The Vertical Slice Meta Part 1: We pitched 500+ times to publishers in ‘25 and here’s the bar to get a deal.

TLDR: what builds worked three years ago doesn’t work anymore. Developers are getting crushed because they’re showing up with 2021 playbooks to 2026 battles.

Quick context on us: We’re a developer representation firm. Think Hollywood agency but for game devs, primarily focused on getting their games financed.

I started this firm because I love games and hate watching unique storytellers pour everything into their passion projects, then get crushed negotiating deals they’ve never done before. Publishers negotiate hundreds of deals a year. Developers negotiate one, maybe two. Every other creative industry figured this out decades ago by having representation, so we’re bringing that to gaming.

We believe every independent developer should have representation. But for those who don’t want it or aren’t ready for it, we’re sharing what we know anyway. What follows is what we tell our clients and what we’re actually seeing get funded across 200+ publishers worldwide.

What a Vertical Slice Needs

To start, we found that you’re being evaluated on everything, the second the game loads. We’ll go through each “tranche” one by one, but I want to be as clear as possible – in this environment where publishers can be as picky as possible, every single detail matters.

Just as an example, we got knocked a couple of times for not having a settings menu. While that wasn’t the main reason they said no to our client, they clearly were being evaluated on it.

The quick TLDR: Your vertical slice needs to look, feel, and play like the actual final game. Fully dressed art, polished UI, complete gameplay loops with limited to no placeholders. No “imagine this part working” or “polished little section.” A good rule of thumb: if you’d feel comfortable charging money for this slice on Steam as 1/10th of your full game, you’re in the right ballpark.

Here’s what we think a vertical slice means in practice:

UI: Your First Impression

UI is the handshake. It’s the first thing players interact with, and publishers are watching to see if you understand polish.

Show all essential HUD elements, menus, and overlays in their final form. Polished animations, smooth transitions, responsive feedback. No placeholders please!

Publishers need to trust that your game will guide players intuitively. Clunky UI signals you might struggle with polish across the whole project. It raises questions about execution.

The test: could someone who’s never seen your game jump in and know what to do? If yes, you’re probably good.

Art: Is it intriguing?

Every asset in your slice should look like it belongs in the finished game.

Key environmental art, character models, lighting, VFX, shaders should be close to “final”. Everything needs to communicate your tone and theme clearly. Publishers are investing in something they can picture “winning” on the steam front page. Placeholder assets scream “not ready.” Finished assets say “we know exactly where this is going.” That being said, some store bought assets are okay as long as they are mixed in.

One of the easiest paths to winning in today’s Steam world is having an intriguing and resonant art style. This sounds obvious but it’s such an important key that we as an industry just aren’t talking about enough.

I’m also going to lump in animations here too – animations should be fluid and “retail ready” but if a few here and there are store bought, I think you’re probably ok.

UX: The Invisible Glue

Show interactions that are fluid and frictionless. Every touchpoint should feel intentional, not accidental.

Bad UX is a leak in the boat. It doesn’t matter how good your features are if the whole experience sinks from friction. You’re not going to get away with being Escape from Tarkov’s tetris inventory management system with limited quality of life options but I want to be clear, this is not rated as important as others on this list.

Polish: The Details That Sell

Polish is the layer that makes everything shine. Smooth transitions between states, well-crafted menus, or small touches like sound effects on button presses and even dynamic lighting in key moments really matter.

QA is not optional. Test, test, test. Nothing kills momentum faster than a soft lock that forces the evaluator to restart. Run through your slice at least 10 times yourself. Then have someone who’s never seen it play through it multiple times. Watch where they break things you didn’t expect.

You don’t need perfection, but you need stability.

Quick note on disclosure: If your build has known issues or shortcomings, document them on a loading screen or startup message. I haven’t seen this fully protect anyone from scrutiny, but it’s better than submitting as-is with the underlying implication being that everything is “final.”

A Quick Note on Tutorials:

These are mission critical and must be done “in game.” Accompanying tutorial documents just don’t work in our experience.

Here’s the thing – If you’re playing 30 games a week to evaluate and none of them explained how everything worked, you’d be one frustrated bubbula. Frustration is the thing you do not want the evaluator to feel.

Your tutorial is your chance to show mastery. Don’t just explain controls. Show why your systems are special. If you have a unique mechanic, teach it thoroughly! This is your time to shine! The evaluator needs to feel good/smart playing your game, so as Miami Heat legend Stan Van Gundy once said, “whatever you can put together, put it together.”

Bad tutorials either over-explain obvious things or under-explain complex ones. Good tutorials respect the player’s time and intelligence while making sure they understand what makes your game different.

Design: Time to show em’ the goods.

This is the “why” of your game distilled into 10 minutes.

Show core mechanics and features that align with your unique selling points. Everything in the slice should reflect the final gameplay and deliver on what you’re pitching.

But this is where most pitches break: they show pieces of the game without showing how those pieces connect.

Please please please show the entire primary loop working. Actually working, end to end. If you’re building a soulslike where you level up by killing big bosses, don’t just show the combat. Show the kill, the XP being added, opening the menu, spending those souls on stats or skills that matter, and the character actually getting stronger. Close the loop.

If your game has a secondary loop, show that too. Roguelike with meta progression? Show a run, show the death, show unlocking something permanent, show how that changes the next run. City builder with a day/night cycle that affects gameplay? Show multiple cycles and how player behavior adapts.

Publishers have seen a thousand pitches that promise elegant systems. What they haven’t seen is YOUR systems actually functioning in a build they can play. That’s the difference between “sounds interesting” and “here’s money.”

The back of the box test applies here too. If your pitch deck says “dynamic weather system affects combat,” your slice better show me fighting in rain and sun with visible differences. If you’re promising “emergent AI behaviors,” Really recommend you show NPCs actually doing unexpected things, not following a script.

This is also where you prove your team understands game feel. A platformer isn’t just about jumping. It’s about jump arc, air control, coyote time, landing feedback, etc. A shooter isn’t just bullets hitting targets. It’s the main way you interface with the world FPSs. Recoil, hit reactions, sound, etc these separate a functional mechanic from a satisfying one.

Publishers need to see not just what the game is, but what makes it special. If you can’t show why it stands out in your slice, why should they invest?

Technical: Make It work, please

Tech is the obvious wizard behind the curtain. It makes the magic happen, but unfortunately for my CTO’s out there, it shouldn’t be the focus unless it IS the focus. In tactical terms, unless the tech IS your USP (new engine, breakthrough mechanic that requires custom systems), publishers, in our experience, don’t get excited about a deep dive. We’ve had a few games that have had angles like this and it just hasn’t landed.

Sidebar, Minimal crashes and some bugs are fine. Smooth frame rates are obviously ideal even if your game requires high end hardware. I do want to flag though, if your game runs at 45 FPS on a 5090, maybe it’s worth spending some cycles on optimization.

One last thing

• Everything above is the baseline. Meeting this bar gets you considered.

But here’s the shitty part: competent doesn’t get funded. Evaluators are playing tons of builds like this a week. Most don’t get deals.

The games that get deals usually have something else – an X factor of sorts. A moment that makes evaluators sit up in their chair and message their team saying “you need to see this.”

We call it the “make em say uhh” moment, and we’ll break down exactly what that looks like in part 2 of the vertical slice meta.