Pitching Game Concepts To Developers? 32
Andonyx writes "When I was in college, every third person I met had a screenplay they wanted to pitch. Now every fifth person I meet has a game idea. Well, there are books-a-plenty that teach you how to format, pitch and sell screen plays, but what about the aspiring game designer? Where does someone with some design experience but not the resources to develop an entire proof of concept go to pitch a game idea to an established developer? Or does that even happen? Thought the Slashdot crowd might have some useful advice." This question touches a little on the 'supervising game designer' concept discussed a couple of weeks back, but more specifically asks how/whether you can successfully pitch externally-created game concepts and documents to developers.
Or does that even happen? (Score:4, Funny)
Considering the unoriginality of many video games out there, not really
I have a great idea for a video game: The $GOVERNMENT makes a $HUGE_MISTAKE and releases hordes of $CREATURES on our fine planet. Your job is to shoot almost every critter that moves, and escape to the $ESCAPE. Oh, and it's a third person shooter with some really cool weapons and a multiplayer deathmatch feature!
No, no it doesnt (Score:5, Interesting)
No it doesn't. Probably they throw it straight to the can without even reading it. If they did and would happen to be developing a similar game, you could maybe sue them for stealing your idea.
And besides, everybody at a games company produces a pitch for lunch if they want to. Best thing you can do is get some great additional skills that a game company needs, like programming, art, level desining or maybe writing and get a job somewhere. Then you have a much better change of getting your pitches through. But I've never heard of a company who'd do a game based on an independet desing outside of the company.
Or maybe get a job at a publihers, write a crappy desing based on a crappy lisense and force it down a 3rd-party developers throath. (bitter? noooo..)
The problem: (Score:5, Insightful)
You have to design the mode of gameplay. Rules, potential interactions, outline a potential game engine. Technologies that might be used, etc.
Game designers have lots of ideas that could be made into games. But the games are incredibly difficult to create, so they are not in need of ideas. What they really need is talent to turn those ideas into something fun.
In order for an idea to be considered, the specification document must read like the game manual to a paper-based RPG with all the little details, and preferably storyboards, sketches, etc, not to mention a requirements document as well. Basically, the amount of detail required goes above and beyond the idea of a movie script.
You have to probably have already coded some test environments in an existing game engine just to see if your ideas could hold water.
At this point you could probably pitch it to someone if they were in a slump.
I used to sketch out ideas for games in boring classes. So did all my friends. Are any of them going to see the light of day? Hell no! If some of us were good game coders, then maybe they might have a chance. Otherwise they're just ideas. Anyone who plays games has tons of them, and most aren't original.
Interesting (Score:2)
Either way, maybe this could revive the gamemarket somewhat, providing us with fresh ideas - even for opensource games?
But yes, they would need a guide on how to present the game idea properly.
Do not bother. Seriously. (Read why). (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's the cluemobile in an easy-to-encapsulate format:
(1) Nobody gives a damn what your idea is. Game ideas are a trillion / dollar. 99.99% of the work in making a game is implementing it and making it fun - an average dev. team isn't stupid and each person on that team could immediately come up with 5 ideas that they would like to make into a game. So why should they ask you?
(1.25) And then there's the fact that you do not know if a game is fun until you can play it. By which point, you've already invested quite seriously. Your magical idea is not worth the paper it's printed on. Shut up. No "but", "look" or "perhaps". YOUR IDEA IS WORTHLESS.
(1.5) Your idea is probably a bland re-hash of some other game. If you can describe is as "It's like $BIGTITLE but with $FEATURE", then it's passe and nobody will look at it. If it truly is groundbreakingly original - nobody will be interested because it's a total unknown and they're not willing to take a risk. It's their money, not yours. If it's that great, fund it yourself.
(2) Nobody gives a damn if you have a rolling demo / movie of a game that you've built. Okay, so you've got a skeleton of a team together - but nobody cares that you can produce pretty graphics. Seriously. Demo reels are 30 a dollar.
(3) If you've built the first few levels of a GAME that is in a PLAYABLE STATE on one of the MAJOR platforms - ie: Playstation2 - then a publisher might be interested. Note that having a playable demo on the PS2 means you already have existing contracts with Sony - you wouldn't have the PS2 development kit otherwise.
(4) At the moment, the market is absolutely flooded with games looking to get published. And 99% of it is complete shit. There are literally hundreds of products being shopped to publishers each week. Maybe one or two a month are worth looking at in detail.
(5) There are a lot of very bright and talented people already in the industry - and *they* are finding it hard to publish games. Think of some of your favorite game developers that went out of business... if they couldn't hack it, you probably won't either.
(6) Only the cream of development houses (or software houses making games to order) are able to ship products with any regularity.
(7) NOBODY makes serious money off games (not even Microsoft can manage to make a profit with Xbox), except those elite few who are entrenched (eg: ID Software) with their rabid fanbase, or their technology so advanced it's alien (again - ID), or they bought the rights to a franchise (eg: Harry Potter).
