Concept Pitches
Standards (4)
GD.18.3Concept Pitch & Iteration
Develop and pitch high-level game concepts, incorporating player demographics, gameplay loops, narrative arcs, and thematic pillars; iterate concepts based on feedback.13.2Pitching Creative Concepts
Pitch an original concept with a visual presentation and narrative that clearly communicates the idea and engages the audience.2.3Oral Communication & Presentation Skills
Apply extemporaneous speaking skills by adapting language and approach in real time to address questions, solve problems, and manage audience or client needs.10.2Developing Ideas
Use research, brainstorming, and creative strategies to generate, refine, and expand original concepts.
The task
Everyone pitches one game concept to the studio. The studio votes. One concept gets greenlit and becomes the game we build all year.
You are not pitching your dream game. You are pitching something fifteen people can actually finish in a school lab between now and April, that gives artists real work to do, and that is still worth playing when it is done. Constraints are the assignment.
Deliverables: a five-slide deck, a 90-second pitch, and a vote log recording how the studio decided.
Before you start
- Genres and Player Profiles — who this is for
- Pitching a Concept — how to structure and deliver it
The constraints
Any concept that breaks these does not go to a vote. This is not me being difficult; every one of these exists because a student studio has died on it before.
| Must have | Must not have |
|---|---|
| A core loop you can say in one sentence | Multiplayer or networking |
| One environment or location | Branching dialogue systems |
| One playable character | Procedural generation |
| 5 to 10 minutes of gameplay when finished | A save system beyond checkpoints |
| A distinct visual identity | An open world |
| At most two enemy or NPC types | A story that requires cutscenes to make sense |
- Build on an Unreal template: Third person or first person, your call.
- The scope test: Could this class ship a polished, finished-looking ten minutes of it? A small game finished well beats a big game abandoned in April. Every year, somewhere, a student studio ships nothing because the pitch that won was too big.
- Scope veto: I hold a scope veto. If a concept passes the checklist but I think it will not survive contact with the calendar, I will say so before the vote, not after.
Steps
Step 1 — Generate, then choose
Come up with at least three concepts before you fall in love with one. Write each as a single sentence. Show them to two people and watch which one makes them ask a question. That is usually the one.
Step 2 — Write the elevator pitch
One or two sentences naming the genre, the core mechanic, and the experience. Say it out loud. Cut every word not doing work.
Step 3 — Build five slides
No more than five. The limit is part of the exercise.
| Slide | Contents |
|---|---|
| 1. Hook | Title, elevator pitch, one image. This slide sells or loses the room. |
| 2. Core loop | What the player does over and over. A diagram beats a paragraph. |
| 3. Look | Mood board or reference images. What is our visual identity? |
| 4. Who it’s for | Target player, two or three motivations you’re designing for, two or three comparables at realistic scope |
| 5. Scope | What the ten-minute slice contains. Rough asset list. Why this is buildable by us. |
Slides carry images and a few words. You carry the sentences.
Step 4 — Rehearse to 90 seconds
Ninety seconds is roughly 200 to 240 words. Time yourself out loud, twice. You will find the problems on the second run.
Step 5 — Pitch day
Ninety seconds, then 60 seconds of questions from the studio. Everyone pitches. No exceptions and no reading from slides.
Step 6 — Vote
After all pitches, every member scores every concept except their own, 1 to 5, on four criteria:
- Buildable — can this class actually finish it
- Art opportunity — does it give the art team real work
- Fun — would you play it
- Clarity — did the pitch make the game obvious
Then each member ranks their top three. The producer tallies scores and rankings, applies the tiebreak rule from the team charter, and records the result.
Step 7 — Write the vote log
The producer posts one document containing: every concept pitched with its elevator pitch, the full score table, the ranked results, the tiebreak rule used, the winning concept, and any elements from other pitches the studio voted to fold in.
This is a record of how a decision got made. In a studio, that document is the difference between “we decided” and “somebody decided.”
Submit
- Individually: Post your deck and elevator pitch to your portfolio Coursework page, plus a short reflection on what you would change about your pitch after seeing the others. Turn in the link in Google Classroom.
- Producer, once: Submit the vote log.
Rubric
| Criteria | Approaching | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elevator pitch | Vague, or longer than two sentences | Names genre, core mechanic, and experience in one or two sentences | Memorable enough that classmates repeat it back |
| Scope | Breaks constraints, or slice contents not defined | Meets every constraint; slice contents and rough asset list stated | Scope reasoning shows real understanding of what this class can build |
| Audience | “Everyone,” or no comparables | Named target player, motivations, and comparables at realistic scope | Comparables include an honest weak one, with reasoning |
| Deck | Over five slides, or text-heavy | Five slides, image-led, follows the order | Visual style of the deck already communicates the game’s tone |
| Delivery | Read from slides, or badly over or under time | Delivered within 90 seconds without reading; handled questions | Answered a hard question honestly, including “I don’t know yet, here’s how I’d find out” |
| Vote participation | Did not score, or scored only their own favorite | Scored all concepts against all four criteria | Feedback given to other pitchers was specific and useful |
Notes
- Your pitch probably will not win, and that is fine. Fourteen of fifteen will not. The pitch is graded on the pitch, never on the vote. Someone whose concept loses can still earn Advanced on every row of this rubric.
- Once a concept is greenlit, it belongs to the studio. Not to the person who pitched it. Everyone works on it with the same commitment, and the person who pitched it does not automatically become the creative director; that role was assigned in the charter last week.
- Good ideas from losing pitches get absorbed. The vote log has a place to record them. If someone pitched a mechanic the studio loved inside a concept that was too big, we take the mechanic.