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[TheUnknownForce]

Surprised me on twitter just now:

GAMESCRIBE ANNOUNCES TEAM UP WITH DEVELOPER RENEGADE KID IN LAUNCHING AN EXCITING NEW GAME PITCH COMPETITION: PITCH.WIN.PLAY!

Pitch your game idea. Win the competition. Play your game!

GAMEscribe, LLC announces the launch of the very first pitchWinPLAY competition! Starting on March 25th, 2012, they will begin accepting video game pitches for a new side scrolling platformer to be developed by Renegade Kid through the official website www.pitchwinplay.com.

"We are very excited to be bringing this opportunity to creative gamers everywhere, to those who have ever had the dream to see their ideas come to life but just never had the means to make it happen." says John F. Kaiser III, founder of GAMEscribe, LLC.

To make this happen GAMEscribe has partnered up with award winning developer Renegade Kid, creators of the award winning Dementium series, cult racing hit ATV Wild Ride and critically acclaimed Mutant Mudds, to develop the winning entry into a video game for the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

"This is a very unique and exciting opportunity for everyone. To think that someone out there will submit the winning pitch and actually be able to play their game is quite magical." raves Jools Watsham, co-founder and creative director of Renegade Kid.

Game industry professionals will judge entries based on their Originality, Marketability, Feasibility and Communication. Entrants will be narrowed down to the top 10 Semi-Finalist which will then be sent on to guest judges to help rank the top 3 choices. Grand Prize is to have their pitch become reality! See official website for complete list of prizes.

* Conditions and restrictions apply. See www.pitchwinplay.com/rules for details.

About GAMEscribe

GAMEscribe, LLC was formed in 2011 by John F. Kaiser III with the goal of giving a means to gamers who have all these ideas for games running around in their head but no means to make them a reality. This is now achieved through the pitchWinPLAY competitions.

About Renegade Kid

Founded in 2007 by Jools Watsham and Gregg Hargrove, Renegade Kid LLC is an independent video-game development studio based in Austin, Texas. Best known for their award winning Dementium™ series and the critically-acclaimed Mutant Mudds™, Renegade Kid has embraced Nintendo's new Nintendo 3DS handheld with the development of Majesco's Face Racers: Photo Finish, UTV Ignition'sPlanet Crashers, and "Cult racing hit", ATV Wild Ride 3D.

GAMEscribe
contact@pitchwinplay.com

Renegade Kid
info@renegadekid.com

http://www.pitchwinplay.com/rules.aspx - For the official rules

So, in short: pitch a platforming game idea, and you could get Renegade Kid to make it for the eShop. Sounds pretty darn awesome to me!

http://www.pitchwinplay.com/faq.aspx - FAQ (some choice ones below)

Q: How can I trust that you will not just run off with my idea?
A: Because that would just be wrong. Not to mention, everyone on staff here at GAMEscribe, LLC and its external judges are legally bound by non-disclosure agreements from sharing your privileged information. You are a valued commodity to us and we would never do anything to jeopardize your trusts.

Q: Can I submit more than one entry?
A: Yes. Fill out a separate Entry Form for each entry. Each entry will be billed and received separately.

Q: How will my submission be judged?
A: Through each round of competition, pitches will be evaluated on a ten-point scale. Entries will be given a score of 1 to 10, 10 being the best and 1 being the lowest, for each of the following elements:

Communication – Can everyone who reads it understand your vision?
Marketability – Is this a game that could be a success?
Originality – Does it stand out from the crowd?
Feasibility – Is this something that can be accomplished using current technologies and within industry standard budgets?

Winners will be chosen from among the highest scoring pitches.

Q: Who are the judges?
A: Our judges consist of a group of industry professionals including the likes of Producers, Game Designers and Marketing Directors that have worked in the gaming industry for many years for such companies as Midway, THQ, Activision, EA, Sega and Acclaim.

Q: What can I expect from the feedback GAMEscribe, LLC provides?
A: We will list your scores in each category, provide a brief explanation of each score, and give additional notes including practical advice for improvement.

