Pitch – RALPHY GETS ANIMATED..?

Week 6.1 – 2nd July. 2021

Research – And Now the Hard Part…

To begin this week, I have found a really good chapter in; Scott Rogers book Level up – A Guide to Great Video Game Design. He lists all the key objectives, that need to be seen or mentioned throughout a pitch presentation.

Rogers states the importance of making each part of the pitch a) easy to read, b) to show a few words at a time, c) show more pictures, d) make sure you have a variety of images, and to keep your audience engaged!.

Key areas to include below;

Title screen with Logo
Company Profile
High Concept
Who your game is for?
Why everyone should care about your game?
What your game is about?
How your game will be awesome/ What makes it different?

He advises to only show some of your best pieces that will make your game stand out from the rest, and not to show more then necessary, as it could overwhelm your audience you are presenting too.

“A pitch is a streamlined, easily digestible version of your game design document. It contains everything that’s great and original about your game with out all the “twiddle bits”.
(Rogers 2014 : 451)

The Art of Game Design

In comparison to Jesse Schell’s book; The Art of Game Design, discusses the 12 pitch tips, however the only tips that I need to apply are; showing passion for the game, understand from their point of view, be aware of all details, and to be confident.

I always think confidence can sometimes make you sound like a “know it all”, but in this instance, Schell explains by believing in yourself, you are showing that you believe in your game, and your team.

“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.”
(Schell 2013 :528)

This now leads me to discuss our performance, with the practice pitch.

Week 6.2 – 7th July. 2021

Pitch practice in action!

This slide needs to be worked on – more detail to be added about the game references we are using. We cannot assume the audience knows our references already. We need to highlight what particular element that inspired us from that game.

(Figure 1 : Land 2021 Game References)

This slide was never added, but after the feed back from the judges, I think we need to add it in here, straight after the concept slide, with a Mood board to show the colours we were going to be using.

I think it helps to clarify to the audience what the stages are, and helps to make the level seem more engaging. They will have an idea of the end goal for the first level.

(Figure 2 : Norton 2021 Game Map)

How the player moves, what actions they do and how to control them needs to be shown. (following with another slide)

(Figure 3 : Larkin 2021 Mechanics)

Retrospective of the journey so far…

Their are three main areas, that are considered throughout the retrospective;

What should be started?

1) A coloured mood board.
2) Adding the isometric map into pitch deck, visually show where the player starts and finishes.
3) A short storyboard to introduce the characters, background and game name.

What should be stopped?

1) Burning the candle at both ends.

What should be continued?

1) Using the 10 Pitch slides.
2) Developing the game demo.

Retrospective is key to reflect on what happened, any iterative processes put in place which didn’t work, analyse why and devise a plan to avoid it happening next time around. But keep simple.

As Schell would say:

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.
(Schell 2013 : 477)

Further Research – Pitch Retrospective -Gigaom

I have delved a little deeper into pitch retrospectives from a judges point of view, and have found this tweet, that is a really great point.

My first experience for the practice pitch, and my after thoughts were completely on track with this quote below. I started to feel like we were trying to make the game more complex than need be.

I feel its good to show why you should play the game, what the characters do, what the rewards are, to keep you glued to the screen, but I don’t think we need to add anything else.

“The trick, therefore, is to present something simple: while this may only be a subset of what you do, it may be enough to move you forward. The more complicated it is, the less of a pitch it becomes.”
(Gigaom 2018)

References

ROGERS, Scott. 2014. Level Up ; The Guide To Great Video Game Design. 2nd edn. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

SCHELL, Jesse. 2020. The Art of Game Design ; Book of Lenses. 3rd edn. Tailor & Francis Group

Gigaom: When is a startup pitch not a pitch? Retrospective thoughts on TechPitch 4.5. 2018. Available at : https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/gigaom-when-is-startup-pitch-not-retrospective/docview/2027693963/se-2?accountid=15894 [Accessed 07/07/21] Chatham: Newstex.

Full list of Figures

Figure 1 : Land 2021 Game References

Figure 2 : Norton 2021 Game Map

Figure 3 : Larkin 2021 Mechanics

Pitching

Week 4.1 – 18th June. 2021

Sam Lanyon

To begin the week I started, by watching the video of Sam Lanyon live in the Dragons Den. He helps you to understand what it is like to pitch to the public, and shares what he has experienced along the way, in his video; “About Pitching”.

After watching him on the Dragons Den, I found him to be professional, but not pushy, and clear about what his product was, what it did, demonstrated how it worked, and what amount he would like them to invest in. Although they don’t invest in his ‘Get married today for a pound‘, the concept of the bright pink arcade game style machine looked inviting, and fun and due to him being polite and professional, he still had something which many entrepreneurs don’t, and that is the ‘likeable factor‘.

What kind of Pitch?

