I want to pitch a brilliant idea!!!
A demonstration of your idea would help sell it (better patent it first, or if the idea is obvious they will use it and not give you a dime).
It's been said, ideas are not worth anything without the ability to implement them. However, draw up an non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and get anyone you talk to to sign it before you say a thing. It is unlikely that anyone will make a million from your idea but at least that way you can sue them if someone else steals it. Good luck.
Mark
Cornutopia Games
http://www.cornutopia.net
Mark
Cornutopia Games
http://www.cornutopia.net
Mark, the problem with that is, unless he is offering them money why will they want to sign an NDA with him. All he has to offer is his idea, they cant legally bind themselves to something with no incentive.
Quote:Original post by frankskye
I would like to pitch an idea that I've had that might just change the way games are played and built. How do I go about doing so?
Note the word "MIGHT" as in, will not.
Well, first of all this is what you should do; write down your idea as detailed as possibly and then let it rest for at least a month or so before looking at it again. After that, if the idea is still appealing to you, take your time and write a complete design-document.
Now, it's time to prepare the pitching, the design document is just the base. The more content you are able to supply, the bigger the chances of getting someones attention. Sample code, concept drawings, storyboards or something similar are good ways of improving your chances.
Now, who to pitch it to? First of all, big game producing companies aren't interested in ideas, they have their own payed people to come up with ideas and pretty much all of them got something like this..besides, if your idea really is revolutionary, then you have to keep in mind that the risk of the idea flopping is much much greater and that makes it less appealing.
So, we pretty much ruled out the big companies. That leaves us with the indies.
The indiemarket might be interested in fresh ideas, but if you've got no skills in actual content creation (sound, conceptart, code, modeling etc.) the chances of any team willing to "hire" you as designer drops to nigh impossible. After all, why would a team want to keep someone around for the duration of the production if they can't contribute anything? On the other hand, if you do, then it's just to contact indies, try to arrange some kind of presentations and then try to convince them why they should pursue your idea instead of any of their own. As already said, the better the presentation, the better the chances are.
However, if you've got no content creations skills, your only chance of seeing your idea in reality would pretty much be to post the design document in the design forum and hope that someone will pick up on it. Really, what's there to lose? The chances of your idea actually getting pulled of raises, and so what if it get stolen? If you can't produce content, it's not like you would be able to pull it off on your own in the foreseeable future anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't have any industry experience whatsoever, this is just the common knowledge I've picked up while visiting this boards for the past years. So take this with a grain of salt.
Now, it's time to prepare the pitching, the design document is just the base. The more content you are able to supply, the bigger the chances of getting someones attention. Sample code, concept drawings, storyboards or something similar are good ways of improving your chances.
Now, who to pitch it to? First of all, big game producing companies aren't interested in ideas, they have their own payed people to come up with ideas and pretty much all of them got something like this..besides, if your idea really is revolutionary, then you have to keep in mind that the risk of the idea flopping is much much greater and that makes it less appealing.
So, we pretty much ruled out the big companies. That leaves us with the indies.
The indiemarket might be interested in fresh ideas, but if you've got no skills in actual content creation (sound, conceptart, code, modeling etc.) the chances of any team willing to "hire" you as designer drops to nigh impossible. After all, why would a team want to keep someone around for the duration of the production if they can't contribute anything? On the other hand, if you do, then it's just to contact indies, try to arrange some kind of presentations and then try to convince them why they should pursue your idea instead of any of their own. As already said, the better the presentation, the better the chances are.
However, if you've got no content creations skills, your only chance of seeing your idea in reality would pretty much be to post the design document in the design forum and hope that someone will pick up on it. Really, what's there to lose? The chances of your idea actually getting pulled of raises, and so what if it get stolen? If you can't produce content, it's not like you would be able to pull it off on your own in the foreseeable future anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't have any industry experience whatsoever, this is just the common knowledge I've picked up while visiting this boards for the past years. So take this with a grain of salt.
There are options for presenting things to the bigger companies. You just cannot approach them direct, or at least most people can't. But you can use various types of agent-like companies that you basically submit your idea too and then PAY THEM to evaluate it. This costs generally between $200 to $1000 for more idea oriented stuff. They in turn have relationships with the big companies (or so they will claim) and will present only the brightest ideas that they receive. They will sign NDA's and all that but even they state that 99% of what they are PAID to evaluate is utter crap. But at least your idea will be in front of "industry experts".
But its one way to bring closure to your delima. Minus $200 or so of your own money at least you'll be able to move onto other projects that might actually make you something :)
And who knows, maybe they will think it has lots of potential...
As I said before if you won't invest $200-$1000 into your own idea then no one else will.
Have you actually run this idea past someone with ALOT of experience in the industry? Often what seems like a fabulous idea to a beginner is actually not currently feasible or possible. How often here do you here that someone wants to make the next GREATEST RTS game of all time. This one with thousands upon thousands of units per side. While that might seem like the next logical progression of RTS games to a beginner, there are simply reasons why the AAA companies have not already done this.
But its one way to bring closure to your delima. Minus $200 or so of your own money at least you'll be able to move onto other projects that might actually make you something :)
And who knows, maybe they will think it has lots of potential...
As I said before if you won't invest $200-$1000 into your own idea then no one else will.
Have you actually run this idea past someone with ALOT of experience in the industry? Often what seems like a fabulous idea to a beginner is actually not currently feasible or possible. How often here do you here that someone wants to make the next GREATEST RTS game of all time. This one with thousands upon thousands of units per side. While that might seem like the next logical progression of RTS games to a beginner, there are simply reasons why the AAA companies have not already done this.
you cannot patent an idea ... patents are only for INVENTIONS ... and the rules of applicability are that it must have been non-obvious (which an idea can be of course), and require the investment of time to develop / research it to the point of working. A research team has to actually do research to turn an idea into a patentable development ... period.
A person cannot say ... I have the idea for this thing called "encryption", it will protect data from prying eyes, i'm gonna patent it, then figure it out. You have to figure out the exact details first, THEN you patent it, which only covers the exact details you have figured out - and if someone else comes up with another alternate method of acomplishing the same goal, they can get their own patent.
A person cannot say ... I have the idea for this thing called "encryption", it will protect data from prying eyes, i'm gonna patent it, then figure it out. You have to figure out the exact details first, THEN you patent it, which only covers the exact details you have figured out - and if someone else comes up with another alternate method of acomplishing the same goal, they can get their own patent.
Thanks so much for the input. Sounds like I should not rely on anyone other then myself to bring this idea to fruition. This is all very new to me. I'm am not a code guy. But I would like to check out some of the engines out there. What I really need to do is take specific parts of certain games bring them together and find a way to have them work smoothly. Since I am more of a concept guy I will start there and write up some ideas to build the engine around.
How do I get a-hold of engines to work with? Where do I start?
How do I get a-hold of engines to work with? Where do I start?
Frankskye, I'm sorry, but you said you are not a "code" guy, so you don't know how games are built. And yet, you claim to have an idea that will "change the way games are built". Isn't this a little weird? How are you suppose to change the way things are, when you don't even know how things are?
Quote:Original post by Xai
you cannot patent an idea ... patents are only for INVENTIONS ... and the rules of applicability are that it must have been non-obvious (which an idea can be of course), and require the investment of time to develop / research it to the point of working. A research team has to actually do research to turn an idea into a patentable development ... period.
You can patent a PROCESS and other things besides pure inventions. Magic the Gathering had a patent originally for the "trading card game process" and it could not be directly duplicated. Not sure if it still applies. Most games do not get patents which is why its pretty easy (and legal) to steal ideas from any game you want. Names are trademarked, Text and Graphics are copyrighted, but everything else in the game is pretty much free reign... Unless your lucky or ingenuitive enough to get a patent.
I believe Monopoly still has a patent on the overall game mechanics for instance. Which is why making a "Monopoly clone" is not legal for anyone that isnt licenses to do so.
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