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
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.
Front Cover Design – for 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
RALPHY GETS ANIMATED..? 