Q: When will I receive my feedback?
A: Feedback is usually returned by the announcements of the Semi Finalists. Should there be any delays you will be contacted.

http://www.pitchwinplay.com/

Due Dates:
Early Entry Deadline is: 4/13/12
Regular Entry Deadline is: 8/1/12
Final Entry Deadline is: 9/1/12

 

[@MUWANdo]

See, here's the problem I have with this idea: whoever "wins" the competition can look forward to relinquishing the rights to their IP, their ability to affect the development of the game beyond the initial pitch and any profits their game might make.

If your idea is good enough to win a competition like this then surely it's enough to attract a couple of indie devs from TIGsource or somewhere who can help you make your game on your own terms, with your own vision and, potentially, your own profits.

 

[Fantastical]

That is a website made in 2012?

It's a cool idea. Unfortunately I'm not smart enough for this.

 

[Thoraxes]

This seems like an awesome idea. Processes like these are always fun.

 

[Easy_D]

Someone should pitch a cool cel-shaded game where you play as Dracula.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

Well, how much does this pay? I got ideas, but these ideas aren't free.

Spoiler

I got nothin'.

 

[Adam J.]

Submission fee? GTFO with that BS..

 

[Emitan]

if your idea isn't worth $20 your game isn't worth making

 

[Haunted]

Ideas are about the easiest thing to come by in this industry. I'm not even sure why Gamescribe would need to be farming for those for a gimmick and paltry amount of marketing.

 

[The M.O.B]

Moon 2

A "heavily influenced" Side-scrolling Metroidvania game.

Thank me later Jools.

 

[Kafel]

The free XBLA games made that way were good so why not ?

 

[soultron]

Submission fee? GTFO with that BS..

I looked for mention of a submission fee and couldn't find one. Care to point it out?

 

[The M.O.B]

I looked for mention of a submission fee and couldn't find one. Care to point it out?

On the rules pages under "Entry"

Entrants must complete the registration form by filling out any requested fields, pay the submission fee and follow the other instructions set forth on the Website. Submissions must be in the .DOC, .DOCX, .RTF or .PDF format. If your concept is not in one of these formats please download Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word and convert them.

Fee is $20 now, and increases at certain points the longer you wait to register.

 

[trinest]

Shame it has to be a Side-Scrolling Platformer and there is an entry fee.

 

[TheUnknownForce]

Well, it looks like it didn't turn out well.

15 in 4 months. They were looking for closer to a couple thousand. They also anticipated more press coverage but got barely any. So they are closing it down.

http://pitchwinplay.blogspot.com/2012/07/pitchwinplay-is-no-more.html?m=1

It's a real shame because it was a neat idea, but it could have been marketed a bit better.

 

[Demon Lizardman]

Well that's disappointing, their games are pretty good, wonder why not many people contributed?

 

[zroid]

Well that's disappointing, their games are pretty good, wonder why not many people contributed?

The entry fee probably played a role

 

[erpg]

Well that's disappointing, their games are pretty good, wonder why not many people contributed?

Entry fee. Sidescrolling platformer. 3DS only.

Doesn't really get my blood pumping.

Now, if they were taking molydeux-esque ideas, that'd be something. But as it was pitched, why not just make your own boring HTML5 platformer and call it a day.

 

[OnPoint]

I didn't know about this until today because of this thread, and I scour GAF, other sites and blogs for information regularly. They did a poor job getting the word out.

 

[Cow Mengde]

I just found out about it today...

 

[@MUWANdo]

I think the biggest factor in killing this promotion wasn't even the made-in-15-minutes-by-a-Nigerian-scammer website, or the complete and utter lack of promotion, it was that they came up with what seems like a neat idea and then drained every last bit of excitement out of it by dramatically narrowing the scope of what they were actually offering.

If the promotion was "get Renegade Kid to make your game!" then it might have been more successful. The actual service they were offering was more like, "pitch a game to us, and if we like it we'll use your idea as the basis for a game that may or may not be anything like the one you described, as long as we can make it quickly and cheaply using the engine we already made".

Honestly, I was considering entering this thing, purely because I figured it wouldn't get many entries so I'd be in with a real chance, but the reality is that anything with any more ingenuity or ambition than Mutant Mudds probably wasn't gonna get picked, and really, who wants another Mutant Mudds?