week+9+notes

Final Projects

__Final Assignment__ More on Pitches
 * Pitch Tip #1: Get in the Door**
 * Pitch Tip #2: Show You are Serious**
 * Pitch Tip #3: Be Organized**
 * Pitch Tip #4: Be Passionate!!!!**
 * Pitch Tip #5: Assume Their Point of View**
 * Pitch Tip #6: Design the Pitch**
 * Pitch Tip #7: Know All the Details**
 * Pitch Tip #8: Exude Confidence**
 * Pitch Tip #9: Be Flexible**
 * Pitch Tip #10: Rehearse**
 * Pitch Tip #11: Get Them to Own It**
 * Pitch Tip #12: Follow Up**

Pitch Tips You can't pitch your idea if you can't get in the door. Some doors are easy to get into, some aren't. Game publishers can be very hard to get an audience with. They are like the prettiest girl at school, and they know it. They will often ignore e-mails and messages, and cancel meetings with almost no warning. They have their pick of developers to work with, so unless you can convince them you have something pretty special, it can be hard to even get in the door, especially if you are using the front door; that is, "Uh, hello, is this Big Time Games? I have a game design I want to pitch… who should I talk to?" A much better approach is to use the back door, if you can; that is, know someone on the inside who can vouch for you. A publisher who would ignore your e-mail won't ignore the e-mail of someone he works with on a regular basis. I think it is safe to say that the majority of game deals happen this way — a developer and publisher were introduced to each other by a mutual friend. This is why industry events like the Game Developers Conference, and local International Game Developer Association (IGDA) meetings are so important — they help you build up networks of contacts so that when your pitch is ready, you can get in the door.
 * Pitch Tip #1: Get in the Door**

Pitch Tips When you pitch a game, you have to show that you are serious about building it. It used to be that a developer could get a deal with a publisher just with a few sketches and a description of what the game would be like. That kind of deal is increasingly rare now — a working prototype is required in this day and age. But even a prototype is not enough — you need to show that you have given serious thought to your game, its market, and how it works. This can be with a detailed design document (no one will read it, but they will weigh it), or even better, with a clear presentation that details why the game will sell. Believing that your game //could// be fun isn't enough — you must show you've done the work that proves your game //will// be fun (and will make them money).
 * Pitch Tip #2: Show You are Serious**

Pitch Tips It’s real easy to fall into the "creative people aren't organized" trap. Organization is just another way to show someone that you are serious. Also, the more organized you are, having just what you need at your fingertips, the more calm you'll be, and the more in control you will be. A publisher is going to see an organized designer as a "lower risk" designer, which will make them more likely to trust you. Make sure your pitch is well-planned. If you bring handouts (you should), make sure they are easily accessible and that you have enough for everybody. If your presentation involves a computer, a projector, or (gulp) an Internet connection, make sure that they are really going to work — get there early to test, just in case.
 * Pitch Tip #3: Be Organized**

