During this process, I've noticed a number of patterns about how the game demos go and what that says to me about the games themselves. First off, designers tend to open with what they think is important about the game. This can be very enlightening for me.
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If the first thing I hear is a laundry list of established mechanics, that's a danger sign for me. It's often an indicator that the design lacks a center. This can be because the designer is green (and in their imitation phase) or just didn't have a strong vision to begin with.
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Generally, if they stumble about at first, I'll pry with a question. "What's the clever bit? What holds it all together?" Whether it's a novel mechanic, a particular twist, or just a really cool game component, I find that most great designs have something at their core.
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I find it to be a good sign when they open with a short personal story of what the game's about or why they made it. "I played game X and it made me mad.", "My passion is gardening, so..." Not always true, but when there's thought beyond "I wanted to design a game." it's good.
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How do I open my game pitches? Usually, I tell a very brief story of the game's theme, quickly summarize similarities to other games for familiarity's sake, and then I explain "the clever bit". Normally, that's ~3-5 minutes of talking.
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After that, most publishers will follow up with a couple of questions, and then know if they're tentatively interested in the design or not. Some want to play a full game at that point, others a couple of turns, and some want to take a prototype with them.
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"You're time travelers stranded in a prehistoric valley full of dinos. Time rifts can open up, dumping historical figures from other eras there with you that you need to get home. Also...everything you do to change the past causes paradox, which can destroy the group entirely."
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I would then elaborate a bit on what causes paradox, and perhaps go into one or two other major fun elements of the game if the publisher looks curious and interested. When in doubt, it's better to pause for questions than bull on ahead.
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More talking isn't more convincing, and I should have an "OooOOoo" moment at least once in the first 2 minutes or so of your pitch. You have a very limited amount of time in which to get your audience excited, so don't waste it.
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End of conversation
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Great advice. I’ve always valued your opinion when I have shown you my prototypes.
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