Games Game April 2011

Dear Tom,

I've written a game design document for an exciting new concept. I've shown the design to several people (after getting an NDA, of course, and registering my copyright), and they've unanimously said that it has serious moneymaking potential. I've read in some of your writings that it's unlikely that I can successfully pitch it to a publisher without anything more than just a design doc. So I figure that means that I have to pitch it to developers until I get one on board. Then I can pitch the design pre-packaged with an experienced developer, or they can pitch the design to the publishers for me. What do you think, does this get around the problem?

Anxious 2 Get Started

 

Dear Anxious,

Sorry, but that won't get around the problem.  It's just as unlikely that you can succeed pitching it to a developer as to a publisher. 

A pitch always has to go to a publisher at some point.  (If the developer self-publishes, then the developer is a publisher anyway.)  If you package a developer with the design, the developer has to do a lot of work just to wrap up the package for you.  They have to create a budget and schedule, which means they have to write a TDD to go with your GDD.  And as if all that didn't take enough time and resources, they also have to create a demo or prototype; a POC (proof of concept), a vertical slice of the game.  That is to say, they have to execute the main skeleton/foundation of the game, with much of the game's engine and key gameplay.  The heart of the game has to be demonstrated in the demo, and it all has to be finished off with highly polished graphics. 

Just creating the TDD, budget, schedule, and prototype takes a large investment of time and resources for a developer.  Developers are willing to go to all that trouble for a concept they've originated, for which they'd be able to negotiate a large royalty and IP ownership rights.  But why should they go through all that for a concept they don't own or control?  What do they get out of it if the concept came in over the transom from an unknown (that's you)?

And what would you do on the project anyway?  What do you bring to the table besides an idea?  Without any experience working in the industry, you haven't got the chops to inspire confidence from the development team, much less the publisher. 

A better thing for you to do would be to put your concept aside for the moment, and get involved in making games collaboratively with amateur teams.  Volunteer to help out in any way you can, even if it just means running out for pizza and blank discs, securing licenses, finding work space, getting chairs, testing, taking out the trash, whatever.  Be helpful enough, and you might find that you're growing into a producer.  You can parlay that indie experience into a real job in the industry, with all the benefits that entails.  You make contacts, you get to know people who can help you when you're ready to strike out on your own with your own projects.  It'll take time, but it makes you an experienced person to be reckoned with.  And that's who you are not, at this point in time.  And that's the problem you have to overcome.