Crowdsourcing also requires a tribe and/or media connections to have any sort of success. This is especially important for this idea which is not cheap to make.

But as per the OP, they are effectively looking for an agent.

In this particular case, I would believe them to be looking for a business development manager or something similar (someone to make their case).

As far as I understand the opening post:

- There is no "they", only an "I"... which I understand as "there is no team, only me having an idea".

- "Selling the idea" doesn't have to mean "I want to pitch my idea to an investor to see if we can reach an agreement that will allow me to go forward with my plan, hire professionals and develop the game while keeping the investor happy"... it could also mean "I had an idea I think is great and now want to sell it to someone who will pay lots of money for it".... granted, the rest of the post makes it sound different, still, not clear to me.

To the OP: I think you should clarify what it is exactly you are looking for.

- Are you looking for an investor? (Possible, but quite hard to pull off even if you are a known name in the industry. Without that, try crowdfunding or forget it)

- Are you looking to sell your idea? (not going to happen. Ideas are not worth a penny, everyone has more than enough already)

- Do you have a team already? A studio of professionals that could execute your plan given you get the money? (that makes the pitch way easier)

- If not, do you have any expierence in the sector? Are you a game developer already? (if yes, why not start building your idea in your own time with your own money?)

If you have no money, no name in the industry, and no expierience, then all you can do is start to become a game developer. learn the ropes, and become good enough to produce a prototype of your idea. Will take you years, but given enough dedication you will get there. With the prototype you could try crowdfunding, MAYBE look for an investor. Going to be tough without being known in the industry.

If you have expierience already, but no money and are not known well enough, build a prototype. If you cannot build even a simplified vertical or horizontal slice in about a years time, your game is way out of your realistic scope. Nobody will give you 100k$ as a nobody to build your dream game. You might be able to get some 10k$ from crowdfunding if you manage to create an awesome prototype and a good marketing campaign. But you will have to to A LOT of legwork for it, on your own time. Better start now, or redimension your project if you cannot pull it off without spending 10 years on the prototype alone.

If have the expierience and are already well known, well, then you wouldn't ask this question, right?

EDIT: After a quick glance at the "GDD" you posted there, I have to say this is nowhere near enough information to really pitch the idea to anyone.

Some story and high level game logic concepts is NOT a GDD yet. There are a ton of additional details that are very important to gauge the magnitude of the project:

- 2D or 3D?

- Graphics: AAA? Simplified or stylized? Costeffective or photo realistic?

- What do you plan for sounds? Are you thinking of voice acting, or keep costs down by omitting it?

- Give me a Elevator Pitch of your game that makes it crystal clear what the game is about. I don't care about your idea for a single level ("earthquake"), what is the game about exactly? Genre? unique selling point?

And so on... if you want to pitch, your GDD needs to be able to answer all the question investors will be having. On the other hand, you need a VERY GOOD elevator pitch to even capture their interest enough for them to give you a chance to pitch.

Nobody will read your GDD unless he is already hooked to your idea... you have about 1-3 sentences to hook them until they stop listening. Make these sentences count.

You can't sell an idea, but an idea does have a value.

The OP is a "I" and based off private discussions, I'd be inclined to agree that this won't go past the idea stage, but there's a case about leveraging the value of an idea and selling it. For example, when trying to sell a car to a big manufacturer, you could:

- Tell them it's a good car in your head (0% chance of success)

- List the features that it will have (still 0% chance, but a little more credibility at least)

- Bring along a technical schematic made in conjunction with a tech artist and an engineer, a rough sketch (0.01%, maybe, but you won't sell this car, they might just offer you a job instead if this is really good work and they have a low-level opening)

- 3D-print a prototype (1%, the idea may be enticing enough that, in a niche market, it might be worth pursuing. It will be changed a lot, but if it happens to cover a need in their domestic suite, you may get a spot there)

- Working Prototype / fullscale (5%, by this point, you've invested a tremendous amount of resources, so 5% are pretty grim odds for your finances, but strictly speaking, you've increased your chances by turning the idea into a viable product)

- Working prototype and distribution center + manpower ready to produce 1000 units (15%, at this point, a competitor would probably flat-out buy you out of business because of the sheer value of your infrastructure. Your idea is no longer the driving force, your execution is the only reason why this is happening to you: you've managed to put together the means to build cars!)

The above example just goes to show that the idea's value is only inflated by the execution. If the idea is worthless, chances are even flawless execution won't amount to much value, but if the idea is good, it would only have value once you've started bringing something to the table.

In the video game industry, the steps would be something like this:

- Say you have a great idea and babble about it or write a small document on it (0%)

- Put a pitch deck together (hopefully with concept art which you've commissioned for a price). This is rarely enough on its own to ask someone to do the work for you. (0.1%)

- Put the pitch deck together, and offer to have a team that you'll manage to assemble the product if your client is willing to provide financing. (1-10% based off your reputation as a person, and as a team)

- Create a prototype of the game that you want to make by limiting to the core features that you want to demonstrate. Showcase the fun and bring it along with a powerpoint presentation on the future of this project, why you need money, how it will be used, and what the general business plan of your team is. (5-20% based off your reputation as a person, and as a team)

- Bring the game to market on your own as an Early Access as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and ask for financing to bring new core features onboard (multiplayer support which costs a lot in terms of infrastructures perhaps?). (10-30% based off your reputation as a person, as a team, and your game's following).

