The Thin Red Line. What to present to get interest without showing too much?

Question

I am Dalilean and I am a gamer. There I have said it. Damn, feels like a weight is lifted from my shoulders… They say the first step is to admit the problem. Now the second step is doing something about it.

So….

As more than a few of you know, I decided to design a game.

Right now I feel like I am at a critical point in development. I am looking at the aspects of the game, from a game play point of view. This means I am past the story, the conceptualization, and now I am dealing with issues of “What specifics do each character have”, “What options and results do the actions of the player have in the game.”

I got to wondering, How much do I show possible investors or developers without showing too much?

I worry that I give them a copy of the Game Design Document; they will just say thank you and nothing else. Then, several years later, I will see my concepts seeping into games. I have learned from previous experiences that not everyone is honest and that a healthy level of paranoia goes a long way in this world.

Answer 1

Game development studios and Publishers do not accept unsolicited design documents. If you send them one directly it will be immediately trashed. Any dev studio has far more ideas than it has time/money/resources to build them and so they aren't looking for stuff from the outside. Also as a legal protection if they are working on something unannounced that has similarities with a document that was submitted to them, then proving they were already working on those concepts can become costly. It's just safer to not look at those things.

Most of the indie community are self starters. They decide to build games because they have some concept they want to explore and start making it on their own. You aren't going to find an untapped resource of programmers & artists that desperately want to make someone else's work.

If you really want to make your game, then find out how to simplify your idea to match your ability and start building it on your own.

Answer 2

Since you mention "investors" - investors care less about your Great Idea for a game, and more about the team you've put together. Do you have people with a strong track record of executing a project, getting it done, and doing it well? If not, you'll have a hard time getting investment capital. The design doc is the first 1% of the work, after all.

That said, if someone does want to see your design doc and you're really that paranoid about it, my advice would be to consult a lawyer in advance and have some kind of NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) that the other party can sign before you show them anything that would be potentially damaging to you if they "steal" it. NDAs are pretty common in this industry. As others have said, no one is going to steal your idea (they have too many of their own as it is), so it comes down to how paranoid you want to be.

And for the love of all that is holy, have a working, playable demo to show. That is the bare minimum bar to hit if you're trying to get funding. If all you have is paper, then you have failed to show any ability to turn it into reality, and you'll be politely shown the door.

Answer 3

Just show them the design document. Game ideas/design are rarely the main factor in ones success. It's how you implement the idea and the team that puts it together is what will make the difference. You need not to worry about people copying your game idea, that is, if your game ideas were truly revolutionary, you will have many copycats but will always be one step ahead of them. Only you know how to implement your ideas in your unique way and no one can copy that. If your ideas was easily copied, it is not because someone stole your idea, it is because you did not have the ability to carry out that idea in a successful way. You will need this level of confidence to gain investors trust.

Answer 4

Why Your Game Idea Sucks - courtesy of Escapist Magazine.

Seriously, the only thing that you should show investors is a completed game (or close to completed). As others have pointed out, they're not going to look at "ideas on paper", and if they did, probably couldn't tell if the idea would be successful or not. Really, who would have predicted that a 140-character-maximum messenging server would succeed?

Answer 5

The main thing to show them is your passion and excitement for the game. Show them as much of your game as needed to get them to share your excitement. It is better to risk showing them too much and get them sold on it.