Riot promises to let you control rioters and police in recreations of the recent unrest in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and Spain. the game won’t stop with Riot’s past. It will be shipping with an editor that let’s us make new riots. “Players will be able to re-create the riots that are currently going on in the world,” write the developers in a new blog, “and use the video game to spread awareness about them.”
“The idea is that RIOT will not only be a game, but also a platform, or even an information source. Players will be able to re-create the riots that are currently going on in the world, and use the video game to spread awareness about them. Through user generated content and developers update, RIOT wants to achieve an informational goal.”
Riot is an asymmetric strategy game; you will be playing a more reactionary role when controlling the rioters and a more considered role when in charge of the police. Goals will differ from riot to riot. Often the rioters will aim to inflict minimal violence out of fear of being labelled as a hooligans. Other times the police may have the simple instruction of letting no rioters pass and be provided with a number of powerful tools to keep that from happening.
With scant details of the game will work it’s difficult to say how well you’ll be able to recreate current conflicts. If the developers want you to be able to convey information about events then hopefully there will be tools to provide context to the game beyond simply setting up two sides to duke it out.
The team are working on getting a beta version of the Riot into IndieGoGo backers’ hands this November. It’s already successfully run the Greenlight gauntlet and secured a place in the Steam store. In the blog post linked above they also say that they will be making use of Steam’s Early Access program.