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What's the best way to present a game idea?
Shmee
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Registered User new member
So about 6 months ago I started getting really cool ideas for the design of a game. It started with a really cool idea for a class/talent/spell system that really inspires customization and creativity, then cool ideas for spells and styles started coming, and I've always dabbled in writing so ideas for a world started coming in, etc etc.
I've been keeping everything written down in a journal... all my specific ideas that I've hammered out... and it's getting to the point where I'm seriously considering pitching the idea to a game design company. What is the best way to go about presenting the idea to people who could theoretically get it rolling?
I've been keeping everything written down in a journal... all my specific ideas that I've hammered out... and it's getting to the point where I'm seriously considering pitching the idea to a game design company. What is the best way to go about presenting the idea to people who could theoretically get it rolling?
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And do we get to pick from a variety of bladed weapons? Such as, for example, Daggers?
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991019/ryan_01.htm
There's some basics on it
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It's designed to be an online game, most likely an MMO though the design has interesting space to be made a console-based MMO, and yes there'd be guilds, spells, weapons, all that stuff. I guess what I'm looking for is who would I go to in looking for a sponsor? Obviously I can't just walk into EA or some other gaming company and start babbling my ideas off to a random secretary... so who should or could I contact to get a sponsorship that could advance it beyond just me writing ideas into a journal?
So I'd say the best method is to start your own team. If that doesn't work or appeal to you, then your only option is probably going to be work your way through the ranks at one of the development studios you feel is best suited to handle your idea. That's the cold, harsh reality.
Even if nobody ever makes a game out of your idea (sadly, this is almost certainly the reality of the situation), there's still worth in writing everything down and completing the design. It'll make you a better game designer, assuming you have aspirations in that area.
You could always turn it into a board game or CCG. You'll probably never make money on it but at least people might play it.
And even that will be hard to sell to all but the smallest developers.
You aren't going to walk up to Peter Molyneux and say 'hey look at this'
I keed, make your own company and make the game.
If so, I believe that the best way to go about presenting this concept would be to start threads on about it on forums across the internet. Also, you may want to create videos of yourself explaining the concept and upload it to every video hosting site you can find.
Ideally, one should be able to search for the name of your concept on Google and receive no less than 10 full pages of search results.
And the people who play it might then know your name, and be willing to spend money on your next board game/CCG/video game.
Ask any writer how much having their name known is worth.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Edit: @food
It didn't get a single reply.
If it's that hard to get a response, any response, from a bunch of gamers surfing the Internet, I can only say that your chance of getting someone to even look at your game idea who has the ability to turn a game idea into reality is approximately 0%. The chance that this individual will then decide to invest the millions of dollars necessary to turn your idea into an actual game after reading your idea is also approximately 0%. So your total success rate is approximately 0% x 0% = 0%.
Put another way, a random stranger trying to get a game company to accept their game ideas is about as effective as a random stranger trying to give horror ideas to Stephen King. Stephen King (or the game company) already has more ideas than he has time to do without resorting to random strangers.
If you want to make your idea a reality, game design documents aren't the solution (although they can help you in formulating your ideas). Either make the game yourself (or form a small team and make it with them) or get a job with a game company and work your way up the ranks until you reach the point where your boss trusts your skills & judgment so much that he's willing to invest the millions of dollars necessary for your particular project.
As an aside, game ideas, even good game ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the effort involved in turning that initial idea into an actual game that is the essential part. For example, in the many hours spent trying to make that game idea that I posted here into an actual XNA game, I've had to do a lot of thinking about the various mechanics of my game and in the end, many of the ideas that I thought were so cool to begin with, I've ended up discarding because they made the game overly complicated and distracted from the really important elements (how fun is it?).
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Things like the on-screen size of every character/item, how everything interacts with the player, and so on.
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Harsh, I know.
Essentially this. Think of it like the difference between writing a novel and coming up with a premise... only instead of just finding one writer, you're trying to get a team of highly skilled programmers and artists to do it. Unless you can fund or build this thing on your own, it ain't happening.
It's not like good ideas even mean a damn thing. It's all in the execution. Every new twist or quirk is interesting for at least 5-10 minutes, but concept alone only gets people through those initial 5 minutes. Execution is what will make a game worth playing. Nintendo (the Zelda series in particular) is basically a perfect example of this in recent years.
see if you can put numbers on player's advancement, and if you have a steep learning curve or a shallow one. What do players have to od, how long will it take them? How do you balance their behavior and rewards? etc.
Lots and lots of calculations to do. Compare it to a Turing machine: your game is a system that should work just as well in a spreadsheet as beefed up with pretty graphics.
Added to that you'll have a lot to learn and this is the next step. Once you have everythging balanced out and you really know your game mechanics and are convinced they are awesome, it might be a good idea to do a mockup and test it with players. A card or board game for example (remember, it's a turing machine) will give you a lot of feedback to take back to the drawing board.
After all that you'll really have a 'game' you can convincingly try and sell.
It does look like the only way around this is to actually make it yourself. And honestly it looks extremely ambitious, so maybe scale it down a little and work on it.
Actually, it probably doesn't matter if you're any good at programming, I'm sure with enough dedication and work, you'll learn as you work on the game. Soon enough there'll be something to show the world.
Having friends with the same dedication helps a lot too.
You need to somehow develop at least a proof-of-concept, which means building the game yourself, or finding partners (i.e. not an established company) to help you.
I bet there is a market for a fantasy MMO that runs entirely in Powerpoint.
World of Bullet Points
I mean, people play EVE and that's basically a Spreadsheet simulator.
http://kotaku.com/5040368/games-convention-as-interpretive-dance
This right here. The only way to effectively present a game design/idea is to present the actual game. Learn flash or something like that, and make a small demo, or a small version of the actual game. Then you can use that to get funding to make an actual game. You will never just sell an idea.
In fact even if you had a kick ass beta it's doubtful that a company would be willing to but money behind one guy with zero industry experience.
The advice about creating your own pen and paper or board game is good though.
Furthermore, and this is a long shot, you could find an interactive agent and try to get things going from there. I work for one of these companies and I've seen it work in the past but it's extremely rare. To be completely honest I doubt I'd take it on as an account - doesn't mean other wouldn't however.