Hank Shaw: Private Eye brought joy and won the Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco

Hank Shaw: Private Eye took first place at the Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco this year.

This year, the event was full of indie developers from all over the world, who took the opportunity to attend insightful talks, network with industry peers and in some cases: show of their exciting projects.

If you aren't familiar with the Very Big Indie Pitch, it's a speed-dating-style event that challenges a group of indie developers to quick-fire pitch their game to various panels of experts, from all corners of the games industry.

Teams who participate then get valuable feedback on both their game and pitching style, as well as gain experience in pitching quickly and meeting a variety of experts. Winners also receive prizes including a golden Big Indie Pitch baseball bat and promotational packages.

For this specific pitch, we saw 19 indie developers come together to show off their mobile, PC and console games to our judges. There was a variety of types of games, from 4X strategy and point-and-click adventure games to puzzle titles. 

With so many different projects to see and pitches to judge, our experts spent an hour delibrating before selecting the top three games of the Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco: 

First Place

Hank Shaw: Private Eye by Exit 73 Games

(PC)

Hank Shaw: Private Eye is a short, noir detective game where players solve puzzles to progress the story, hand-animated in a 1950's UPA style (think: Mr. Magoo, Pink Panther).

Our judges were impressed with the style of the pitch, which really showed what the game would be like. Hank Shaw: Private Eye brought joy to the room and felt like something everyone would enjoy!

Second Place

Purrfect Employee by Second Way Studios

(VR)

Purrfect Employee is a virtual reality game where you play as a cat named Lyle sabotaging a heartless insurance company.

As Lyle, you’ll cause as much mayhem and destruction as possible all without getting caught. Your employer might not like it, but embracing your cat-like instincts is how you become the Purrfect Employee.

Our judges thought that Purrfect Employee had a lot of potential and the pitch itself was strong, with good, memorable moments. 

Third Place

Blocks for Babies by BunkSoft Interactive LLC

(PC)

Blocks for Babies is a block-stacking roguelike shooter where every kill shapes the game board.

Drop falling tiles into complete lines, then go in guns blazing to clean up the board the messy way. Hard and soft drops aren't your only tools anymore – now you have a shotgun.

It's like Tetris meets Doom. Our judges felt Blocks for Babies was unique and something that brought two unlikely genres together.

Want to show off your exciting new game? We host Big Indie Pitch events throughout the year, so make sure to regularly check our upcoming events page over on BigIndiePitch.com.