If this were a job interview the guy better had the wargame sensation of the decade right up his sleeves, or he'd risk being thrown out of the window.
So yeah, Slith, you better stand up to his questions or you might really regret it.
Slitherine's Commander the Great War - Director's Cut: POTZBLITZ mod! FIND IT HERE: http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=218&t=77884&p=662610#p662610
Key Word wargame. What the heck is this Neverdark game, to me and watching the stream on twitch, it shows nothing to a wargame at all historical, fantasty, or future. It looks like a survival management game. I'll hold more judgement until more development is done but i dont like where its going and im voicing my concern to the Devs.
I think a games workshop collaborative would be great here basing it on warhammer 8th edition or even slightly on age of sigmar? I think this fun be very fun to play also i think it would easily linked with the units in the Warhammer Fantasy realm. I think there would be a big market but also competing with total war : Warhammer. I feel FOG would bring a more tactical feel to this game.
Perhaps I can help answer some of these questions looking at it from a wargame developer perspective:
Why would we pitch a game to Slitherine, rather than some other game company?
As a wargame developer really they are the number one to go to if you want to get your game in front of the market who is going to buy your game. Some boardgame companies have a digital store but its not their focus. Going it alone is very tough as you need to somehow build brand awareness.
What aspects of a demo of a game are important when Slitherine evaluate it?
How far through development should a demo be?
I am going to group these two together. One of the hardest parts in game development is finishing a game and getting it into the market. If I was pitching a game to anyone I would need to show I have a track record of being able to see a project through - even if its just one game. Talk costs nothing. Having a finished good shows a lot of dedication.
Where does Slitherine make most of its money from a game?
Let me answer that from my experience. Number one is PC by a long long stretch (I have no experience of how console version stacks against this). iOS comes a very long second place. Mac, Linux, Android are sadly non-starters
Where are the main costs in developing a Slitherine game?
For me its graphics, then sound/music and then translations. But I also have a full-time job. If not then number one would be my salary.
Don't Slitherine have enough to do already without people pitching more games?
You need a steady flow of new ideas and games. Why would you not want to look at a good pitch?
What couldn't Slitherine help with in game development?
So as an independent developer they would expect me to fully develop the game and all associated development costs. Their expertise for someone like me is marketing/PR/Press and having a large dedicated following.
Which members of a game development team are the hardest to recruit?
People who will stay the course. If you do a search you will see that a few years back GMT tried to kickstart a digital presence. Around 20 - 30 developers stepped forward to develop games. Only one actually did it and it took a while. I use contractors for my graphics and music etc. All the coding I do myself.
If OSX, Linux and Android are non-starters, perhaps the problem is the lack of quality games for the platforms? Perhaps starting small for those platforms might see a pay-off by building an audience - as Kinsella heard in "Field of Dreams," if you build it, they will come. Where's the quality Napoleonics for OSX, Linux et al? Or Age of Marlborough, etc. The best and maybe only OSX game on this platform right now, that will still be supported when OSX goes 64 bit only is Order of Battle.
And is anyone trying to sell to those markets?
Just to add a couple of points
* We either need a previous game to show what you've done or a playable demo of the game if its your first, which is enough to get a feel for the technical and artistic ability of the team and demonstrate why the game is interesting and fun. It does not need to be complete and fully featured and can have bugs.
* Finding wargame programmers is the hardest thing. You programmers who understand wargames and usually get people who are good atone or the other but not both.