Pitching my game idea was a good learning experience. I had prepared for a 5min presentation but right before, was told that I only had 3min. This is an unfortunate but also realistic situation that could happen in a professional setting. This wouldn't have been a problem for me if I was more prepared.
The feedback that I received was that my idea is a bit out of scope. This is understandable because it’s a management game with lots of elements. That being said, a 2D game set underwater would require very minimal art and scoping down the species that need to be managed and hazards to avoid could bring the project within scope.
As a group, we’ve decided to move forward with Josh’s idea. His idea fits very well with the team's competencies. We’ve already begun planning how systems will function, player objectives and art style. Every week we plan on meeting in-person to check-in on progress and to get work done.
Did you like this post? Tell us
Leave a comment
Log in with your itch.io account to leave a comment.
Properly managing time on short notice is a difficult task, and I think a lot of presenters ended up improvising on what they ended up sharing to the class. It's hard to balance out a presentation, especially if you specifically catered your 5-minute presentation to that specific time limit, as the time reduction undoubtedly caused a lot of information to be cut or improperly conveyed in the presentation for a lot of people. It's stressful, but flexibility is definitely something needed in the industry. For what it's worth, I think our class did really well on presentations, despite the last minute changes!
ayo,
I didn't think about it before reading your devlog but the unexpected time reduction we got was tricky to work around but I feel like it definitely forced us to reduce our pitches to their core components. While unexpected I do agree that it's something that can happen in a real pitch so I'm kind of glad we got to experience that firsthand. I really liked your pitch and how well it incorporated the serious topic you chose into the entire game itself, although your pitch wasn't chosen, I'm glad we get to work together on Josh's idea, I think it'll be really interesting working together throughout the year, looking forward to it!
Sorry to hear that the time reduction had potentially messed with your pitch as well. I'm glad that you were able to get valuable feedback before the team started on a game potentially too big for the time given. And very good planning, for those in-person meetings to keep on top of the work everyone is doing.
Sup Ben
I think we would have made a really good management simulation though because I think you had some good ideas. Scope wise, maybe a management sim was more within our timelines who knows. I agree with you that having a short pitch time, or having them shortened out of nowhere is realistic in a way. We never know what's gonna happen in our workplaces, so I guess it wasn't a terrible experience.
Hey Ben!
I never looked at the reduced time to present being something we could encounter in the industry, but that is something that we as designers need to definitely be prepared for. The industry is a chaotic place so we, unfortunately, have to adapt to that chaos. Scoping was something Druckmann mentioned in my pitch as well, so I wonder if scoping down will be something we hear regardless of the pitch. Out openness to downscoping shows our adaptability to potential publishers, I'm guessing?
The time slots for our pitches running short is a good comparison to what could happen in the industry! The idea for your game sounds really cool! It's unfortunate that we won't get to see it, but I am still looking forward to see what your team can do!
Hey Ben!
I had the same problem as you, I originally had prepared for a 5-minute pitch but had to speedrun it, but I enjoyed your idea! I'm happy that you and your group settled on an idea that you all would like to work on. As for your idea, I would maybe suggest working on it as a small project or something in your free time! Could be a good piece for your portfolio! :)
I understand how you feel about pitching a project that is over scope from what you said though you were able to figure out a way to downscope the game pitch with it still sounding like a fun game. Awesome job!