Formal and informal pitches
Internal and external pitches
Problem solving and creative pitches

Inspiration for pitch style

**(Figure 1 : 2019 Bear and Breakfast Video Game)**

Creative Pitch

When we were researching pitch presentations and pitch decks, we found this one, particularly interesting, and tried to incorporate elements of its simplistic layout of the development of their game, and this was how we would like to present our practice pitch to a panel of professionals.

We want to keep everything bold and clear for the panel to view, and read, but also to talk a little about each section, and elaborate on the game play, the characters, the aim, audience, market research, the quests and of course the team behind the new artefact.

How to approach our Practice Pitch?

The style in which Sam Lanyon approached the Dragons’ Den is ideally how I would like to, I am not specifically talking about how we show the content to the panel of professionals, but rather the way, in which we present.

Stage Presence

When I used to act, sing, dance or improvise in our theatre and performance group pieces, we were always told to project, and speak clearly, to embody our movement, and be “present“ on stage.

I want to use this method, of being “present” on the webinar to make sure that everyone knows the exact points we are focusing on and has a clear idea of what our game is about, and more so, for them to know that we are not wasting their time, and value their feedback.

Art work before hand – that wasn’t used…

Below you will find the game art I had ready for the pitch, but it was not used.

Ideally, the team had discussed that the space where the player would potentially explore, needed to be one large area, on an isometric plane.

My first suggestion for the map design, was to create an island, and I described how I was going to lay the map out, from a perspective point of view looking inwards, on one single isometric plane, similar to the below.

However I realised we would need to show, more than one area, for the journey the player would take, and my interpretation of this is below.

Story Points

The player would first leave the cave and explore the area —
Your first task would be to collect sticks lying around —-
Next to take twigs back to the fire —
Realising that small twigs will not “keep It Burning”, you must head into the forest/ and other outside areas, to look for logs/ and other things that could be burnt!
Finally you end up discovering a much larger cave dwelling, which would be protected by high wooden stakes, but would have a much bigger fire, and this would be the cave, where the player would look for more things, and in doing so, you discover bones and collect sap from the trees, from the forest surrounding the second cave dwelling, where they can start to make new tools, because they have discovered new materials.

**(Figure 2 : Norton 2021 Concept for Isometric Map design)**

Front Cover Design – for screen

**(Figure 3 : Norton 2021 Concept Design – Game – Loading Screen)**

This was the front cover concept, ideally with a plain black layer behind, to highlight my imaginary Dodos to the sides. It has the final logo design added, with the main characters, and a little background.

Front cover for PC/Playstation 3 box

When I researched into best video game covers, they all seemed to be very simple designs, here’s my version for our game cover.

(Figure 4 : Norton 2021 Concept – Front Cover – PC/ DVD size)

Order of the Pitch Deck

We split the slides between 3 team members, as one member was unable to attend, but we were aware in plenty of time, which allowed us to pre – plan for each of us who was discussing what slide.

Week 4.2 – 22nd June. 2021

Public speaking

I have done some more research about public speaking, and found that Nordin and Broeckelman-post’s academic paper to be very insightful. I didn’t realise that public speaking is a sought after skill.

“The ability to communicate effectively is a highly sought and rare skill. Employers report that communication skills—including public speaking, teamwork, leadership skills, interpersonal skills, intercultural skills, and others—are among the most desired, but hardest to find.”
(Nordin and Broeckelman-post 2019)

The purpose of their study, dug deep into the mindset theory and public speaking, interpersonal communication, and student engagement in the introductory communication course.

I believe this is a skill, that we as a team all need to practice, and putting this into action, will be invaluable to helping succeed in our individual careers.

I suppose I could say that I am already practicing a little public speaking, by the conversations on Canvas, and with the Team in our Webinars. I find it to be a very useful experience, to share ideas on the platform, and each time for me, my knowledge grows a little more, and I become a little more confident.

References

LANYON, S. 2020. Sam Lanyon – Dragons’ Den. Available at : https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/913/pages/week-4-sam-lanyon-from-concept-shed?module_item_id=53059 [Accessed 18/06/2021]

LANYON, S. 2020. Sam Lanyon – About Pitching. Available at : https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/913/pages/week-4-sam-lanyon-from-concept-shed?module_item_id=53059 [Accessed 18/06/2021]

NORDIN, K. and BROECKELMAN-POST, M. A. 2019. Can I get better? Exploring mindset theory in the introductory communication course. Communication Education, 68(1), pp.44-60.

GUMMY CAT STUDIO, 2019. Bear and Breakfast. Available at : https://www.notion.so/Pitch-Decks-f56e38c13fe6417f8379859e74367e1a?p=f3d9ee881d3340f7bc8354ef1c2abe7a [Accessed 19/06/21]

Full List of Images

Figure 1 : 2019 Bear and Breakfast Video Game

Figure 2 : Norton 2021 Concept for Isometric Map design

Figure 3 : Norton 2021 Concept Design – Game – Loading Screen

Figure 4 : Norton 2021 Concept – Front Cover – PC/ DVD size