What's the Hook?

"My readings indicate that your pulse has risen. The Ankor Larvithian has been known to often maul and disembowel its prey. So I assure you, the terror you are feeling is perfectly normal."
     -- Kenn's watch



After years of pitching games, the last thing I want to hear from a publisher are those fateful words, "So, what's the hook?"

You just spent an hour pitching your game. You waved your arms. You did everything you could to make it sound like the next best thing since sliced bread, but still they come.

What that sentence really means is, "We don't get it and we're not interested in publishing your game at all...not now or anytime in the future." They could just say that, but usually they try to be kind and let you down a little softer.

How do they think you're going to respond? "Hmm a game that actually appeals to people? I hadn't thought of that. Before talking to you, my plan had been to make a game that sucked! But I'll go back and rework it a little."

At first you might think that they'll change their minds if you come up with a different or better hook. Sorry, guess again if you try that, they'll just say "Yeah, we get all that, but what's the hooook?"

It doesn't seem to matter much how you pitch it, or who it's to, you'll keep hearing those words. Or at least something like them…maybe "You know what this game needs? ...A Hook!"

After a while, it starts to feel like you're designing a hook instead of a game. It's like when you show up at a car dealership and they're giving away free popcorn and balloons to sell cars. What does popcorn and balloons have to do with buying a car?

Maybe I could try that as my hook! We’ll make every game come with free popcorn and balloons! Or even better, we could wrap every game in real Bacon! The funny thing is, you could really pitch that to a publisher, and on top of it throw in some dancing clowns that come out of your TV and polka with flying monkeys, and at the end of your pitch, the publisher would STILL say, "So, what's the hook?"

OK, I think I get it. So, you want to see evidence that the game will sell millions of copies before you spend any money on it.

Well then, I say, to heck with it! I'm simply not going to be walking through anyone's doors owning the rights to Glee, Harry Potter or ESPN. If I did, I'm sure they'd receive me differently, "Have a seat, put your feet up. Can I get you some free coffee? How 'bout a couple billion dollars to make your game?"

The truth of it is, even if I COULD make a game based on something like that, I'd WAY rather come up with my own original stuff anyway. Isn't that a huge part of the appeal of running an indy studio?

The problem is that as a indy game developers. Most of us WANT to make our own stuff, and to not have someone else's IP(intellectual property) tied to it, and we want to make games that are creative and different enough that the "hook" might be hard to see especially from someone who doesn't see game development as an art, but only as a business.

Then again, maybe I just haven't come up with the 'right' hook yet.

Anyway, I love the art of making games. I do consider it an art form. To me, it's the ultimate art form, or a whole bunch of art forms all rolled into one.

The problem I see is that most people in the industry don't seem to see it the same way. They see it solely as a way to make money.

Sure, I'd love to make millions of dollars on the royalties of a game and buy a small island off the coast of Mexico, drink virgin pina coladas 'til I puke every day. But I suspect that before too long, I'd want to get my computer over there, so that I could start my next big thing whatever it may be.

So, what SHOULD the hook be?

Well, maybe it's just me, but I don't want to make something that gets promoted because it happens to line up with some publisher's agendas.

I don't want to make something gimmicky! ..something that's only 'right' for one particular moment, but rather I want to make something that would be loved no matter when it got released. That's pretty hard to do in game development, but I'd like to make something timeless.

I just want to make something so full of heart and passion that people can't help but to love it.

And eventually, I want people to say, "It's a Bacon Wrapped Game? Must be good!" How would that be for a hook? Some studios have achieved this. I don't suspect it's something that comes easily or quickly.

So after all that, I'm sure you're dying to ask, for Killer Kenn, what's the hook?

Well, I hadn't really thought to come up with one yet. But trust me, it's a real Doozy! And there's gonna be like ten or twenty of 'em.

See, I'd have come up with one, but I'm kind of busy trying to make a cool game. And by the way, why can't that be the hook.

Killer Kenn
The hook: Freakin' cool game!

Works for me, but come on, you can't try to pitch it to a publisher that way.

Meet Miss Misty, one of Kenn's sweet and faithful clients.