Dev Log 2 - Pitching a Game

[Semester 1: Weeks 4 - 5]

In week 4 of this project's development I constructed and presented a pitch based on the research detailed in my previous devlog. The result was a city builder by the name of Home Is Where The Hand Is. The pitch was a city builder where visual novel style POVs of the citizens' lives could inform and react to the player's actions. By giving the player multiple ways to modify the housing landscape, the intention was to stress the importance of multiple solutions being implemented in tandem while also expressing that meeting basic human needs should be the primary motivation for change. 

Our pitches were presented to the whole of our peer group after individual teams had been formed. I consider myself lucky to have ended up on a team with members who had done research on a similar topic or had similar design pitches. 

Having presented to a larger group instead of in teams, our team decided to take a unique approach to rediscussing/re-pitching our games to each other. Our acting team lead proposed that we design short tabletop adaptations of our games that encapsulated their core elements. We were given a couple hours to develop these prototypes, which we then brought to a team meeting half a week later. The prototypes ended up being incredibly effective in demonstrating the appeal of each game as well as the message behind each. 

Following the playtesting period, a poll was shared on our team Discord where each member could vote for their #1 and #2 choices. After two stages, Kalidax Farming Program was selected for further development. This was one of the pitches I voted for because of it's easily understood gameplay and sim elements. I'm excited to be part of this project going forward.