Developing a New Major

ch5 in textbook

publishers are very selective because games take much time and money to develop

they might hear hundreds of pitches  and there’s usually a pitch process that you have to go thru

publishers can also send out their own RFPs requesting specific information – maybe they wnat gameplay elements or a schedule and budget draft, rarely asked for on spec prototype – too costlyy but you can show them work n other projects that do the things they’re asking for to show you can do the job – they don’t sendout blanket RFPs – they send them only to a few companies that they really want to work with and who they think can do the job

sometimes publisher is looking for the best quality, sometimes for someone to just do the design they already have worked out, sometimes for lowest cost

publishers have their own creative teams to come up with ideas but also go outside for ideas so they can be open to pitches

don’t give up if first pitch turned down – if you do a good pitch, make a good presentation then your reputation is enhanced iwht hte publisher and they’ll keep taking your pitches….screw up tho and the door is shut…don’t waste their time

if hte developer is owned by the publisher  then they have access to the decision makers so don’t have to do so much blind pitching

independent studios have to find publisher who will help with the retail chain and up front money

the pitch is your chance to communicate the game experience even tho the game isn’t done and there might not even be any assets to show – the publisher has to be able to “get” the game in order to make a decision about going forward

several depts at the publisher wil be involved in the decision to greenlight a game – marketing, sales, product evelopment

pitch might include

• brief treatment of the game (1-2 page executive summary – game essence, how its positioned in the marketplace, how the essecnce can be communicated to consumers – if it takes you a lot of words to explain the merits of your game then the consumer is probably not gonna get it — this is not a design doc with tons of details – it’s one or two sentences that describe your game and why people will want to buy it
• playbable prototype or vertical slice of game – doens’t have to be long but has to show how thte game will look and play – full visual quality, full animation quality, lights, sound..can be a 2 minute slice of gameplay that looks amazing not a huge world or multiple levels that look yuck – shows that the developer knows what the publisher needs to see and wahat consumers want
• game trailer – 30 secs to 1 minte – mood music, animation, setup, camera angles – whole package shows the emotional experience users will get, sould include game footage – goal is to show publisher how cool the game is – shows you kow how to turn your gameinto an entertainment vehicle
• pitch should focus on what makes the game special, on how the publisher cna sell the game, not on technical features
• include a page iwth other games you’ve made and their review scores

deals

• publisher funds 100% of evelopment cost against future royalties adn sales, publisher provides all the software and covers cost of dev kits, develper has monthly milestones they have to meet
• co-publishing – developer funds development, publisher packages and distributesx to retailers, publisher gets a distribution fee (% of sales* and size of the fee depends on what services publisher provides (packaging, marketing campaigns..)

pitch idea to management

• have to have all the planning done described above including concept docs, a playable and disposable prototype, and risk analysis
• get formal feedback and approval
• management will have ideas and changes they want, not all the ideas will be good and you have to take time to sort out the wheat from teh chaff, do some research, then come back and rediscuss
• it wil be a series of meetings, get feedback, do research, go back again to present…rinse and repeat
• producers and project leads attend along with publisher and studio reps
• make sure everyone from the team is excited about the game and knows how to communicate that excitement
• people presenting should be good at it – don’t need poor public speakers selling your idea
• need someone to take accurate and thorough notes so you get all feedback that’s offered
• you don’t always get the greenlight for your project – sometimes you get shelved completely and all your work just goes in a notebook. sometiems they ask you to reconceptualize- need to make sure ya know what hteir concerns were exactly so you can address them
• when you do get the greenlight – have a formal kick-off event – good to build some team spirit, everybody gets together and talk about the project, have some social time so people get to kow each other

once ya get the deal – you have to build/strengthen the trelationship

keep the publisher informed of your progress on the game – otherwise they think you’/re not making any progress and get frustrated, or the game you come up with might not be the game they thought they were getting and you don’t get paid or you’ll have to make changes which costs you and the publisher money

ask them for resoruces when needed (to keep that progress going) – if you haven’t been talking to them about your game they may give resources you need to other projects because htey don’t think you’re ready for htem

publisher usually assigns a producer ( book calls them PP publisher producer) of hteir own to hte project – have to make sure the duties of each are clearly spelled out so they’re not confused and neither are team members, the PP keeps the publisher’s depts in synch/informed of game progress, reviews the deliverables nad if acceptable, authorizes $$$$. they can be the developer’s advocate at the publisher – that’s a big help. they know what resources the publisher has and helps the game producer draw on them – for like localization and marketing

the DP (the producer at hte development studio) takes care of hte day to day management, makes hte game development plan, makes sure everybody stays on track, deals iwth HR issues, equipment needs – anything that affects the developers people directly, make sure your studio’s systems interface with any systems at the publisher – bugs, approval processes, any request forms

independent developer – huge risks – publisher doesn’t like product -> you don’t get paid

publisher owned studio – have to stay on schedule and on budget, consequences a bit lower if you don’t – you’ll still get paid (might get fired) but publisher has their fingers more tightly into your business – you have to negotiate a feasible schedule and feature set and work wth marketing – you have to mangae the organization and all it’s levels

publisher’s job – take the developer’s project and turning it into  into a product to be sold/marketed. they test it, submit it to console folks for approvals, create the marketing – publisher in the job of selling games (developer’s job is to make games

when ya provide prototypes and milestone versions – they’re most likely not pretty, not as much f8n as the end game – the developer has to set them up, give them context – getting them to understand what done means at each milestone

publisher has to figure out which developer can really do the project on time and on budget, they’re gonna want references, they’ll want to meet the leads and your development team

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