Hey ya'll, I have a few questions about how to go about proposing a game idea to a company, so I hope someone will be able to help me. I have been tinkering with this idea for a MMORPG (Massivly Multiplayer Online Roll Playing Game) in my head for a couple years now, and after discussing it with a few family members/friends I decided to start writting my ideas down. Now, I have a huge mess of papers and ideas floating around my folder. This is where my first set of questions come into play. Is there any special format I should type this all up in? Should I put it in a paragraph/letter form, or kind of like an outline form? Should it start with an introduction to my story, or just jump into details? Do I need to include a cover letter sort of thing? I have never done this before, so I am kind of confused as to how most companies would like to see the information presented, or what's more "professional"... I am also confused about how much information I should give with this "letter". I know if I go into complete details about everything, they could steal my idea and run with it, but if I give too little they can't grasp the full concept. Are they going to expect a complete and full description of my class system and all classes, or just a little description of how it works and a few examples? Should I take the time to come up with names for the world the game takes place in, the name of cities, etc..? I would think that would be best left to professional writters, but I also don't know what people are going to expect when I send this out. Once again, completley new to this so I have no clue what I'm doing :) Lastly I have more "professional" questions. What is the best method to send this out to companies? Should I snail mail it, deliver it in person (that would be hard for where I live), or send it through email? Witht he bundle of information I send, should I tell them what I'm looking to get out of this? In my case not money, just a chance to work on the project as creative designer. And finally, any other information you guys would recommend I add to this bundle of information? I thank you all in advance for reading my post and taking the time to reply!

http://www.sloperama.com/advice/idea.htm

jlach wrote:

>Is there any special format I should type this all up in?

http://www.sloperama.com/advice/specs.htm

>Should I put it in a paragraph/letter form, or kind of like an outline form? Should it start with an introduction to my story, or just jump into details? Do I need to include a cover letter sort of thing?
>Should I snail mail it, deliver it in person (that would be hard for where I live), or send it through email?

http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson21.htm

>Witht he bundle of information I send, should I tell them what I'm looking to get out of this?

http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson35.htm

>any other information you guys would recommend I add to this bundle of information?

http://www.obscure.co.uk/faq_idea.shtml

IGDA Submission Guide

Very, very useful (and yes, Tom, I got the link from your site :) )

Edit: I apologize, I left out the " in my link, and so for a short time it used my signature as a link and looked as if I was just promoting my game :)

Quote: Original post by JBourrie
IGDA Submission Guide

Very, very useful (and yes, Tom, I got the link from your site :) )

fixed. (link missing closing quotes)

Quote: Original post by gumpy macdrunken

Quote: Original post by JBourrie
IGDA Submission Guide

Very, very useful (and yes, Tom, I got the link from your site :) )

fixed.

Thank you, at least you didn't think I was just spamming :)

Threads like this break my heart and I hate posting in them, as the answer is not something the OP wants to hear.

Still, here's a link to an article at gamedev: So, You Have Cool Game Ideas?

I thank ya'll for the replies :)

I understood most of the negatives being stated here before I even put my ideas on paper. I know many many compaines will not even look at my ideas, and those that do will most likley reject me. But still, I have the firm belief that it never hurts to try. The little time spent from my life on these ideas is so small that I don't really loose much from taking the chance.

Also, I have an extensive knowledge of programming and working in the software engineering field. Yes, this is not the gamming industry, but it also puts me ahead of alot of game designers out there. I know, from my programming background, what would be feasible for a game to have and what would just be too much time/effort/far beyond our technology. I'm sure that statement is "cliche" as most game designers feel that way, but none the less its an idea I hold onto :)

I also have a sort of addiction for RPGs and MMORPGs in general. I have played almost all MMORPGs on the market for atleast a month, and have played almost all RPGS ever produced by the bigger companies (Square Enix comes to mind). From all my time spent inside the games, I learned what people want and don't want out of the games. Not just what the companies want tho, what the PLAYERS want.. often times games miss on that aspect.. They go with the developers like, but ignore the players..

I have looked hard into the Do It Yourself (DYI) method, and I simply do not have the resources. This is my MAIN reason for pitching my idea to a company. I am more or less looking for funding to start up a development team. Maybe cause of this idea, I should be targeting game producers instead of game development companies? Maybe there is another audiance I should target?

Sorry if this sounded much like a resume, I'm just tryign to explain where I'm comming from, and that I understand my chances of this idea going anywhere are slim.. but hey, its worth a short.. the worse I'm going to get is "Sorry, not interested".

Quote: Original post by jlach01
I am more or less looking for funding to start up a development team.

Unfortunately, no publisher is going to fund a start up development team based off a single good idea. To get any sort of funding, you would need (at least) an experienced dev team and a playable demo. Even then its not that easy.

If you really want to get this game made, I can only imagine that you will have to look to the open source community. Get it on sourceforge, post in the Help Wanted section on Gamedev, and really sell your idea to the people out there. It may take a long time, but if you ever want to see your game made into reality I can't really see another way of doing it.

Good luck :)

Quote: Original post by jlach01
I thank ya'll for the replies :)
I have looked hard into the Do It Yourself (DYI) method, and I simply do not have the resources.

Prototype it. Prototype the gameplay as if it were a single-player game, and add every possible "fake multiplayer" aspects that you can. Or, even better, implement a simple 4-8 person network scheme. If this prototype turns out to be fun to play, it only takes a slight imagination to see that it will be great with thousands of people.

The prototype can be 2D, or 3D with cubes. Fun is not in the graphics, and if you have something that is already fun you may even be able to find people who are interested in helping you get a prototype together for the pitch.

Good luck!