So anyway - I may sound a bit harsh. Yes, I am. But if I pussyfoot around the answer, you'll go.. "well maybe", then wonder why your game concept gets shot down.
Actually, even if they like your idea, a lot of pubishers won't even look at a concept unless you sign it over to them - this was the norm for studios developing their first game back in the late 90's when the money _was_ flowing. It provides some measure of control over their investment. And then they'll make you change your concept to maximise it's market reach - which you'll hate.
So the very best way to sell a game today probably one of the following:
(1) Shop publishers an alpha-quality game that's playable.
(2) Self-publish online for version 1 (then get publishing for version 2 - using version 1 as an example to prove you can make a game).
(3) Write a best-selling book / make a hit movie, then sell the game rights. Tada.
Of course, history is written by those who break the rules and win. But don't be suprised if you try anyway... and fail. Best of luck.
Re:Do not bother. Seriously. (Read why). (Score:1)
You're better off teaching yourself how to make your own films (by shooting your own productions on 16mm film or DV video) than writing screenplays and expecting somebody else to "get" your vision and want to bring it to reality.
Screenplays, and game concepts, are a dime a dozen. Coming up with a good idea isn't that difficult. The key is, do you already have the power/ability/contacts to tu
The Truth... IT BURNS! (Score:1)
Re:Do not bother. Seriously. (Read why). (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Do not bother. Seriously. (Read why). (Score:3, Insightful)
(1) Shop publishers an alpha-quality game that's playable.
I imagine you could save a lot of time by leaving off the soundtrack, titles and menus, and by not spending too much time on the graphics or speed optimization. I assume publishers would be able to see past those "implementation details" and they probably have or know a bunch of people who can help you out with that if they decide to publish.
I bring this up because I've se
try contacting MEF or Vodafone live! (Score:2, Informative)
At a MEF forum event at E3 last month, it was pretty apparent that Vodaphone Live! [vodafone.co.uk] is one of the most happening players when it comes to cutting in developers with
The Intractability of Design (Score:5, Insightful)
Game concepts are easy and plentiful. Poke any gamer, much less any experienced developer, and out will pop a dozen concepts like cash from of a corpse in GTA. What makes a great game is not the concept but (in part) the design. It's the fleshed-out design that will determine whether the game will be any fun and whether the high-level concept will have any "legs". But a great game design can only come from experience, a highly attuned intuition, a lot of intelligence, and more experience. (Not to mention that game design is an iterative process -- the design of a great game is practically always determined coextensively with its development.)
The conundrum of this industry is that communicating a great game design, unlike a game concept, is extremely difficult if not impossible. Very few people can write or read a game design document with any sense of whether it formulates a successful design. Think about all of the elements of Doom -- visual, audible, spatial, and temporal -- that made it such a great game. Could you truly communicate this in terms of text on paper? Not even if you were Tom Clancy or Stephen King.
For the most part, publishers couldn't tell a great game design if you locked them in a room with it. So the irony is that publishers do not, for the most part, evaluate game designs so much as they evaluate concepts -- what can be communicated in a few dozen pages at most. You can't blame them for this -- few people could. I wouldn't want that job -- betting millions of my employer's dollars plus my ass on whether some rag-tag bunch of geeks can put together a game that will fly.
If publishers made their funding decisions on the basis of game concepts a such, in isolation, they would be out of business in short order. Lottery tickets hold much better odds. So instead they hedge, using the experience and track record of the developers the way a mortgage company uses your credit report. An interesting game concept coupled with a proven development team is still very risky, but at least has a chance of getting funded, and if one in five hits big, the publisher might remain solvent.
This, in simplistic terms, is why game concepts by themselves aren't worth diddly.
Re:The Intractability of Design (Score:1)
Ah yes, those paragons of modern american literature. Would that we could all aspire to their prosificative talents.
ideas are cheap (Score:2, Interesting)
IGDA Guide to submitting games (Score:5, Informative)
Good On Paper... (Score:1)
For example, Pool of Radiance (the neweest version) probably sounded great on paper. Existing setting, new (at the time) technology, good initial game design concept. But, the execution fell flat and the game flopped because the quality wasn't there and the game just wasn't much fun.
Having a really detailed game design p
Some views from a successful MOD developer (Score:5, Interesting)
First, don't look for developers, become one. A really common joke in the MOD community is some guy that says something like, "I got a great idea for a MOD! It's gonna have lots of guns, and models and explosions and stuff. I've got it 90% done but just need a coder and a modeler and a skinner and a mapper and a sound guy. As soon as I get them we'll finish the last 10%!" Basically, "idea guys" who can't actually contribute content are worthless for a MOD team. Everyone must contribute real value and content. No dead wood.
Second, the best way to get a MOD on the road to success is to be successful. By that I mean release it to the public (even in a crude beta format) and get the world to check it out. There is a new Half-Life mod called Battle Grounds [bgmod.com] that's come out recently. It's a US Revolutionary War game. Very crude in some ways, but it's already got some people playing it. 32 servers and 66 players in the last hour. That's not many, but if you look at the stats for a lot of other mods, it's doing pretty well. Anyway, the makers of that game are learning something and evolving their game because it is being played. Not just "conceptualized" on a piece of paper.
