One aspect of game development that perhaps doesn’t get mentioned enough is the necessity to broadcast about what you’re doing. This can be for a number of reasons – it can be to raise awareness, start discussion and that’s just the game itself. There’s also the need (unless you’re sufficiently self funded) to get out there and pitch for support from others in the industry.
Everything Gritstone Games has done has been funded out of my own pocket which is an achievement in itself given that we’ve had a few multi-million funded studios start and shut down within Gritstone’s lifetime. Whilst impressive its not enough to bring a high quality product to market in a timely manner.
So I headed down to London in January for Pocket Gamer Connects to try and drum up support for the project, including participating in two speed pitch events. In these you have to pitch to multiple publishers/investors in quick succession in the hope to make an impression. You have five minutes per pitch, including questioning – a very intense process but fun all the same!
I was fortunate to have a nearly full schedule of events and meetings which on the whole provided a very positive outlook of the game and the project. Here’s hoping that some beneficial will come of it and I look forward to the next event!