developers promote the most popular streams, as well as provide ways to sort videos based upon player level or specific game levels. Developers will also be able to highlight players and have them automatically updated on a realtime leaderboard.
Of course, that’s what’s available. It’ll be up to the developers to actually build that functionality into their streams, to provide all the data that’s needed to create custom leaderboards and to allow viewers to find new streams.
Twitch raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, along with Alsop Louie Partners and Draper Associates. The company, which is based in San Francisco, now has 80 full-time employees.
