Blood on the walls...

The title refers, of course, to how business meetings go sometimes... Suffice it to say that today's little blog about networking and trying to get money for your MMO deals with failure. I'm tempted to say that the failure was epic, but in all honesty, it wasn't- I probably would have needed some sort of exploding prop to actually pull that off. But I definitely learned that being able to deepthroat one's own foot is not a skill to show off in a room when trying to explain your MMO project.

Let me break this down for you, lest you make the same mistakes...

Lesson #1: When talking about what you want to do differently with MMOs, it's probably not the greatest idea to relate something like the following... In 2005 at the IGC, a session was held on managing people in the context of an MMO project. Afterwards, I asked the speaker to give me advice on pitching an MMO to a publisher. He said to make a demo area, take a risk on only one thing, maybe improve a feature or two, but above all else, make sure that you have better graphics than anyone else... Needless to say, my MMO does not follow those rules, and I have used that story several times in my blogs and conversations as an example of what is wrong with where AAA publishers try to push their MMOs to this day.

So, what's the problem with that, you might ask? Well, usually, it's not that huge a problem... Unless you say it in a meeting and they ask you the name of the MMO that person managed... And it turns out that that person worked for them around that time period...

Oh. Shit.

Luckily, I don't think I was too harsh about it (aside from the "that MMO fell on its face pretty fast" comment), so it turned into a lesson about what that speaker meant (very informative), rather than me being hurled from the window (not as informative, but possibly just as valid). And I'll get back to what he meant in a minute, but the lesson here is to refrain from anecdotes about the industry unless you know for a fact that the person you say that anecdote to is disconnected from it.

Lesson #2: I think that it's safe to say at this point that I'm not a salesman. I think that it is also safe to say that the people I met with knew that. The fact that this is "my first rodeo" is a saving grace, because otherwise I'm not sure I'd like getting chucked off the horse so much.

Where this turns into a lesson is that it should be realized that days like this will happen. Some failures will be inconsequential, and some will have you walking out of their office saying to yourself "so this is what Boba Fett felt like after being thrown into the sarlac pit..."

I was tempted to go into defensive mode at one or two points, but the guy was so damned nice about telling me what I needed to do that I just shut my trap and listened. I didn't like absolutely everything, but I made the effort to understand what he meant, and synthesize that. Whether or not I do a good enough job will not be known until after my next business meeting, whenever that is.

Lesson #3: Have art. This is actually what was meant in the anecdote that I missed from the allusion to having the best art out there. What was explained to me was something I didn't know before, and was a big-enough blindside that I felt like an utter fool (I still do as I write this, and have the headache in the left temple to prove it).

You don't need to have a whole demo level done up- but it helps a hell of a lot more than the minimum amount...

What I was asked for was the art style, at which point I brought up the concept art, at which point I was told that that wasn't what he meant. The body language book I read (as well as basic understanding of humans) told me that the hand he ran through his hair at that point was a bad sign. He then explained that the budget numbers I gave him don't really mean much unless I had a visual of the 3D assets in the game- or at least a visual of a 3D asset from a similarly styled game, to show what level of graphics we were aiming to produce with the amount of money requested.

Now, that makes a hell of a lot more mathematical sense than "make sure you have better graphics than anyone else"- and I was unprepared for it. I pulled out the business plan and showed him per-asset breakdowns and the total costs... Which meant absolutely nothing because the visual style was unknown in 3D, and thus it couldn't be determined if the assets could be expected to be made with the money asked.

So there's your lesson: Have at the very minimum a screenshot of a character in the style and at the graphical level of quality that most closely represents what you expect to put in your game, so that the person you pitch to can connect that to the budget you've proposed and estimate whether you know what you're talking about or if you should be run over by a stampede of buffaloes for the waste of time you've incurred for him.

Lesson #4: I can't believe I've racked up so many lessons from one meeting, but here goes... I think, in my happiness in accomplishing the showcasing of Interrogative, I assumed that the potential for gameplay would lead the people that I pitched to understand that gamers would take interest in the expanded interactivity offered. You know what assume does, don't you? Except in this case, you weren't made an ass of. Just me.

It should go without saying that people will want to look at your technology if you claim something unique. It should not be assumed that they will say "wow". In addition to that, you probably shouldn't assume that they will agree with you on that feature's potential impact on MMOs.

Now, to be honest, I was told the game features were "compelling". But compelling does not a hit make- and they're right. But remember that just because they're right about that in general, does not mean that you should lower the value that you have for your own project in specific. Not that they were even suggesting that, but if you sit in a meeting that goes sideways, then it could be easy to become discouraged.

My opinion diverges from the lessons previous in that while I cannot take away from the accomplishments of the people I talked to (I played several of their games, after all), I have always felt that the AAA games scene has always had a differing point of view. And so when it was suggested by one to do a text MUD with these features and by the other to do a flash MUD with these features, I brought up Minions of Mirth as an example of a successful indie MMO with a small budget. No bells rang. Well, I tried.

The takeaway: Lessons learned. In the end, I came away with a lot of valuable information that previous meetings hadn't taught me, as well as some things that I should have done better, such as having a prepared shpeal (which I really hate doing, because it's not be- but the fact is that if I don't do that then I need to find a different but equally effective way to do it, because otherwise I'm just screwed).

The people that I met with have pretty good names in the AAA field, and I feel that that door did not close even though the meeting did not go as well as I thought it would. Sometimes, even in failure, just showing up for the fight counts, and people know that.

I understand better what I need to present to people in meetings where I pitch the game, and I know that Interrogative isn't the wow factor that I thought it might be, especially among the AAA types that have probably seen people try similar features but have them swatted down during development or R&D- and that's an angle I hadn't considered: A feature you feel is unique having been tried and failed in the past during development for whatever reason, and being similar enough in scope or aim that it might be considered in the same light, leading to the feeling of being underwhelmed. So when you don't hear someone say "cool" when looking at your new feature, keep that stiff upper lip (and the lower lip too, because it'll look weird if your lower lip starts trembling and the top half of your mouth looks normal).

So that's part 1 of my GDC experience- and I haven't even been inside the convention center yet. Tomorrow, I'll be on the expo floor and at the GG booth towards the afternoon, for anyone who would like to grimace at Interrogative's programmer art... I can take it!

And now, I'm off to some after parties to go network and work on my pitch skills- until the alcohol kicks in, at which point I'll be blogging about Lesson #5...