Interview

The Big Indie Interviews: Wee Door return to tell us how life has changed after coming second in The Big Indie Pitch

We discuss releasing OIL and growing as a studio post PGC London 2018

The Big Indie Interviews: Wee Door return to tell us how life has changed after coming second in The Big Indie Pitch

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

The event gives indies four minutes to pitch their games to a panel of press, publishers, and industry pundits. The judges then pick three winners and everybody gets valuable feedback.

The indie view

The Big Indie Pitch is getting bigger and bigger as we bring it to events all across the world. To give you an idea of what the event is like, who attends the events and the games on show, we've sat down with one of our past finalists to learn about how much things have evolved and changed since their time as a part of The Big Indie Pitch.

Today, we're speaking to Simon Messer and Josh Hale from Wee Door, who submitted OIL to The Very Big Indie Pitch (Mobile Edition) at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2018 and walked away with the prize for second place after coming third in the previous year at our Big Indie Pitch at Abertay University in Dundee 2017.

PocketGamer.biz: So, just remind all of our readers about who you are, and what your goals and inspirations are.

Simon Messer and Josh Hale: We're Wee Door, created by Simon Messer and Josh Hale. We're a creative outlet for digital experiences that we want to build; experiences that are fun, and that are meaningful to us. Within the games industry we take significant inspiration from games such as Square Enix Montreal's 'Lara Croft Go', Daniel Linssen's 'Sandstorm', Stephen Thorin's 'Faraway' & SEGA's 'Crazy Taxi'. But there are also many important influences from outside the industry.

Where did you first take part in the Big Indie Pitch and how was the experience?

Our first Big Indie Pitch was local to us in Dundee, Scotland. As a small team, it was really the first time we publicly discussed the game and tested our ability to vocalize it. We loved the experience so much that we entered the Very Big Indie Pitch at PGC in London. It's a great place to get serious about games and getting them to market. We made new friends and met up with old ones. Being around creative and genuine people is something we love.

What do you think you gained from being a part of the Big Indie Pitch?

Confidence, and a sense that we were moving towards releasing a great game. It also helped prepare us to pitch the game in both casual and formal settings to others, who would eventually go on to help with the release.

How have things progressed with OIL since the pitch?

OIL went on to be featured as game of the day in the UK when it was first released. We also got that feature in The USA, followed by mainland Europe, at the £1.99 price point. It's had small App Store features on occasion worldwide since. Thanks to the lovely guys at Apple UK for also believing in our product.

What are you currently working on, and what are your plans moving forward?

We're still working on experiences that are meaningful to us and are looking forward to when we have something new to put in people's hands (hopefully soon)!

Finally, is there any advice you would offer to indie developers considering entering The Big Indie Pitch or who are just starting out?

Be prepared - bringing our first product to the pitch really got us into a wonderfully serious mind frame about what we had achieved. Now, we can't think of anywhere better to showcase our second game. We can't wait to see how our experiences compare.


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 Big Indie Pitch Event Pages & Registration

May 13 - The Big Indie Pitch Digital #1 (Mobile Edition)
June 9 - The Big Indie Pitch (PC+Console Edition) at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2
June 10 - The Big Indie Pitch (Mobile Edition) at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2
July 15 - The Big Indie Pitch Digital #2 (Mobile Edition)

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

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.