Game Pitch Night

**TICKET INCLUDES COMPLIMENTARY FOOD + DRINKS! Roll the dice and join us for our very first Game Pitch Night! After the success of our Podcast Pitch Night (November 2017) and our third annual VR Pitch Night (March 2018), we're thrilled to announce a new edition of our rollicking Pitch Night events, this time devote to all things games and gaming! See the next wave of game creators show off their DIY work with entertaining pitches, and stick around for drinks, mingle, networking, and maybe a game or two! HAVE A PROJECT? APPLY BY AUGUST 16. ABOUT THE EVENT: 7:00 – 8:00 PM: The Pitches (Theater) 8:00 – 9:30 PM: Reception (Lounge) THE PITCHES: Five amazing, DIY game projects will be selected by the Made in NY Media Center by IFP staff to present a five minute-long pitch to a panel of industry judges, and to our live audience. OUR PITCH JURY: – Anya Combs is the Senior Games Outreach person at Kickstarter. She has been in the digital games space for over a decade, overseeing multiple mobile and online titles launched for Nickelodeon & AddictingGames, and has worked with countless game creators launching successful projects on Kickstarter. She is excited to continue supporting game devs as they bring their creative projects to life. – James Seetal has worked in the video game industry and digital training interactive space for over 19 years. A majority of his career has been spent on countless projects for multiple companies and working on everything from 1st & 3rd party commercial games, government contracted serious games, educational software, and licensed properties for Spike TV, The History Channel, Star Wars, Nickelodeon, and AMC Network. James now serves as Co-Chair for the International Game Developers Association's NYC chapter, works in the VR gamification space by day, and in his free time, develops on his own indie game projects as owner and creator of Saturday Morning Games (now available on Kickstarter). – Noelle Posadas is an international gold medal winning game designer currently at Killer Snails. Her most recent game, Biome Builder, won a gold medal at Serious Play and was the Best Family Tabletop Game at Boston FIG 2017. Noelle has worked in game development for 7 years with clients such as the New York Hall of Science and Sesame Street. She has given talks and taught classes on game design for places such as spek?r[s] @PrattManhattan and Playcrafting, and served as a judge for Indiecade. By engaging with the New York game development community Noelle hopes to help up and coming game designers find their creative voice. Noelle graduated from the Pratt Institute where she studied Illustration and Design. – Navid Khonsari, iNK Stories OUR PRIZES: – Jury Prize includes: Three (3) months of discounted membership, mentorship opportunities and networking opportunities from and with Media Center gaming professionals; One (1) mentorship session with Anya Combs of Kickstarter; and more to be announced. – Audience Choice Award includes: One (1) hour private coaching session that includes playtesting and feedback as well as information on production, such as resources on manufacturing, importing and pricing with Jessica Ochoa Hendrix and Noelle Posadas of Killer Snails. RECEPTION: After the pitches, we'll celebrate! Stay tuned for updates! Complimentary food and beverages provided. CRITERIA AND REQUIREMENTS: Projects will be selected to pitch, and evaluated for prizes, based on: – Innovative and interesting concept and approach – Clearly defined objective(s) and rules, understood in brief and in detail – Creative approach to artwork, production values, etc. – Fun and sense of theme/purpose, i.e. “Why should anyone play this game?” – We welcome game projects of all kinds: we’re open to game apps, tabletop games, experiential games, video games… or concepts that are story-driven, abstract, strategy-based, games of chance, individual player, multi-player… There are no restrictions on specific content or form, so long as it’s engaging, clear to understand, and (of course!) has a strong element of fun. Ideally, projects should be in development and close to complete, but not yet finished. Submissions must send supporting materials to help selection committee (and, if selected, our jury and audience) visualize your projects and understand the rules/mechanics of the game in the most direct terms possible. We can accept concept artwork, pitch decks, visual treatments, and even demos if accessible online. We CANNOT accept in-person deliveries of materials. Any questions about submission materials may be directed to Bill Curran, Programming Producer, at [email protected]. While both our selection committee and our jury will keep an eye out for noteworthy, clean production values and artwork (where applicable), submissions need not be completely polished at this stage. Ultimately, fun content, creativity, and clearly defined mechanics are the top criteria. If selected, projects will be asked to prepare a short, visual pitch deck for the Pitch Night. Pitch decks may include audio samples and video clips/trailer. All pitches must be five minutes in length.