Pitch Your Own Game Idea reaction

ginryu42

I really think that the guy from Nintendo got off on shooting down ideas that weren't really as bad as he made them seem. I think he thought insult humor was the way to the heart of the audience, and I think that came out most when my idea for the Dune Universe-based Action/RPG was presented. I know I said it would be like some other games in certain ways, but he seemed to tune everything out but that one word ("like"). He said, "You lost me at 'it's like it's like it's like,'" but then when every other idea was presented, the Panel compared the ideas presented to other games saying, "so it's like blah blah blah..." So, what the fuck?

Anyway, I think I can describe my game idea here, better than I presented it at PAX. I brought it up in a public forum, and I want to post it here, because I want someone to steal my idea and make a game of it. I want to play the game. I don't want to make it.

My idea is for a game based in Frank Herbert's Dune Universe, where the player plays the role of Paul Atreides. The graphics engine and interface for the game would be similar to that of Ninja Gaiden (3rd-person action playstyle), but how the game is developed and how it plays through as far as storyline is concerned is more like Jade Empire in that it would have tons of content and a (somewhat) branching storyline with many NPCs to talk to and a huge in-game world to explore. So, it would really be best compared to something like "Star Wars: KOTOR," only you wouldn't have a party of characters- just one.

I think there is a big market for this sort of thing, especially in light of the recent Sci-Fi Channel movies based on Dune and Messiah of Dune / Children of Dune. There could even be retail expansions for the games exploring the storylines set forth in the first books/games. So, that's my idea more-or-less, and I thought it was pretty good.

Your thoughts?

SquallSeeD31

It was my understanding that the panelists agreed to host that panel as a humorous "Why this won't work" panel, explaining to gamers that their ideas are a dime a dozen, and even the "unique" ones will almost invariably never go to market for one of hundreds of different reasons.
I honestly feel bad for the people who went into that panel expecting that it was a serious "Pitch Your Game" panel to a group of people that may consider making it.
Most of the panels at PAX were awareness-level industry panels. How does this work, why does this not work, what causes affect the games we're playing.

KyleG

I don't know. While I didn't mind your idea, it's a fact of life that it's all in the way you present it. The best ideas in the world can always be marred by poor presentation. That was kind of the idea of the panel - a good pitch, not a good idea.

I'm just pissed off that there wasn't enough time to present more ideas. "30 seconds" is apparently a very loose term :roll:.

Borfase

were there alot of people at the panel? i wasn't interested in going to it at all and i didn't really see a big line for it

futility

i think they were all being honest. and maybe not even enough. the whole thing was done in the vein of light heartedness and some of the people in the audience may have thought different. I mean when I first heard about the thing I was like OMG I HAVE TO GET MY 20pg DESIGN DOCUMENT SPRUCED UP. but then I checked here and emailed and fiund the whole thing was pretty much a joke. which is fine because as they explained the whole pitching a game is pretty much neve EVER going to happen. even if your are in the industry and know a ton of people and have what you think to be the best idea in the world, even if it is the best idea in the world it's not going to happen.

mojomonkee

the problem with this kind of panel is that most of these kids are pretty nervous in front of both industry execs and a full house of 300+ people. they stand up and all of their words are gone and their idea comes out as this:

"my idea is this game where you start out... well you don't start out but you want to get to, like, a warrior status where you can fight guys who... aren't warriors but in the middle of all of it there is this girl... and she's really hot... and ... have you ever played Skies of Arcadia?"

and then the industry douchewads have a field day telling him why his idea is, well, skies of arcadia without air pirates.

it's better if people attending the panel have written proposals (this would take, gasp, preparation) and then the industry execs get them at the panel and read over them together, ask the kid to stand up and defend his idea or answer any questions and then everyone can get an idea as to what the guy really wanted his game to be like.

futility

THE WHOLE THING WAS A FUCKING JOKE. the two good ideas won as they said, but then the best pitch as in pitch was just a great joke.

if anything actually good comes out of the panel it would be some small little bit of somehting that will be stolen.

and maybe people will learn not to say "like" so much when they present something

Fall

Saying "It's like" to describe a game has always been the sign of weak design. If you can't describe it on its own merits, chances of your game idea being that great are slim. I didn't see the panel, but describing a game idea as being different requires you to focus more on what's different instead of what's the same as other things on the market.

The panel was more to explore some off-the-wall ideas than to test tried-and-true formula games that you might think would be the bees knees.

Borfase

fine dont answer me

KyleG

Borfase wrote:

were there alot of people at the panel? i wasn't interested in going to it at all and i didn't really see a big line for it

It wasn't full, if that's what you mean. About 400/500 seats were filled.

Dareth Ram

The Nintendo guy listens to pitches for a living. He treated the participants like he would any game developer walking through door, which is why he was so harsh. Perhaps he could have been nicer about it, but It would have been less amusing if he hadn't, and nowhere near as authentic.

You'd be treated exactly the same by someone from EA, Ubitsoft, Microsoft, whatever.

Having only 30 seconds to pitch your game idea is very true. If you can't catch their interest in those first 30 seconds, Mr. Timeismoney is going to tell you to fuck off.

