Pitch Day

Day 7 -- pitch the full design to a real human and lock the doc.

The lesson, beat by beat

1. 1

   Assemble the doc

   ~8 min

   Pixel says

   “First we put it all in one place. Pitch one-liner, Player Promise, Core Loop, World Snapshot, Hero One-Pager, Paper Playtest verdict. Six pieces. One doc. That is your Game Design Doc v1. Real ones look exactly like this.”

   Kid does

   Open the Game Design Doc v1 template. Drag and drop the six artifacts from earlier this week into the right slots.

2. 2

   Write the 60-second pitch script

   ~10 min

   Pixel says

   “A pitch is 60 seconds out loud. Format -- (1) the hook, one sentence; (2) the player promise, one sentence; (3) the loop in verbs; (4) one cool detail about the world or hero; (5) why YOU are making this game. Five beats. 60 seconds. Practice it twice before you pitch.”

   Kid does

   Write a 60-second pitch script using the 5-beat structure. Read it out loud once and time it.

3. 3

   Practice run with Pixel

   ~6 min

   Pixel says

   “Pitch it to me first. I am your warm-up audience. Just read your script out loud like I am sitting next to you. I will tell you which beat was strongest and which one was muddy. No grades. Just feedback.”

   Kid does

   Read the pitch out loud to Pixel. Pixel reflects back the strongest beat and the muddiest beat.

4. 4

   Tweak one thing

   ~4 min

   Pixel says

   “Based on my feedback -- tweak ONE beat. Not all five. Just the muddiest one. Real pitchers tweak between every pitch. Then you are ready for the real audience.”

   Kid does

   Rewrite the one muddy beat. Pixel approves.

5. 5

   Pitch a real human

   ~10 min

   Pixel says

   “Now go find your grown-up. Or your sibling. Or whoever is closest. Tell them -- I am gonna pitch you a game I designed. 60 seconds. After, I want three pieces of feedback. Then pitch. With your voice. Do not read it -- TELL it. Eye contact. Confidence. You designed this. You know it cold.”

   Kid does

   Find a real-life audience. Pitch the game. Capture their three pieces of feedback in the doc.

6. 6

   Lock the doc

   ~5 min

   Pixel says

   “You did it. Write the three pieces of feedback into the doc under Audience Notes. Then lock the doc. Lock means -- this is what we are building in Week 3. We are done iterating on the design. Now we are iterating on the BUILD. That is a HUGE jump and it deserves a stamp. Boom. Doc locked.”

   Kid does

   Type the three pieces of feedback in. Click Lock Doc. Game Design Doc v1 lands in the Capstone Locker, marked LOCKED.

7. 7

   Save and celebrate

   ~2 min

   Pixel says

   “Save the locked doc and the pitch script. Then close your laptop. Week 2 is done. You have a real game design doc. That is more than 99% of kids your age. More than most grown-ups who say they want to make a game. Take the weekend off. Monday we build.”

   Kid does

   Click Save. Game Design Doc v1 (LOCKED) + Pitch Script land in the Capstone Locker under Week 2 / Day 7.