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How to pitch a game concept? And anybody in Phoenix?

Dammit
Honored Guest
Edit: TL:DR I was curious to see if it's possible in this industry to "pitch" a game script/concept in the same way you would a TV show or movie. Turns out the answer is a resounding NO! Haha! At least I didn't start emailing devs. Better to ask potentially stupid questions in a forum. :lol:

Greetings! This is my first thread and I have two questions of monumental importance. Well maybe not monumental but they're important to me. 😄

First of all, I'm very curious about how someone such as myself could pitch a game concept? Directly to Oculus if that's at all possible but absolutely interested in talking to indie devs as well if Oculus doesn't respond to things like this. I'm a former film student that's been wanting to get into the entertainment industry for a long time but been stuck in purgatory here in Phoenix forever (willing and anxious to relocate if the right opportunity presented itself). I think I bring a lot to the table in my ability to come up with new game concepts fairly easily. In depth. Not just "hey it would be cool if somebody made a game where you race jet skis but with wheels!" 😉 Yesterday I decided to test myself by seeing if I can come up with a new one I've never thought of before and within just a couple minutes I had a pretty solid concept. I posted this in another thread but putting it here too.

It's a survival horror game with a big twist. So far I have a detailed and very unique protagonist, his back story, how he came to be in the situation he's in, the place it all happens, his abilities, etc. I'm still fleshing out some goals for the player, gameplay mechanics (although I have some good ones there already). Also working on details for the main adversary in the game. Got some ideas kicking around but not as fleshed out as the main character but I just started on this game concept yesterday. It's more of a psychological horror game than an action horror game. No guns. Even has a poignant social message that's very relevant today.

I'm nervous about posting specific details. In the film industry you would never ever post anything publicly but in games, is that still the case? I don't know how people protect their IP's. This one is kind of a throw away though. That was the entire reason behind coming up with something new so I'm not so attached to it. The more I work it out in my head though the more attached I get. This one was thought up with a seated VR experience in mind from the jump and it's going to work extremely well. Even the way you control your avatar is going to be very comfortable for the player (assuming I'm right about one technical detail that I'm not sure about but I already have a backup plan if I'm wrong about it).

Can I get some tips on how to go about this? I'm dying to just tell all of you but I don't know if that's the smartest way to go about it.

Also my second question, are there any members around the Phoenix area that wouldn't mind giving me a demo of their rift? I've actually never had the chance to try one but I've been obsessing over VR for a while now. Since right before Carmack met Palmer. A lot of my film ideas would translate to VR very well I think and honestly, I find this to be a much more exciting field, not to mention possibly a lower barrier to entry. I have no way to prove my worth other than to provide an example of how my brain works (it's a strange place inside my head, only the bravest should peek behind the curtain, haha). But anyway I would really love to try a couple demos on this thing and see if it's as awesome as I think it is. I have little doubt though.

Thanks for any advice. Looks like a great forum you guys have here. Cheers! 😄
14 REPLIES 14

baloniman
Honored Guest
If you want to pitch to companies you'll need an NDA and have a well thought out business plan with some form of game design document to boot. If you think you have a really unique idea then its best you use NDA don't spill the beans to randoms just yet. Also it helps to have some form of prototype definitely not necessary but shows you know what you're at.

There's a little write up here about getting started :

http://wannabe.urustar.net/

Article here on gamasutra:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134571/how_to_pitch_your_project_to_.php?print=1

Another indie focused one here:

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/18/how-to-pitch-your-indie-game-to-sony/


Best of luck sir / madam!

Dammit
Honored Guest
That's awesome. Looking forward to diving into that. I skimmed it real quick and it looks like some great info. Thank you very much!

Edit: It's sir by the way. Or dude. You can just call me dude. 😉

ash55
Explorer
Just trying to be realistic. I'd say, don't expect to pitch game concepts. It doesn't really work that way. Ideas and concepts are cheap.

Instead, learn how to code, build prototypes, iterate, discard ideas when they're not working, don't get too attached, build more prototypes, discard more ideas. And so on. When you finally create fun builds, likely for a game concept you had no intention of building at the outset, then you can pitch and share them with others and create buzz around your builds, get feedback, attract more talent, maybe build a larger team with other enthusiastic artists and programmers to take on more ambitious ideas. General rule of thumb: If you don't take yourself seriously enough to dive in and get your hands dirty then why expect other people to take you seriously? Also, if your idea is too grand for you to iterate on with quick prototypes, then your idea probably isn't focused enough.

Trying to get a game created with just an idea, but no way to build it, is kind of like trying to write a novel without a pen. If you know how to develop games yourself, then you don't need to pitch ideas, you can build them.

Dreamwriter
Rising Star
Yeah, the answer is, you don't pitch game concepts. Game developers don't need them, every single person working in the industry has a dozen game concepts they want to make. And there are legal issues involved if the developer listens to your pitch that they aren't going to want to risk.