Hell, that was one of the first things I was taught in IGI. Imagine you're in an elevator with a big game exec, and you have to present him with the core game ideas before he reaches his floor and walks away.

KyleG

DarthMat wrote:

Having 30 only seconds to pitch your game idea is very true. If you can't catch their interest in those first 30 seconds, Mr. Timeismoney is going to tell you to fuck off

That was the problem. While they had initially stated "30 seconds a person", some of these pitches went on forever.

Zauron

See there's the problem, any actually unique game idea could not be explained in 30 seconds. Take my own Minebot Arena for instance. I thought about pitching the idea, since the game is already made anyway, but I realized that because the game IS actually unique in the way it is played, it is hard to explain it very quickly. And it's not even a particularly complex game compared to other unique ideas.

Games that are just clones or combinations of other games with some twist to it are easy to explain but not really going to catch the attention of someone looking for new ideas. But games that truly do use unique gameplay can't be properly explained quickly enough to get anyone interested. It's a catch-22. Thus your chances of getting any game idea made into a game without just making the damn thing yourself is really a pipe dream.

I realized this problem as I was passing out CD's for Minebot at PAX. People would say "what kind of game is it?" and I couldn't give them a straight easy answer. I'd either have to say "oh, it's a computer game, that's kind of arcade-like" which says basically nothing or I'd have to launch into an explanation that would soon have them bored/confused. In the long run I'd just have to tell people to try it out and see for themselves. Obviously, that last option wouldn't help you if you are just pitching an idea and not a finished product.

Red Machine D

Zauron wrote:

See there's the problem, any actually unique game idea could not be explained in 30 seconds. Take my own Minebot Arena for instance. I thought about pitching the idea, since the game is already made anyway, but I realized that because the game IS actually unique in the way it is played, it is hard to explain it very quickly. And it's not even a particularly complex game compared to other unique ideas.

Games that are just clones or combinations of other games with some twist to it are easy to explain but not really going to catch the attention of someone looking for new ideas. But games that truly do use unique gameplay can't be properly explained quickly enough to get anyone interested. It's a catch-22. Thus your chances of getting any game idea made into a game without just making the damn thing yourself is really a pipe dream.

I realized this problem as I was passing out CD's for Minebot at PAX. People would say "what kind of game is it?" and I couldn't give them a straight easy answer. I'd either have to say "oh, it's a computer game, that's kind of arcade-like" which says basically nothing or I'd have to launch into an explanation that would soon have them bored/confused. In the long run I'd just have to tell people to try it out and see for themselves. Obviously, that last option wouldn't help you if you are just pitching an idea and not a finished product.

Yeah, but the only way to describe Minebot Arena is "It's fucking Minebot Arena". It's one of those games that defies description. Hell, it doesn't need a fucking description. It's fucking Minebot Arena.

I only have one CD left, by the way, out of the stack you gave me.

Dog

Yeah, the moderators were trying to be entertaining more than anything else, and little glimpses of what's looked for in real pro game pitches were a small part you could glean along the way. They emphasized at the beginning, and again at the end stuff like this isn't how a real pitch works, don't take it seriously, your game idea might be good even if we heckle you, etc.

For those of you that didn't get to attend, the format was they called on audience members with raised hands, brought them a mike, gave them 30 seconds(most ended up about a minute I'd guess?) with their game pitch and then 3 mods gave a critique for about 3 minutes or so - a few ran long, like mine, either because of the mods in some cases or the pitchperson in others. In the 50 minutes I think about 10 pitches were heard. A little bit of desparation at the end of people trying to get their pitch in before it was over - as of course would be expected, I'm not sure how to avoid it since I'm sure at least a third of the audience had a game idea they wanted to share and even trying to limit the pitch/feedbacks there wasn't nearly enough time. They planned on having one winner but ended up splitting it up into three.

Personally, I got flustered at first with the time limit (I had prepared too much material) but obviously I knew the time limit was necessary and tried to rush - dumping the actual game idea for the jokey jokes; it still went long, I'm certain. Yknow what ruled though? Gettin' asked if I was the monkey ninja guy at the airport the next day.

B:L

You're the monkey ninja robot pirate guy?

T'was nice meeting ya, man! Your drawings were great

Next year: The Sequel - Monkey Ninja Robot Pirate Zombie!

Dog

ginryu42, I don't know if you had a chance to see the Breaking into the Industry Panel, but the subject of game ideas came up. Vlad from Radical asked how many people had game ideas, almost everyone raised thier hands, including the panel. His point was that everyone has a game idea, some of which are great ideas, but never get made due to whatever reason (cost, bad pitch, etc.) Even the guy from Midway said he had three ideas he submitted that got pretty far along in the process but never got made, at his own company.

As other people have said, the panel was never supposed to be very serious. It was set up to be an opportunity to poke a little fun and have a good time, with the possibility of getting a little insight into the process.

At the end of the panel, the guy from Nintendo said that he knows he looked harsh, and that in reality he enjoyed the quality of the game ideas. I don't think he didn't like your idea, I think he was just using it to make a point.