BETA | ANALYSIS // PUBLISHING
Garry Williams of Sold Out (above), which helped bring Rebellion’s Zombie Army Trilogy (main) to market, says providing a good prototype can help with early planning for the game’s marketing
Making sure you know what you are looking for from publishers is only part of the preparation, of course. Developers need to deliver a successful pitch for their due diligence on the right partner to matter. Bestwick says developers need not always worry too much. If the game is good enough, it will always get a deal. But she has some useful tips to keep in mind. “The best advice I can share is please research the game you are making,” she says. “Look at every similar game and know why your game is going to stand out above what’s in the market now and also at the time your game will actually be released.” SELF-BELIEF Williams believes developers need to show not only a great game and clear enthusiasm for the project, but also evidence of clear preparation and planning. “Although things like SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis start to sound boring, an idea of why you have a passion for a genre, how you intend to deliver the project and your plan to place this game in front of consumers are all really helpful,” he explains. “It may sound basic, but too many people get caught up with the ‘concept’ and the thoughts of their peer group, and spend too little time considering schedules, costs, marketing and planning to reach market with impact.” Kiss head of marketing David Clark says he wants to understand as quickly and as easily
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as possible exactly what the game is about and what sets it apart from others. “If we can’t work it out, then how will the customer?” he says, adding that sending across a 400-page design document will only highlight how good you are at writing, “but not a lot else”. “Keep it short – it forces you to focus on the key details and removes the unnecessary background info,” advises Clark. “Obviously a
Keep your pitch short – it forces you to focus on the key details and removes unnecessary info. David Clark, Kiss build of some kind is essential and we react best to enthusiasm and originality.” It’s important to note that publishers receive pitches of all shapes and sizes every week. Woodley says that 505 Games often evaluates a project according to where the team has originated. If it’s a larger team, its expectations for a thoroughly prepared pitch with a high level of detail are greater. He says, however, that the publisher understands how new and lone developers may not have the experience to deliver the perfect pitch, so expectations for this stage of proceedings may be lowered.
“For smaller, micro-studios – say at MCV and Develop’s Interface events, for example – quite often we’re talking to people who have no experience or expectations as to how publishing even works,” he states. “We will help them get their pitches into a better state for the official greenlight discussion by asking them some of the questions which perhaps they haven’t considered.” THE RIGHT TIME Not all publishers may be so understanding of a poorly delivered pitch however, so reading up on advice given here or asking for it yourself may be a smart move before commencing discussions for that all-important deal. But once you’ve done your research on publishers, and understood the pitching process, when is the best time to approach a potential partner? The answer seems to differ between publishers – another reason why it’s important to spend time finding the best fit for your unique requirements. “Even though I’ve been known to sign a game based only on screenshots and a vision, ideally we would always like to see, and more importantly, play, code, even if it’s a just a working prototype rather than a polished level,” says Bestwick. “Other important things to bring to the initial meetings are details of your production vision and detail of the team you have in place – the team is as important as the game being made.” DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
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