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January 27 pitch season...the readiness is allIf it be now, ’t is not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. ...w.shakespeare
The season is fast coming upon us. The season where all of us publisher folk hear pitches from the dev community. In 2 weeks it will be D.I.C.E. in vegas followed by Game Connection and then Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco. All you devs now finished with your Holiday 07 games and related downloadable content, all you guys with your Spring releases about to go to cert, all of you noobs and first-time devs with nothing but a dream and 5 pieces of paper. So here are a few things to think about if you are getting your pitches together for us publisher folk.
1. 10,000 Feet : Please give me the top level info when you start your pitch. What's the genre and sub-genre of the game? How long will it take you to make? How much will it cost? I hate pitches where I don't know the first thing about what you want to make until I'm halfway in. Just tell me "it's a space FPS" or "it's a fantasy RPG" upfront please. It really does help us frame the discussion. And if you don't have a budget or you don't know how you are going to make this game then you aren't ready for the pitch. No, really, you aren't.
2. Speak our language : We publishing types use a kind of like-title language and it would be helpful if you could do the same. For example you could wax prosaic for 10 minutes with words like "revolutionary" and "truly next gen" but to me it won't mean nearly as much as you saying: "This game is like Call of Duty 4 meets Ravin' Rabbits with a character like Jak from Jak & Daxter (but the dark Jak not the young Jak) in deep space. And I mean not space like Star Wars but more like Battlestar Galactica." While this kind of talk might lose most people, publishers actually tend to think like this so it helps us enormously. And if you think that your concept is so unique that it cannot be compared to anything? Well, you better go back to the drawing board and come up with something more commercial. Call me cynical but the truly commercial stuff exists right next to all the stuff that is already out there. If your concept is so far removed from what exists today, just imagine how long it will take the public to embrace it commercially.
3. Unique Selling Points : Please please please tell me what is really unique about your game? No really, I mean it. Really unique. Try the pitch on yourself and see if it feels like a lie. If you can smell the lie, chances are I will too. And whatever you do please do not tell me that what makes your game stand out will be how you make the player "care about the character" unless you really can show me how you are going to do that in the pitch. Turns out, everybody says this and almost no-one can deliver it.
4. Who are you : Who are you guys? What have you done to date? Why are you guys the best equipped to make this game? And if you are utter noobs, you better be prepared to show me a solid prototype. I'm spending millions here, why would I bet on you unless you can prove to me that you can make something? I'm not saying it hasn't been done, it has. But your stuff better be good.
5. Wait how do you play this game again? : Think hard about how you will communicate the different gameplay experiences in your title. What are the first 5 minutes like? Why will the user stick around after that first hour? What is the user doing 5 hours in and why is he loving the game? What is the last 3 hours like? This is clearly the meat of any pitch and it is important that you get this right. If you can't sell this, you aren't selling period.
6. Talk about the passion : Do you really feel passionate about making this game? Then show it! At the end of the day, I think we tend to make bets on people and on their vision to make a certain game. If this is just about paying the rent for you, ask yourself if this is really how you want to spend an entire dev cycle. I mean life is short right and dev cycles are long. In your life you will only make so many games. Don't you want each one to really matter?
As you guys know this industry can be rough and I think the ones who do well in it long-term are highly competitive with a fierce determination to achieve excellence in everything they touch. If you don't have that within you, do yourself and the industry a favor and step out of it. As for the rest of you - good luck this pitching season! Our industry would be nothing without you. I wish you much success in getting that next AAA signed. I'll look forward to playing it!
rhys
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