Mixer rolls out MixPlay, a tool for creating interactive stream overlays

Microsoft has rolled out a series of updates for its streaming service Mixer as part of the platform’s birthday celebrations, one of which allows developers to build interactive stream overlays.

Those widgets, overlays, and on-screen buttons are created though MixPlay, a tool Microsoft detailed in a post on the Mixer blog today.

MixPlay allows developers armed with a bit of HTML or JavaScript knowledge to create on-stream objects that viewers can interact with. For example, the tool can be used to take advantage of Mixer’s earlier ‘share controller’ feature and allow a streamer to hand control of the game they’re playing over to a viewer via a virtual on-screen Xbox controller. 

The Mixer post also notes that developers can use this to create game-specific overlays like leader boards that can then be displayed over live gameplay footage by streamers.

What’s especially interesting here is that Mixer has created a way for developers to create games that are actually played within the streaming platform itself. The blog post calls out a few early creations that do just that by creating games like Truck Stars and Mixer Mini Golf that can be played by multiplay players from a standard Mixer page. 

There are a handful of other nifty updates that are included in the roundup as well that are fully detailed in the Mixer blog post.