Meeting Wrap-up September 8th, 2003

About 22 people attended the August meeting which took place on the 10th floor of the Art Institute.

After introductions, attendees were encouraged to present their game ideas before the group. This was an excellent tie-in to a group discussion which included such diverse topics as the financial structure of the games industry, mods, self publishing vs. commercial publishing, and many other topics.

A few tips on pitching your game that our group game up with were as follows. This is by no means a comprehensive list!

• Watch for conflicting statements in your design such as modability vs. portability.
• Know who you are pitching for: what games they like, how they speak, what they may be expecting.
• Pitch your idea to friends/colleagues first, especially if they know anything about game development. Few people are extremely skilled in the diverse talents involved in the games industry such as programming/artwork/sound/finance, etc. Someone skilled in an area you aren't skilled in can offer valuable feedback.
• If the pitch is to be formal, practice it first!
• Watch your mannerisms and suit them to where you are. Speaking fast in some places might come off as honest, but in other places it comes off as dishonest.
• Always speak with enthusiasm!
• Answer the following questions to yourself before a pitch: What skills do I know well? What kind of game am I pitching? Who am I pitching this to?
• In a more formal pitch, have answers to anticipated questions ready prior to the pitch, even if you don't address them in the initial pitch.

Following the group presentations, attendees broke into smaller groups to discuss topics of interest, show off their current projects, and network with one another.

Our next meeting will be on October 6th at 7:00PM at the Art Institute, with topic TBA.