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| write a pitching document that hits. |
A good pitching document helps your team keep focus on key
goals of the project. More importantly, a good pitching document helps you
present your gam to others (including investors) as a professional and
respectable product, even in the beginning phase of your project.
This article walks you step by step, showing the 7 key
elements of an effective pitching document.
1, executive
summary.
Executive summary should be no longer than 50 words. The essential information in this part includes: the title of the game, its genre, and the targeted audience. In addition, an introductory sentence on the conception of the game is also appropriate in this part.
Executive summary should be no longer than 50 words. The essential information in this part includes: the title of the game, its genre, and the targeted audience. In addition, an introductory sentence on the conception of the game is also appropriate in this part.
2,
audience analysis.
Even if you think your game will be fun for all ages and
gender, you still need to define specifically a core audience: namely gender
and age. Preferably, your game should target at 1 gender and the age range
should be no more than 8 years.
3,
story.
Every game, however simple, has a story behind it. The
story set the tone and the general emotional appeal for your game. So, have a
story for your game regardless which kind of game you are making.
4, competition analysis.
This part should be done visually by a table. You compare
your game to other similar games in the market by defining 5-7 essential
features of the game genre and deciding which features you provide and which
ones you do not provide. This is important because it separate you from your
competition, defining what make you different.
an example of a competition analysis table:
an example of a competition analysis table:
Feature
Game
|
Feature 1
|
Feature 2
|
Feature 3
|
Feature 4
|
Feature 5
|
Your game
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
||
Competitor A
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
||
Competitor B
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
5, market analysis.
In market analysis, you explain why the game will succeed
if developed and released now, in other words, making a case for your game. You
should give examples of similar games which are already successful, and/or
point out a specific plausible player desire that has not yet been fulfilled in
the market.
6, game play.
Game play section tells what players will do in the game.
This part should describe all features and activities in the game, very
concisely, each feature and activity no more than one sentence/or even better
bullet point.
7, budget and schedule.
The budget mentioned in this part is not necessarily the
exact, real, final budget – that would be open to in-person negotiation. What
should be specific in this part are:
[+] The number of team members.
[+] The time (in term of hours) devoted to the project.
These 2 factors will help later calculation of the budget.
Reference:
Credit must be given to several sources of professional
game writing advice, including IGDA’s book ‘Professional Techniques for Video
Game Writing’which I thoroughly recommend.
