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Grumpy Game Dev Grant Thread: For the people at the back, this is what you put in your application to make sure it will give your beloved project the best chance it can get. THREAD:
Start with a logline (run it by trusted people). Tell us what the game is and who it's for (brief description of target audience).
Next, talk about gameplay, use diagrams or flowcharts while possible. Assessing a stack of applications is tiring and visual depictions will help yours be remembered and easily understood.
Once you've defined core gameplay, talk about any other necessary elements-important systems, narratives etc.
Art and animation are next. Show screenshots and/or concept art if possible. Talk about the influences. If it's early production a mood board is the very least you should be doing, but concept art is better.
And then sound design. You have no idea how many applications leave this out. Why?! Sound and music are crucial to the enjoyment of the game.
Once those are all defined, a production section with Gantt charts, or timelines. Again, make it as visual as possible. In text talk about your major points, any challenges and what you're doing to mitigate them.
I would add a finance section to speak about how you're financing the production of the game aside from the grant. Even if it's just you burning your own hours. It looks better if the dev is putting *some* skin in the game rather than letting the grant body pay for everything.
There's a happy medium on that, of course. If you're burning 4000 hours without pay, I have questions.
And the final section is the basics of your marketing. Who's your target audience (bit more depth), how are you going to reach them? What are some comparable products? Are you making a move towards publishers, if so who and how? Pro-tip: Do some significant research.
Other things to include in marketing are platform choices and language and cultural adaptation. Make sure you're matching all of these to your intended audience.
On marketing, if you're guessing, we'll know. "Yes, my target audience are game players aged 18-50" is -10,000 points as is comparing your sales to Minecraft, Smash Bros etc.
Finally, add supporting documents. A vertical slice is 
if it sells your game well. Proof of any publisher/platform interest, joint ventures, clarification of IP ownership, art portfolios, other pitching materials etc. are all valid.
if it sells your game well. Proof of any publisher/platform interest, joint ventures, clarification of IP ownership, art portfolios, other pitching materials etc. are all valid.
Your main doc should be no more than 20 pages with spacing and art. Don't give us internal design docs or big long asset and task lists, we don't have the headspace.
Be kind to your assessors. Make it so they don't have any questions and they can just sit back and love you.
Be kind to your assessors. Make it so they don't have any questions and they can just sit back and love you.
Oh and after a particularly shocking pitch this week, for the love of the Great Wombat, get someone to do a sensitivity read on your pitch, particularly if you're making a game with themes about a minority you're not part of.
Now if you do include all of this and it's credible and you don't get funded, get feedback wherever possible. Be humble when receiving that feedback because it will could be identifying a weakness you're not aware of. There might be a flaw in your project you've missed.
