Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design, 2nd Edition

Level 18

And Now the Hard Part

IF YOU FOLLOWED the instructions in this book, you are now the proud creator of a great game idea and a corresponding game design document. You have everything you need to make an actual video game, right? Wrong! Your work is just beginning. Before you actually make the game, you might have to find someone to publish your game.

Now I say “might” because since the first edition of Level Up! came out, the video game industry has radically changed. We’ll talk about how it’s changed in a moment, but if you want to make a game you will need money. And to convince someone to give you money, you are going to need a pitch.

A pitch is a streamlined, easily digestible version of your game design document. It contains everything that’s great and original about your game without all the “twiddley bits.”¹

Because most pitches are presented to groups in boardrooms, I highly recommend using PowerPoint or Keynote or some other presentation software to create your pitch document. To help, I have included an outline of what you should include in a pitch presentation in Bonus Level 10. The basics of this document are these:

• Title screen with logo
• Company profile
• High concept
• Who your game is for
• Why anyone should care about your game
• What your game is about
• How your game will be awesome/what makes it different

When creating a pitch presentation, remember the basics of making presentation slides: choose a font that you can read easily, don’t put too much information ...