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The Last Friend crowned champion at the first ever PC Indie Pitch at GDC

The Last Friend crowned champion at the first ever PC Indie Pitch at GDC

In what has become a Pocket Gamer tradition, last week we took our leading mobile focused in developer compeititon The Big Indie Pitch to the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco for the seventh year in a row in order to highlight all of the amazing global indie talent on display. However, this year we went one step further and also brought our ever growing PC Indie Pitch to the bay area too as part of a record breaking PC pitching celebration.

For those not in the know, the PC Indie Pitch is a regular event run by the makers of PCGamesInsider.biz. It gives indie developers the chance to pitch their games to industry experts and journalists in a speed-dating-style format. Teams get the opportunity to get valuable feedback on their games, as well as win great prizes such as promotional packages and the coveted PC Indie Pitch bat.

This time around we saw our largest number of developers take to the floor, as 31 developers pitched their games to our expert judges in order to walk away the a range of prizes including the Baseball Bat trophy, alongside of course the chance to call themselves the first ever PC Indie Pitch at GDC champion. Unsuprisingly this was an incredibly close pitch, with the talent on display being of an extremely high standard. In fact, by the final round of judging there were an incredible 14 games still in contention.

However, there can only be one winner, and that winner was The Stonebot Studio and their dog loving tower-defense beat em-up mash-up The Last Friend. Of course we awared prizes for second and third too, both of which you can learn more about below alongside our champion.

1st Place - The Last Friend by The Stonebot Studio

A dog lover's dream, The Last Friend is a gorgeous and adorable beat 'em-up tower defense blend that's all about going the extra mile to save every last dog out there. It's also a game that will put a player's muti-tasking and strategy skills to the ultimate test through 44 intense action infused levels that span 4 worlds. Moreover, The Last Friend is set to feature both single player gameplay alongside a wealth of multiplayer options, such as both versus and co-operative play modes. The Stonebot Studio is also planning to support the game post launch too with a wealth of DLC. 

2nd Place - Lovingly Evil - The Big Bad Dating Sim by Lizard Hazard Games

How do you fancy going on a date with a Vampire Lord, an Evil AI, or maybe even Satan himself? Well now you'll get that opportunity and a whole lot more, as Lovingly Evil is a charming and comedy filled dating sim in whch player gets to create a custom villainous character before heading over to the annual Villain Conference in order to meet fellow evildoers. Once at this paranormal conference, players will be able to get to know a range of different villains, enjoy a selection of minigames, and maybe even find love.

3rd Place - Cantata by Afterschool Studio

Based within a fictional all encompassing war between Humans, Aliens and Machines, Cantata is a character-driven empire building game in which players must leverage their chosen race's unique powers and abilities to slowly expand their hold on the alien world they've found themselves. Development is still in the early stages, but this strategy game already has enough to impress our judges and walk away with the third place prize thanks to its strong isometric art style, hardcore turn based strategy and resource management within, and inclusion of a map editor where players can even create their own stages.

Want to show off your exciting new game? We host Big Indie Pitch events throughout the year, so be sure to keep an eye out on our events page for an event near you.

Upcoming BIPs include:

More coming soon so make sure to regularly check our upcoming events page here and over on BigIndiePitch.com

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Developer Evangelist & Big Indie Pitch Manager / Special Features Writer

Queen of all things Indie. Sophia is Steel Media’s Big Indie Pitch Manager and Developer Evangelist. She’s also a global speaker and lifelong gamer with a fanatical love of all things Nintendo and Japan. So much so that she’s written a thesis on one and lived in the other.