So, no, no one wants to buy an idea, but if you're willing to put some money on that idea, you can make it grow in actual value someone might be willing to buy. Though all figures above are absolutely bogus, I guess it communicates the idea well enough.

@glportal: Would love if you could share what you think is so unhelpful about my posts on this topic?

I would imagine that, was someone who HAS experience pitching ideas to potential clients for a living within the video game industry, my input on the OP's question would be valuable in this context, and even if you actually disagree with my vantage point, I really don't believe this warrants serial downposting my contributions.

You can't sell an idea, but an idea does have a value.

The OP is a "I" and based off private discussions, I'd be inclined to agree that this won't go past the idea stage, but there's a case about leveraging the value of an idea and selling it. For example, when trying to sell a car to a big manufacturer, you could:

- Tell them it's a good car in your head (0% chance of success)

- List the features that it will have (still 0% chance, but a little more credibility at least)

- Bring along a technical schematic made in conjunction with a tech artist and an engineer, a rough sketch (0.01%, maybe, but you won't sell this car, they might just offer you a job instead if this is really good work and they have a low-level opening)

- 3D-print a prototype (1%, the idea may be enticing enough that, in a niche market, it might be worth pursuing. It will be changed a lot, but if it happens to cover a need in their domestic suite, you may get a spot there)

- Working Prototype / fullscale (5%, by this point, you've invested a tremendous amount of resources, so 5% are pretty grim odds for your finances, but strictly speaking, you've increased your chances by turning the idea into a viable product)

- Working prototype and distribution center + manpower ready to produce 1000 units (15%, at this point, a competitor would probably flat-out buy you out of business because of the sheer value of your infrastructure. Your idea is no longer the driving force, your execution is the only reason why this is happening to you: you've managed to put together the means to build cars!)

The above example just goes to show that the idea's value is only inflated by the execution. If the idea is worthless, chances are even flawless execution won't amount to much value, but if the idea is good, it would only have value once you've started bringing something to the table.

In the video game industry, the steps would be something like this:

- Say you have a great idea and babble about it or write a small document on it (0%)

- Put a pitch deck together (hopefully with concept art which you've commissioned for a price). This is rarely enough on its own to ask someone to do the work for you. (0.1%)

- Put the pitch deck together, and offer to have a team that you'll manage to assemble the product if your client is willing to provide financing. (1-10% based off your reputation as a person, and as a team)

- Create a prototype of the game that you want to make by limiting to the core features that you want to demonstrate. Showcase the fun and bring it along with a powerpoint presentation on the future of this project, why you need money, how it will be used, and what the general business plan of your team is. (5-20% based off your reputation as a person, and as a team)

- Bring the game to market on your own as an Early Access as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and ask for financing to bring new core features onboard (multiplayer support which costs a lot in terms of infrastructures perhaps?). (10-30% based off your reputation as a person, as a team, and your game's following).

So, no, no one wants to buy an idea, but if you're willing to put some money on that idea, you can make it grow in actual value someone might be willing to buy. Though all figures above are absolutely bogus, I guess it communicates the idea well enough.

Well, you have a point in that when "an idea" stops being "just an idea", the value starts to add up.

Because, you know, having a working prototype, a plan on how to produce a production sample from that prototype and a team that can execute the plan is no longer just "having an idea". Its a prototype, a plan, and a working team/studio (hopefully staffed with competent professionals).

The idea itself, as you put it in your own words, has zero value. Nada. Zilch. You might argue that there needs to be some value so you can add to it. But adding value is just that. An addition. Not a multiplication. So given the idea has a value, and the value of the idea alone is not much, its value is not that important compared to the total value of the execution.

Being able to show the idea in a prototype, and thus a) showing you believe enough in the idea yourself that you put in considerable effort, and b) you have some of the skills needed to pull off the idea, even if it is only as an early version, gives an idea some value. It makes people believe in you... thus they start put some value behind your ideas.

But what they value most is you as a person and your perceived dedication and ability to follow through. Not the idea itself.

So while all you are saying is true, the value of the idea itself is still nearly zero even if all that was produced for it, and the trust you built up with that start to accumulate some value.

On the topic of good vs. bad idea. True that a game based upon a bad idea even with the best execution will never be as good as a game based upon a good idea with similar execution. A good idea with bad execution is worthless though, while a bad idea with good execution can still have some value.

Its because most of the value lies in the execution. Which makes sense, given the vast difference in manhours spent on thinking up an idea and executing it.

Anyway, the big point is: don't waste too much time hunting for the best idea, or trying to find a way to sell the idea alone. Learn the skills needed to add value to an idea so when you are finally hit by a glorious idea (which doesn't happen that much for most people anyway), you can make it shine and get it to a sellable state... which means you will need to get pretty far into the execution of that idea no matter how good it is.

(unless you have a well known name in the industry... then you can board the hype train. Cho cho!)

As a disclaimer: I work on the asumption that most of the game concept will change A LOT during execution. There is seldom a game that has been set in stone at the idea stage, and which plan has been executed upon without any minor or even major overhaul. So any BAD IDEA could evolve into a good or at least not so bad idea given enough iterations and time during the execution, and a sensible team that is willing to rework their plan to improve the potential result. Costs more time and money, yes. But given the idea is not brilliant to start with (and lets face it, almost no idea is brilliant from the start), you either face the delays and cost inflation, or your RoI will msot probably suffer.