[Competition] Games Concept Treatment

[*Davywavy]

Dog: Bounty Hunter

The scenario here is that your boss comes and tells you that the company will have a chance to pitch of the development of a game based on the TV show Dog: Bounty Hunter. He’s asking you to research the show and come up with a 5 page treatment on the idea. The game must appeal to the shows current audience and encompass all the current elements of the shows formula.

The treatment MUST have the following information covered within it:

Analysis of the current show, highlighting what aspects the show contains that make it a hit TV show.

An elevator pitch.
200 Characters only.

A recommendation of a target platform and why.
What gaming hardware might fans of the show have and how have you determined that?

A recommendation of a game genre and why.
What genre of gaming is most appropriate to the audience of the show and the platform.

A synopsis of the game play and why.
A walkthrough of a short piece of the game play, maybe 60-90 seconds of a cool bit of the games action.

A synopsis of the art style and why.
Photo real? Disney? Tex Avery? Goscinny & Uderzo? Herge?

A description of 3-5 USP’s the game will have based on the recommendations above.

Pre-production Outline.
Basic details on how long to produce a playable demo based on the genre/platform recommendations above. How many people for how many months using what tech.

Advice
I would strongly recommend that you fully research the show and the background to Dog as a person very carefully before you start. There are several unique aspects to Dog’s background and personality that are at the core of the show, and any game based on the show would need these aspects of Dog and his family, life and philosophy to be fully embedded into the game.

For the elevator pitch element, here are a couple of things to consider. Many of the pitches from the previous competition were good creatively but we more akin to the box copy strap line you might see for a film, or a blurb you might see on the back of a book. An elevator pitch needs to create a mental picture of the product in a sentence.

Example:
‘The game is every Nintendo character with weapons in a 2d platform environment, multiplayer and online on the Nintendo Wii’ – Super Smash Brothers

So in the example above I’ve described the characters, the genre, the game play style and the platform. That’s really what an elevator pitch is about.

As well as the content of the pitch, we will also be assessing the layout and presentation level of the document overall. The document needs to be professionally produced with no spelling mistakes and no text-speak.

I will give extra credit for anyone that can build in any kind of business case on top of their basic pitch. I recognise that at this stage it’s very difficult for you all to connect into the business side of things, as it’s not really what you are training for, but I will take it into account in a positive way if you can find ways to reinforce your proposal with an elementary business case.

Disclaimer: We are not making this game and have no rights or access to the Dog: Bounty Hunter licence. It is being used for example purposes only. None of the documents submitted for this will be made available to anyone not directly connected to Train2Game or DR Studios.

All work, designs and ideas will remain the property of the creator. DR Studios and its partners will not make any claims to title, ownership or revenues that might derive from the creators work.

Rules:

Entries need to be emailed to me at dave.sharp [at] drstudios.co.uk no later than Wednesday 13th of October at 4pm. Anything time stamped in my inbox after that will not be considered.

There is just 1 entry per person.

The submission must be in Microsoft Word format. .Doc files only.

The eight elements listed above (analysis/elevator pitch/platform/genre/game play/art style/USP’s/pre production) must be in the submission for it to be considered.

There is a strict 5 page limit.

Any questions relating to the content of the documents needs to be posted into the forum so that replies can be given to the benefit of everyone. Any request for information sent in an email or PM will be deleted.

Judging will be done internally at DR Studios between the 13th and 20th of October. Winner to be announced on the 20th.

Information on the prize to be posted in due course.

[Kren]

Wow... sounds intriguing.

Ok, question no 1 - does this need to be done as an individual, or would you accept a team based effort?

[*Davywavy]

Personally I don't mind if its a group effort, other than the fact I probably can't scale the prize up to a large number. If the group are happy to share whatever prize I can come up with then yep, not a problem.

[Stevealot]

I will like to give this a go. to be honest I do watch the show when I can and have actually thought of doing a concept/ pitch document for it.

[whyte]

Sounds like a good competition. But i haven't seen Dog: Bounty Hunter before.
I feel like i'm missing out on some great TV. Some more research is required...

[CreateNPlay]

Haha Dog is funny really funny. American guy who acts tough but is really really religious and tries to make friends with murderers and drug dealers.

[*Walkers]

I really like the show and thought not so long ago that a dog game would be a really good concept, well heres my chance to explore the area

[Calibur]

I'm having a hard time deciding about how to write my answer to this question

A synopsis of the game play and why.
A walkthrough of a short piece of the game play, maybe 60-90 seconds of a cool bit of the games action.

Should I be writing the synopsis of game play in a first of third person perspective? Or is any totally fine?

[*Davywavy]

Calibur, in truth there is no real right or wrong answer to this, you should write in the way that's most natural to you, that way it will be a little easier.
My personal preference when I'm doing this is to do it in 3rd person:

The player is standing outside of the warehouse at night. The entrance to the warehouse is directly in front of them. There is a key on the floor next to the player. The player needs the key but can enter the warehouse without it if they choose to do so.

Once inside the warehouse door, they see its empty. There is a metal staircase leading up to an office on the left.

The player needs to go up the stair case and enter the office. The office looks typical for an office, desk, chair plant. There is a picture on the wall that's crooked. If the player examines the picture they will find a wall safe. If they dont find the wall safe and leave then they will not have the next clue, and will need to come back.

If the player examines the wall safe they will realise they can use the key they found to open it. If they didn't bring the key they need to back and get it but they will find a guard and guard dog where the key is and will need to defeat the guard and dog to retrieve the key.

When they use the key to open the safe, they will find the next clue and instructions on how to open the sky light above them, allowing them to leave the warehouse undetected. If they chose to leave by the door, they will encounter the guard and the dog.

[Calibur]

Ah I see,

Thanks for the explanation Davy that cleared everything up!

Great example also