Pitch Tips Unbelievably, pitches occur all the time where the person presenting seems kind of ambivalent about the game they are talking about. You want to get the people you are talking to excited about your game — to do that, //you// must be excited about your game! DO NOT try to fake this — it will come off completely phony. If you are actually, genuinely excited about your game when you talk about it, it will come through in the presentation, and it might even be infectious! And passion represents more than excitement — it also represents drive and commitment to deliver a quality game at any cost. A publisher needs to see this kind of commitment if they are going to entrust you with the millions of dollars it will cost to produce your genius game. Pitch Tips Know your audience – important for your game as well as for pitching your game So often we assume that selling is all about us — if only we push hard enough, they'll buy it. But no one likes to be confronted with a hard, pushy salesperson. What we like is when someone listens to us and tries to solve our problems. Your pitch should be all about that. Speak with the person you are going to pitch to in advance. Learn what you can about them, and make sure that the game you are planning to pitch is going to be a good fit for them — if it isn't, don't waste their time. Even though you know the game you are pitching backwards and forwards, you must remember the person you are pitching to has never seen it before, so make sure you explain it in a way that they will easily understand — avoid jargon wherever possible. Practice your pitch on friends and colleagues who aren't familiar with the game idea to see if it makes sense to them. Also remember that the person you are pitching to has probably seen hundreds of pitches and is very busy. Make sure that you don't waste any time and get straight to the point. If they seem bored with a point you are making, pass over it and move on. If there is something they want more details about, they will ask questions. Pitch Tips One more way to assume the client's point of view: consider the best-case scenario. That is, they LOVE your pitch. Now what happens? In most cases, a deal can't happen yet. The person you pitched to probably has to pitch it to colleagues or superiors at their company. How easy have you made it for them? Things that make it much easier for a "fan" of your project to pitch it to others: Give your idea "handles" — that is, provide short phrases that summarize the idea: "It's a bowling RPG!" "It's Pokemon for grownups!" "It's Nintendogs, with a whole zoo!" Give them a professional looking report (both printed and digital) that summarizes what is great about the idea, and, more important, what is great about your company. If you have a PowerPoint presentation, or design document, you should give them a CD with a copy. If you can, make short videos that highlight the gameplay. These are safer than just giving a prototype, which might be buggy, or which they might forget how to play.
 * Pitch Tip #4: Be Passionate!!!!!**
 * Pitch Tip #5: Assume Their Point of View**

Pitch Tips The pitch is an experience, right? Why wouldn't you design it at least as well as your game! Your pitch should be accessible, have surprises, have a good interest curve (a hook, a build, tense and release, a climax), etc. It should have a good aesthetic design, favoring images over words whenever possible. Your pitch should be elegant; focusing primarily on what is unique about your game, why it will succeed against the competition, and why it is a good fit for the person you are pitching it to. You should have thought through every moment that will happen during the entire pitch encounter. Do you have other team members there? When will you introduce them? When will you show your prototype? If you think that "over-planning" will spoil the energy of your pitch, you are wrong. You can always deviate from a plan if you want to, but having a plan will keep your mind free to focus on giving a great pitch, and you won't have to worry about whether you have forgotten something important. Pitch Tips During a pitch, you are going to get questions. Experienced, busy publishers aren't going to wait until the end, either — they will break into your carefully planned presentation and ask detailed questions about the things they think are important. You need to have as many facts as possible at your fingertips. These include:
 * Pitch Tip #6: Design the Pitch**
 * Pitch Tip #7: Know All the Details**
 * Design details**. You should know your design inside and out. For parts of the design you've been putting off, you should at least have a guess. You should have confident answers for questions like "How many hours of gameplay?" "How long does it take to finish a level?" "How does multiplayer work?" and hundreds more.
 * Schedule details**. You need to know how long it will take to create the game and roughly how long it will take your team to get to each of the important mile-stones (design document completed, first playable prototype, first alpha, second alpha, beta, gold master). Make sure these times are realistic, or the publisher will lose confidence in you fast. Be ready for the question: "What's the fastest you could get this done?" Expect to be held to your answer.