Dammit
Honored Guest
"Dreamwriter" wrote:
And there are legal issues involved if the developer listens to your pitch that they aren't going to want to risk.


I thought that might come into play.

How feasible would you guys say it is to team up with one or two like minded non-pros? Same situation? I was thinking maybe there's people out there with the opposite problem I have. Some tech skill but maybe not so great at concepts and writing.

I downloaded Unity earlier tonight. Gonna see what I can do with it myself. Hoping to maybe at some point be able to get something moving around on screen that can convey what I'm trying to do. The whole concept is based around the way the main character navigates the world. I'm thinking it might be easier to demonstrate that than put together anything graphically impressive. That is if Unity doesn't break my brain. :lol:

cubytes
Protege
http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/04/the-door-problem/

i read that on a daily basis 🙂

its good to be creative and its good to focus on building up some skills in one of those categories.

me personally im kind of burning the torch at both ends (and then some). one day i will be brushing up on learning how to READ and understand the functions in some code. the next i will be following tutorials on khan academy of how to write simple js games and apps. another day i will be working in unity following along with tutorials and the day after that im working on learning how to render 3D graphics in blender -- all while trying to keep up with everything, soaking up as much insight and ideas as i can along the way.

and now i find myself studying old movie scripts and learning how to write proper screenplays...

also i wouldnt worry about any developers stealing your ideas and concepts. as ash55 put it "ideas and concepts are cheap"

but on the other hand its people like me you have to worry about stealing your ideas 🙂 im the idea snatcher and reorganizer. and im not ashamed. we are all standing on the shoulders of giants, on a frontier towards uncharted territory. lets call a truce, lets collaborate lets work together -- we will have plenty of time to compete and make money later...

anyways good luck

also why the username "Dammit"? did someone take your usual persona already?

Dammit
Honored Guest
"cubytes" wrote:


also why the username "Dammit"? did someone take your usual persona already?


Yes but many years ago. I got frustrated on a forum trying to come up with a username and tried this one. Been using it ever since. :mrgreen:

Good deal on studying movie scripts. Quality writing isn't given enough priority in the games business for the most part.

And yeah everybody says ideas are cheap. I completely and totally disagree. Bad ideas are cheap and a dime a dozen. Solid fleshed out concepts with unique attributes and a compelling, easy to follow narrative are not. Ever since I posted this yesterday I've been digging around the internet and have stumbled across many people posting their ideas. I see why people put no stock in these types of posts now. Kind of embarrassed that I made one myself now but you have to start somewhere. Most of that crap is just that. Crap. Nonsensical, wandering nonsense. Usually so grand in scale there's no chance of these guys being able to ever make them. When I decided to come up with a totally new idea to work on, one of my main bullet points was simplicity. Simple mechanics, simple concept, simple storyline. A small team of motivated and talented people could pull it off. If I can just get something going to show people so I can attract a couple people to the project I think something could come of it. We'll see though. I think the first and foremost part to work on is the actual game mechanics because that's a huge part of it. Making it pretty can come later. Also SOUND (which is more my area of expertise anyway). The sound will play a big part in it. Good sound can make your skin crawl. One of the things you'll learn if you're studying film is how incredibly important good sound is in that industry. An audience will forgive a poor quality picture before poor quality sound in a movie. The game industry is going to have to up their game in that arena for VR I think. I haven't even been able to try a rift yet but I can imagine poor sound being extremely off putting in there while really good sound will push an experience over the top.

Someguitarist
Explorer
Have you made a game before? Do you have any experience in game design?

Not to sound too negative, but this was an article I really appreciated a while back

http://www.theastronauts.com/2013/05/you-have-an-idea-for-a-game-heres-why-nobody-cares/

gandalfrockman
Honored Guest
I think I read your post over on reddit, but I didn't respond there.... The reddit peoples are scary....
Whatever your idea is, NO ONE WILL CARE IF YOU DON'T HAVE A WORKING DEMO.
Frankly my advice would be to grab a copy of UE or unity and build your game.
You don't need to pitch it; all the tools to build it are here now, and they are cheap.
If you build a promising demo and want to expand on it with better assets then you can find someone to help out , but if you can't at least come up with a good fun prototype, no-one will care.

People from the movie industry seem to have this misconception that The videogame industry needs/wants "Idea people" or "Big picture people". We don't. We are all, by necessity, Idea people who see the big picture. If that's all you bring to the table ( and I KNOW this sounds harsh but its the truth and I really don't intend to be rude...) we don't need you here. We have more ideas than we will ever likely have the manpower to implement in even their simplest form. We are literally overwhelmed by good ideas. If we couldn't see the big picture, we wouldn't be able to plan out and develop a game.

If this is something you want to get into, figure out how to build a prototype first. Until then people might be friendly, but no-one is going to take you seriously.