Interview

Indie development and innovation: meet the team behind DT Space Races

We talk to Kevin Prigent about his recent third-place Big Indie Pitch experience

Indie development and innovation: meet the team behind DT Space Races

The Big Indie Pitch, a regular event run by the makers of PocketGamer.biz, sees indie developers engage in a rapid-fire pitching competition for fame and those sweet promotional packages.

The event gives indies four minutes to pitch their games to a panel of press, publishers, and industry pundits, each receiving invaluable feedback, before the judges pick three winners.

The indie view

The Big Indie Pitch is getting bigger and bigger as we bring it across the world. We've sat down with a number of past BIP contestants to offer their views on the event, its attendees, and the games on show.

The Big Indie Pitch goes digital

Today, we're speaking to Kevin Prigent from DT Space Races, who created and pitched DT Space Races, at The Digital Big Indie Pitch #17 (Mobile Edition) and walked away with the third place prize.

Sophia Aubrey Drake: Tell us a little about yourself and your indie studio - who is on the team, and what are their inspirations?

Kevin Prigent: Hello Sophia. We are a small team of friends based in Paris who has been working in the video game industry for 10 years. Guillaume "YomYom" is a developer, Nicolas "k00x" is the sound designer and I'm... everything else.

Can you tell us about DT Space Races that you pitched at the competition? 

As its name clearly indicates, it is a space racing game. Players will challenge opponents on twenty races, upgrade their ships, and gain skills... the format is actually quite classic.

What do you think are the most unique and interesting aspects of DT Space Races that players may never have seen before?

It's clearly the control system. To put it simply, the player must click on the obstacles that make up the levels to move the ship forward. But as the ship explodes if it hits these obstacles, the player must quickly choose a new trajectory and so on.

DT Space Races is a spaceship racing game with a unique way of playing. What made you choose this type of game, and what do you think you bring that may not have been seen before?

We wanted to create a game based on precision and reflexes and after many tests of mechanics, we came up with the idea of level design-based controls. To be honest, at first, it's a bit surprising for players used to direct controls. However, after a bit of practice, you start dodging all the obstacles cleanly and the whole gameplay speeds up: it becomes really enjoyable and frantic

How did you come to choose the platforms that you would develop DT Space Races for?

We wanted to develop a game that uses smartphone screens cleverly. So, we knew from the start that the game would be on iOS & Android.

Looking at the studio now, how hard is it to survive as an Indie developer?

The question doesn't really apply as we have kept our jobs in the industry: our game is a huge side project actually. Well, I did leave my job to finish the famous "remaining 20%" and this was the best decision of my life.

What are your tips and advice for an independent developer just starting out?

Ne lâcher rien. Pour information on a commencé sur Unity 4.0.

Never give up. For information we started on Unity 4.0.

How did you find your experience pitching as a part of the Big Indie Pitch?

Guillaume had this privilege, he told me that he had a lot of fun and that he really liked the very rhythmic format. Great organisation, thanks to you.

Image credit:DT Space Races

What do you feel you have gained from the experience, and what do you still hope to gain?

Pitching a game, especially in English, is not a habit for Guillaume. But the format that allows him to pitch to several people in a row has allowed him to “desacralize” the act of pitching and to improve with each round. From now on, he'll be the one sent to every competition

What are your hopes for this game in the future, and do you have any plans for any future projects?

First, we will patch the game to improve the onboarding (to the readers: by the time you read this, it will probably already be done). Then we'll add content according to the success of the game. So, buy DT Space Races if you want to give us more sleepless nights.


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, or even our new Digital pitches.

All our upcoming pitches including how to enter can be found over on our upcoming events page on BigIndiePitch.com.

Get the latest news, interviews and in-depth analysis on Twitter, Facebook, and our daily newsletter.

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.