Pitch Tips You also need to anticipate the questions that the people you are pitching to are going to ask. There is a legend about Imagineer Joe Rohde who was giving the final pitch of the Animal Kingdom theme park to Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Eisner had long wavered about whether this park was a good idea, and Joe was given his last chance to explain why it was. After Joe's detailed presentation, Eisner said, "I'm sorry… I still don't see what is so exciting about live animals." Joe walked out of the meeting and returned, moments later, leading a Bengal tiger into the room. "This," he declared, "is what is so exciting about live animals." The theme park got its funding. When you can anticipate what questions are coming, and give perfect answers, you can be magically persuasive. Pitch Tips While passion is important, confidence is just as important, and not at all the same thing. Being confident means you are sure your game will be perfect for the client, and that your team is the perfect team to pull it off. It means not getting shaken when you get a tough question. It means knowing all the details. Keep in mind, you aren't just selling the idea, you are selling yourself. If you seem nervous, it's going to make people think you don't believe what you are saying. When you show some-thing impressive, you should act like it was nothing, like it was easy. If your other team members are with you, you should answer questions as a team with each confident about which questions the others can answer best. And here is a magic word you can use when a tough question tries to shake your confidence: "Absolutely." For questions like: "Do you think this will sell in Europe?" "Can the servers handle the load?" "Can you make a kid's version?" You might be thinking "yes" or "probably," but I guarantee that "absolutely" will sound far more confident. Of course you need to back up that confident answer!
 * Financial details.** You should know what it will cost to get the game done. This means knowing how many people will be working on the game, how long they'll be working on it, and other costs. Also expect the question: "How many units do you think this will sell?" You should probably base that answer on how comparable titles have sold. Don't just give one number — give what you think are realistic minimums and maximums. Make ABSOLUTELY sure that the minimum number you give still makes the game a profitable venture for the publisher.
 * Risks.** You will be asked what the biggest risks on the project are. You need to be ready to state them clearly and succinctly, along with your plan for managing each one of them whether they are technical, gameplay, aesthetic, marketing, financial, or legal.
 * Pitch Tip #8: Exude Confidence**

Pitch Tips During your pitch, you are going to get curveballs. The person you are pitching to might suddenly reveal they hate your concept — what else do you have? You might have planned on a one-hour meeting only to be told "I only have twenty minutes." You need to handle these kinds of things with coolness and confidence. Game designer Richard Garfield tells a story about how he went to a publisher to pitch RoboRally, an elaborate board game about robots in a factory. Garfield loved his game and gave a detailed pitch to a game publisher who sat patiently through it, and then said, "I'm sorry, but we can't use this. It's too big. We're looking for games that are small and portable. Got anything like that?" Garfield could have walked out, insulted, but instead he stayed objective, and considered that his goal was to get a game published — not necessarily this game. He mentioned that he was working on an idea for a new kind of card game — could he come back and present that? The game he pitched the second time eventually became the megahit //Magic: The Gathering.// Pitch Tips Planning your pitch is good, rehearsing it is better. The more you get comfortable talking about your game, the more natural your pitch will be. Look for any opportunity to practice — when your mother asks, "So, what have you been working on?" give her the pitch. Give it to your co-workers, to your hairdresser, to your dog. It isn't that the specific words of your pitch need to be memorized, but the chain of ideas needs to be able to spring forth naturally from you, like a favorite song. If you are going to show a demo, rehearse that, too. Avoid, at all costs, pitching while you play! It makes you sound mentally deficient and wastes valuable time. Have a colleague play the game while you talk about it and answer questions. Unless they are excited about it, don't expect executives to play your prototype. There is too much danger of them embarrassing themselves or crashing your prototype and embarrassing you.
 * Pitch Tip #9: Be Flexible**
 * Pitch Tip #10: Rehearse**

Pitch Tips Ideally, you want them to come away from your pitch thinking of the game as "their game." Having an inside advocate in the group you are pitching to really helps — someone who is pre-sold on the concept and who will defend it to the others. Another way to improve the chances of them taking ownership is to integrate the ideas of the client into the pitch. If, in a previous conversation with them, they said "So, it's a war game, huh? Does it have helicopters? I love helicopters!" you should be darn sure there are helicopters in your pitch somewhere. You can even integrate the client's ideas on the fly, using concepts from their early questions ("Could it have giant rats?") to explain things later in the pitch ("So, say you come upon a room full of giant rats…"). The easier you make it for them to imagine that it is their game, the closer they get to accepting your proposal. Pitch Tips After your pitch, they will thank you, and promise to get back to you. And they might — but they might just as easily not. This doesn't mean that they didn't like your pitch. They might have liked it very much, but gotten swept up in some other, more pressing emergency. Within a few days of the pitch you should find an excuse to follow up with them by e-mail or phone ("you had asked about details of the texture manager, and I just wanted to get back to you on that") to subtly remind them that you are still around, and that they owe you feedback. You have no good reason to nag them outright for an answer — if you do, you are likely to get an answer quickly: "no thanks." They may need time to think about it, time to discuss internally, or time to review other competing proposals. Just keep following up periodically, not too often, until you get an answer. Never get frustrated if they don't respond — be patient, and understanding. It may be that the time for your idea to be useful just isn't here yet. It is not uncommon to ping a publisher six months after a pitch, and to hear back, "Hey, I'm glad you contacted me. Remember that pitch you gave? I think we might want to talk to you about it. Can we meet next week?"
 * Pitch Tip #11: Get Them to Own It**
 * Pitch Tip #12: Follow Up**

