Topic: Game pitch competition, ending on June 3rd

[Glenjamin]

Nobody's probably going to guess it so my entry is #5.

I got this idea from how teen dramas tend to put such a large emphasis on the character's academic careers and relationships. If I had to save the world from monsters I'd probably take the year off.

Ideally, the game would be sets of scripted events, each contained within a small area. Each area would have a few rooms the player could explore, and a purpose other than the setting for events.

Some ideas.

• The school - grow stats
• Main character's house - customize cosmetics
• Friends; houses - manage party
• The mall - buy items
• The streets - connect all areas

So depending on where you are in the story, You'd be fighting a monster, talking with a friend, Solving mysteries, and more.

The RPG elements would be relatively basic, except you can get a free turn by bashing the monster with items hidden in the scene.

I might flesh it out more once ETR and the next PBH update are done.

[TheFrighter]

A bit like Buffy the vampire slayer, I guess. Nice idea, Glenjamin!

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[Creamy]

A bit like Buffy the vampire slayer, I guess. Nice idea, Glenjamin!

...or the Persona series.

Number 3 had a very intriguing mystery, but the pitch said little on how the tone or gameplay would be.

Man, this is an excellent mystery/thriller setup. It could be a Hitchcock movie or an episode of Suspense. The detail of the letters being from after he died is a cool hook.

Thanks. There's a mystery to unveil but it's also about winning the family over with your wits. The story would avoid the usual police investigation since the lover died in an accident.

Are they married or not?

It's deliberately vague because I didn't do much research on the subject. Out of the blue, it could work both ways.

if he's "away on business", why is his family around?

Actually, she'd go to the family house first and to West Virginia later.
It's simplified because of the word limit.

[TheFrighter]

So, if i'm not wrong:

1) Snarky
3) Creamy
4) Stupot
5) Glenjamin
7) TheFrighter
8) Cassiebsg
9) Durq

Who's missing?

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[Snarky]

 6) Danvzare
10) Blondbraid

... which means that

And I'm going to spoil it and reveal that I did enter!

 2) Babar

Congratulations again, everybody! It's really interesting to read the explanations and additional details about the different ideas in response to the feedback. One thing I'm learning from this is that it's really hard to predict how someone else will interpret a short pitch, and which phrases they'll pick up on in a positive or negative way. It just goes to show how crucial it is for someone doing this for real to both practice the pitch and actually test it before going live.

Another round next week?

[Stupot]

It just goes to show how crucial it is for someone doing this for real to both practice the pitch and actually test it before going live.

Yeah. It also goes to show that in real life, if you are pitching an idea and some producer doesn’t like it, just keep trying, coz someone else will like it.

[TheFrighter]

It just goes to show how crucial it is for someone doing this for real to both practice the pitch and actually test it before going live.

Yeah. It also goes to show that in real life, if you are pitching an idea and some producer doesn’t like it, just keep trying, coz someone else will like it.

Right! And maybe Snarky could be a good producer...

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[Danvzare]

Congratulations again, everybody! It's really interesting to read the explanations and additional details about the different ideas in response to the feedback. One thing I'm learning from this is that it's really hard to predict how someone else will interpret a short pitch, and which phrases they'll pick up on in a positive or negative way. It just goes to show how crucial it is for someone doing this for real to both practice the pitch and actually test it before going live.

That is 100% definitely true.
And I'm quite surprised at much I've been learning about making pitches from this competition alone.

[Stupot]

This is a fun exercise.

Before I sent Andail my pitch I messaged him worried that my entry possibly sounded too much like a press release or the blurb on the back of the box, as opposed to a pitch you might give a prospective producer in an elevator. What are everyone’s thoughts? Should we be trying to “sell” our ideas with exciting, suspenseful, press-releasey language or just let the ideas speak for themselves?

By the way, thanks for the two people who voted for my pitch :-)

[TheFrighter]

Before I sent Andail my pitch I messaged him worried that my entry possibly sounded too much like a press release or the blurb on the back of the box, as opposed to a pitch you might give a prospective producer in an elevator. What are everyone’s thoughts? Should we be trying to “sell” our ideas with exciting, suspenseful, press-releasey language or just let the ideas speak for themselves?

Good question. What a producer "needs" on a pitch? The game mechanics, the target of the audience, the trends of the business?

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[Andail]

Good discussion.

Just like job interviews these days, pitch presentations are very much about psychology and delivery. Since it's extremely hard to judge a game solely on its story, agents or executives search for things that seem original, buzz-worthy, gimmicky, topical, etc. They also want to know, just like in job interviews, what you can do that nobody else can. What makes your project so great? We might have to employ more of a salesperson's jargon here.

Maybe for the next round, the host (I'll happily do it again) should describe what kind of company/publisher we're actually visiting? That will make it easier for the participants to visualize what kind of jargon and concept they should use.

[Snarky]

I got really deep into questioning all this after the first round, but then I figured: people are gonna vote for what they like regardless. (I'm certainly not going to vote for a pitch I'm not interested to play just because it seems like it might have commercial potential.) At most I think we can bring these factors up as things voters might want to keep in mind.

Or perhaps the challenge could specify some questions the pitches are supposed to answer, like "what's your hook?" or "who is this game for?" or "your idea in five words" or anything else you think would be relevant.

[dactylopus]

Another round next week?

I'm in.  After missing out on the deadline here, I went ahead and wrote one up so I would be ready.

[Durq]

I voted for 9, it reminds me of The Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Yep. I had The Running Man and The Hunger Games in mind when I wrote the pitch.

[Andail]

I got really deep into questioning all this after the first round, but then I figured: people are gonna vote for what they like regardless. (I'm certainly not going to vote for a pitch I'm not interested to play just because it seems like it might have commercial potential.) At most I think we can bring these factors up as things voters might want to keep in mind.

Or perhaps the challenge could specify some questions the pitches are supposed to answer, like "what's your hook?" or "who is this game for?" or "your idea in five words" or anything else you think would be relevant.

Yeah, you're probably right. I was more in the mindset of "let's learn how to write something that'll sell", but in this context, people will vote on stuff they would enjoy themselves.

Anyhow, a new round is up, this time with only a minor requirement when it comes the theme of the game.