Hello! My name’s Ashley and I helped judge the Big Indie Pitch at GDC in San Francisco back in March.

Usually when attending a Big Indie Pitch, I’m one of the developers pitching a game. It’s been a great experience both times that I’ve pitched, so to be on the side of the judges was certainly interesting. The biggest thing that I didn’t realise is that it would be completely overwhelming being shown 30+ games back-to-back in the space of a few hours.

I actually volunteered to judge. I wanted to give straight-up, first-thoughts feedback to developers who were early on in their work, or those who otherwise wouldn’t usually have brutal honesty thrown their way.

So I’ve whittled down to my top 5, which are in no order below (with feedback given):

Smooth Operator

Smooth Operator is a game by BEARDO GAMES about kissing, teamwork, and crazy combos. I really loved the theme and style of this one, and I’m a real sucker for local multiplayer titles too, so I should be singing its bells (and whistles) unconditionally. I didn’t get to see much gameplay beyond the DDR / PaRappa the Rapper / rhythm-action style game of hitting keys on time, and that does makes me wonder about the longevity of it though. The only griping issue for me was that the buttons did not have up/down/pressed states — super important for a game that revolves largely around button presses. It was also rather hard to find on the internet.

Rups

Phones and tablets (and “phablets”, ugh) are usually used as digital babysitters, but not this time! Rups by Lapp is a game for parents (and grandparents) to play with the little ‘uns, and that makes me very happy. It has perhaps the most novel use of touch input I’ve ever seen: wiggle your finger on the screen to control a caterpillar. What let it down was some of the artwork. Often the puzzles did not stand out well from the backgrounds due to certain colours being mixed, or certain objects being animated that pull the focus away from the necessary play areas. If I had children I’d definitely play this with them though.

Spacejacked

I’d actually played Spacejacked by Rotten Mage with Team Game Jolt on the expo floor the day before, so knew everything there was to know before the pitch had even started!

On appearance, Spacejacked looks akin to Vlambeer’s Super Crate Box, however the gameplay is way more complex. You’re a lone pilot of a huge spaceship being attacked in waves by slimy alien scum. It’s your job to build and repair drones to fend them off before they reach the main command console. I felt genuinely stressed and on edge trying to manage all the tasks at the same time, and perhaps that’s a good thing, perhaps it’s not, but it’s definitely an experience. That was just the endless mode though, there is promise of other modes to come! For a great mix of arcade-action and tower-defense, go check it out. There’s a PC demo over at Game Jolt.

Squares

Not unlike the crisps, this game by Squa Leap Game Studios is all about squares. Tap the squares, in the right order, at the right time. It sounds really simple, and that’s because it is, but it is nonetheless utterly brilliant. A sort-of sequel to mobile game Squares Trials, Squares adds new puzzles, a level editor to create your own puzzles and share with your friends, and is exclusively for the PlayStation Vita. That means it undoubtedly has puzzles that use the Vita’s other touch panel. It’s out July 21st, which is really soon. I actually have zero feedback for this game, which is a little unfair on the others. Wait up… let’s just hope I can find it again once it’s released.

Silver Spire

From the excellently named Defenestrate Studios, Silver Spire reminds me of many brilliant games smashed into one. At it’s core, it’s your typical endless climber. What makes it interesting is that you choose from one of several “orbs”, each with it’s own sort-of tech tree, and each has it’s own unique movement mechanics. A recoil movement a la Toast Time. A slingshot movement a la Angry Birds. A gravitational sort of movement a la Adam Atomic’s Gravity Hook. I love mechanics-focused games, so this is very cool, however, the spikey black obstacle objects definitely did not stand out enough, they looked almost as part of the level backgrounds. I also worry about dilution of the core experience due to the variety of movement options. This one is still in development though, so keep an eye on their Twitter for updates and we’ll soon see if they nail it!

If you were at the pitch, I would have given you some brief feedback on your game. If you fancy any more, send an email my way (with an OS X build if possible) and I’ll see about giving you something more in-depth.

That’s it from me,

- Ashley

P.S. Final shout out to the awesome game that was let down by it’s name simply being “Music Runner”. I mean, come on, seriously?

#gdc2015