Pitch Tips A game begins with an idea, but it gets funded with a pitch. Keep this lens so you don't forget to design your pitch as well as you design your game. To ensure your pitch is as good as it can be, ask yourself these questions: Why are you pitching this game to this client? What will you consider "a successful pitch"? What's in it for the people you are pitching to? What do the people you are pitching to need to know about your game? If you are pitching to a publisher, the most important thing to them will be whether the game can make money, and how much.

Fun Is your game fun? Did a core, fun-based gameplay idea survive the concept and perhaps even prototype phase of your game’s creation? What is fun? As we’ve already discussed, defining fun is nearly impossible

Fun Fun is subjective, contextual, and completely dependent on personal taste One person might think washing dishes is fun You might think shooting bad guys is fun Your friend’s favourite game might be entirely based on strategy Another friend’s fave game requires quick-twitch reflexes and dexterity In-Class Exercise List games that have been brought to class Match games with people who have never played them Exchange games and interview classmates that play your game Was the game (controls, rules, mechanics, etc.) easy to play right away? Were goals clearly communicated? Which aspects, or areas, did they enjoy most? Which parts did they not enjoy? Were they frustrated by specific aspects of the game? Did any games appeal to everyone that played them? Why are these games so successful? Why did certain games not appeal to some people? Games Canabalt Zombie Highway Tiny Wings Paper Toss Mega Man X Tetris Football Kicks Hotdog bush hunting Minecraft Super Puzzle Fighter Scribblenauts Star Wars arcade shooter thing 9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors Tekken 5 Killzone Liberation, System Shock 2 God of War – chains of Olympus Boost 2 Lane splitter Touch Hockey Monopoly Deals Pokemon White Keylocks Doodle Jumps Field Runner Word Mole Bubble Trouble Jubeat Fun When self-testing, all you can really do is focus on why you want your game to be fun Game are voluntary activities that require player participation Unlike movies or television, the show does not go on if players cease to participate So, if your game has no emotional appeal players my stop playing or never pick it up in the first place Fun Fun appeals to emotions All of the emotional and dramatic elements that drive a player to try out your game and continue to play it are usually the reasons players cite when asked about what makes a game fun Nicole Lazzaro lists four different types of fun Easy Fun, Hard Fun, Serious Fun, and People Fun Fun How can you tell if your game is fun? If you have the money and the resources you can ask the playtesters But even then, playtesters are not always able to articulate where the fun is lacking Designers need to be able identify the fun factor on their own sometimes Remember that the dramatic elements of games are what engage players with the formal system Challenge, play, and story are all used to provide emotional hooks Fun Challenge We’ve already discussed the theory of “flow” that players can reach when challenge is perfectly tuned to their skill level There are a number of questions to ask yourself and your testers to measure where the challenges in your game are working and where they can be improved Challenge Reaching and Exceeding Goals Does your game tap into the fundamental human desire to achieve goals? Does your game have one goal at the end of are there subgoals along the way? Subgoals can build up to the final goal, keep players interested with incentives of achieving Are your goals too hard to reach? Too easy? Are they clearly defined? Or are they hidden? Ask playtesters to talk out loud about their goals as they play, so you can get a sense if they are engaged in the goals you have planned.