Third, don't think you need to be a game developer to develop a game. None of us that made Day of Defeat were. Sure we had some skills but none of us were professionals. But we learned quite a bit and came pretty far in the process of creating and reviving our game.
The summary? Don't talk about it, do it.
Re:Some views from a successful MOD developer (Score:2)
Re:Some views from a successful MOD developer (Score:1)
Re:Some views from a successful MOD developer (Score:2)
Economics suck. (Score:4, Informative)
Think back to 1994. The SNES is the rage and games sell for $49 each in the US. At that time, the most expensive game produced for the SNES was Yoshi's Island, which cost $600,000.
Games now cost a whole lot more to make. Get a team of twenty highly educated people to work full time on a project for two years and your game will end up costing between $3 and $5 million (Shenmue, the most expensive game ever so far, cost $20 million to produce). The catch, of course, is that the games themselves still sell for only $49. So to make a profit, a publisher must sell through many many many more units than were required in the early nineties.
As a logical (but stupid) consequence, publishers are only willing to invest in games that they think are guaranteed to sell a certain number of units. This thinking stifles creativity, because taking risks in games can easily crash and burn. So while your idea may NOT be something along the lines of "it's GTA3... but SURVIVAL HORROR!!", publishers are still pretty unwilling to hear it unless you happen to work for a proven developer (like id, Blizzard, Bungie, Crystal Dynamics, Silicon Knights, Rare, etc).
Instead, publishers are looking for ways other than gameplay to move units, which is why we get tons of licensed-based games on the market. Almost all of the top 25 GBA games, for example, are products based on existing IPs (Mario, Sonic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, etc). Every once and a while something unique like Advance Wars will sneak into the top sellers, but usually only the tried-and-true franchises make are able to penetrate the market.
Here is what you should do:
Step 1: Produce a game design document. This is a document that describes EVERY SINGLE aspect of your game. This doesn't mean that the game design may not change over the course of the project, but it means that you'd rather not have it change dramatically. Lay everything out here on paper: the concept, the characters, the control scheme, the layout of all the levels, the enemies and their behaviors, how scoring works, how the UI will work, and how long you plan to spend to finish the entire project.
Step 2: Type all this up and make it look nice. If you have some technical or art skills, making a simple engine/mockup of some of the things you discuss will help. Depending on the size of your game, the resulting document will probably be between 50 and 200 pages long.
Step 3:Be sure to note areas where adjustments in the design can easily be made if the mechanic you've chosen doesn't turn out to be as much fun as you had hoped. Note entire modes/levels/characters/enemies that may be cut if time pressures become a problem.
Step 4: Submit this monster to a game development house along with an application for a game designer position. You wont get your game made, but if you can get into the industry and make a name for yourself, you *might* be able to eventually make your game in a couple of years.
As other have said, publishers are not interested in ideas unless you have significant experience and a proven track record.
waka
Nintendo's Policy (Score:3, Interesting)
How can I submit my game idea?
Nintendo is unable to use or pass along any unsolicited game or product ideas. As you can probably guess, we receive tons of fantastic suggestions each month from fans like you. It would be great if we could use these ideas to develop actual products. However, developing new products requires a large investment of both time and money. In fact, creating top-notch video game products can take several years to complete and cost hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars!
Although we don't use the specific ideas we receive, we do track what kinds of games and accessories our players would like to see developed. The best way to let us know what you like is to enter Nintendo Power magazine's Player's Poll contest. Each month, entrants list their five favorite games for each system. The results from the Player's Poll entries are used to figure out our readers' favorite games.
Dont bother to pitch make. (Score:1)
Strange as it may seem... (Score:2)
Think Simon & Schuster.
You don't want them messing up your beautiful idea. Among the really creative, ideas are a dime a dozen. There's a story about starving pulp writers playing poker for story ideas because they had no pennies. I believe Frederic Brown was involved.
My favorite desperate publisher was someone who got the license for M*A*S*H an
Gamedev.net (Score:2, Interesting)
Join your local IGDA chapter. Meet people in your area who make games. Talk to them about how they can help you or how you can help them.
Game development is not as close to the movie industry as some people like to think.
People don't just write scripts and hope someone directs it. People make game design documents and present them to publishers or even game development companie
Gaming schools? (Score:1)
Re:Gaming schools? (Score:1)
I have known a few folks go to full sail and come back 2 quarters later disinterested and owing lots of money. I don't recommend it unless you want to learn a whole bunch of stuff that doesn't matter in the overall scheme of things.
That is a problem with the game industry... (Score:1)
In the game industry, nothing.
There is no system in place that evalulates independent designs pitched from a game designer.
And no, game designs are not worthless, just the ones that are worthless are worthless. Just as it is easy to sit around and think of a *cool* movie, it is hard work to come up with something that tr
So many great ideas, so few great games? (Score:1)
Ah, yet another Slashdot discussion about breaking into the gaming industry. As is typical, seekers are deluged by pessimism. This takes the form of: