Hi,
over the past year or so, I worked on a game mechanics which I thought is quite fresh. I fleshed it out and made some puzzles for a game which which adds up to perhaps 10min of gameplay, illustrating the main ideas. I kept a couple of friends up to date with it and they consider it very promising, are genuinely interested and keep urging me for updates. However, since I am doing this as a hobby next to my job, I feel that I need some more feedback than from a handful of friends. What is more, I would be glad to find a like-minded collaborator. But in my University environment, even though there are many smart people and good coders, I find it hard to find game enthusiast programmers or 2D / 3D artists inclined in games. I wanted to ask your advice how to proceed.
Unfortunately, I am not at all experienced in the game industry. My environment is very rich but I do not seem to meet the right people. There is another University in my city offering a Bachelor programme in game design but this is something I discovered only recently and I do not know anybody there. In my city there are a few game companies I know of, but again, I do not know people personally, and the Campus is too far away to just show up there without a plan.
I much prefer showing and discussing my idea face to face rather than posting it online. I am sure that eventually I will run into the right people but I was hoping to accelerate the process.
How should I proceed? Should I email the game companies, giving them a playable demo and asking to meet to speak personally and get some advice, some opinion, perhaps find a collaborator? Should I try the same with the academic staff organising the game design Bachelor programme? What would you do in my place?
