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Alula’s relaxing mix of horticulture and astrology walks away champion as 15 more games are revealed at the digital Big Indie Pitch

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Alula’s relaxing mix of horticulture and astrology walks away champion as 15 more games are revealed at the digital Big Indie Pitch

Discover all the indie games pitched at our most recent digital Big Indie Pitch

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The mobile games industry has long been known for all of the unique and different independent games that can be found around every corner within the various app stores. From the likes of Florence, to former Big Indie Pitch winners like What The Golf!?, we’ve seen many go from breakout hit to stardom. Nevertheless, with the potential next big thing hidden behind every corner, it can sometimes be somewhat hard to discover that next indie gem.

Well, this problem is exactly why we set up our regular international competition for indie developers, The Big Indie Pitch, around 8 years ago. From San Francisco to Hong Kong and everywhere in between, we currently run around 20 of these global events a year in order to showcase all the amazing new indie games in development. Of course, there are prizes and international recognition, but the reward is the chance to show all of you readers some of the latest games in development.

Understandably, 2020 is proving to be a challenging year for all in the industry. As such, we felt it was important to continue to highlight all of the indie talents in any way we can and took the Big Indie Pitch digital, with our first digital pitches taking place earlier this year during our Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #1 conference.

Much like with our previous digital pitches, the demand for our next digital pitches was as high as ever, with 15 of the most exciting developers battling it out for the crown. Nevertheless, three games rose to the top, with United Kingdom-based Miracle Tea’s Alula being crowned the winner.

Of course, Alula, as you already know, was the winner, but we always award prizes for the top three. So read on to not only find out more about Alula, but also our runners-up and honourable mention from The Digital Big Indie Pitch #4 sponsored by our season sponsors, Kwalee and G-Star.

Click Here To View The List »

1
1st Place - Alula by Miracle Tea

Alula is a relaxing game that explores what it means to be alone in the universe. The core gameplay takes the form of a unique blend of solving constellation-based puzzles, growing plants, and customising your very own island. What's more, you'll also be able to join your very own community of online gardeners in order to share your creations.

It isn't just the gameplay that Miracle Tea has thought of though. As, throughout the game's narrative, you'll get to not only explore why you are alone on this island, through mysterious bottled notes that arrive on the shore but also who is sending these notes that form your only contact with the outside world.

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2
2nd Place - Light the Fires by Dead Five

Light The Fires is a stunning new puzzle game that offers gameplay that not only lends itself to a variety of different gameplay lengths and styles but also hopes to offer never before seen mechanics too. Currently, the game has 100 levels to challenge players, with more in production right now.

Beyond that, Dead Five is also planning a dual-monetisation system in order to allow players to adapt gameplay to whatever their preference is in this department too. All in all, it's a game that impressed the judges, thanks to a high level of simplicity and accessibility that seamlessly blends with an impressive amount of depth and individuality.

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3
3rd Place - Breach Wanderers by Baronnerie Games

Through Breach Wanderers, Baronnerie Games has created what looks set to be a brand new take on the roguelike deck-builder genre. As such, players can look forward to a high level of customisation, including the ability to customize not only your starting deck but also as the cards that you will see during a run

This unique gameplay helps to make the game far less dependent on randomness and luck, and in turn, allows players' creativity to shine. Of course, the ability to build unique decks centred around the player isn't the only customisation on offer, as Breach Wanderers also features an RPG-inspired customization progress system too, meaning you pick the way you level up, and in turn how you approach the gameplay.

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4
Tetcore by Dimlix

Tetcore sets players off on a space journey to beautiful newly uncovered hex stars, through engaging and innovative puzzle action. Within the game, your mission is to uncover undiscovered extraterrestrial objects by dropping hexagon blocks onto the surface from space.

The gameplay itself is set to feature a plethora of hex bricks, which make up the core of the game’s mechanics, a multitude of varying puzzles, and tens of stars to uncover. Through this, Tetcore promises hours of engaging puzzle gameplay that requires quick thinking, and a variety of tactics in order to place the bricks in the right place and survive.

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5
Questlike: Pocket by Spritewrench Studios

In Spritewrench Studios’ Questlike: Pocket, players take on the role of a hunter who sets off on an adventure to track beasts hiding in real-world locations. Oh, and by real-world, we mean real-world thanks to the game's GPS location-based gameplay.

Inspired by the likes of Pokemon Go and Monster Hunter World, Questlike: Pocket sees creatures hidden within distinct biomes, which are then overlaid onto real-world places of interest that players can head out to and discover. Of course, good tracking isn’t the only skill you’ll need to survive, and as such, you’ll also be able to craft new gear and acquire a range of weapons as you set off to become the world’s best hunter.

6
Jars by Mousetrap Games

Coming from our former two-time winners, Jars is a brand new take on the well-established tower defence genre. Within the game, players defend their basement by smashing jars. The catch, you won’t know whether what’s inside is friend or foe, and because of this, you’ll have to think fast and act even faster in order to tactically defend your territory.

Of course, this isn’t the only new challenge though, as every few levels new mechanics are introduced turning the gameplay on its head all over again. Finally, if that wasn’t enough, the game is presented in a beautifully bizarre Tim Burton inspired aesthetic.

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7
Space Frog Intern by Made With Jam

Space Frog Intern is a stylish pixel art game with tight and focused fast-pace, stomp and shooter action. As such, players take control of the titular amphibian space explorer before taking on the waves of alien enemies that are hell-bent on taking you down. As alluded to, this will require fast-paced reflexes, a quick trigger, and a good gravity-defying stomp.

8
StoriePlay by StoriePlay

StoriePlay is an interactive, engaging storytelling game for kids. One that brings these stories to life in front of your eyes through augmented reality. As such, children and adults alike will be able to transform just about anywhere into their very own interactive book. In this case, the story we saw at the pitch, which will be the first story released, involved firefighting adventures.

Of course, given this is a game too, there will be a variety of challenges and fun activities to complete within the AR world brought to life in front of you. These games are set to promote cognitive thinking skills, spatial awareness, and general knowledge.

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9
Dispelled by Digital Witchcraft Softworks

Inspired by the classic arcade titles of old, but designed with modern hardware at the forefront of the production, Dispelled is a tactical arcade-style shoot-em-up. One that consists of skill-based arcade action with a fair helping of shooter and strategy elements thrown in for good measure.

What’s more, the developer promises a completely offline experience, with no micro-transaction, permissions or adverts, so as not to break that true old school feeling. *No permissions requested

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10
Lazara Battle Heroes by Gadgets Gaming

Taking inspiration from classics of the genre, Lazara Battle Heroes is a mid-hard core turn-based RPG with a stylish art style inspired by modern comics. Within the game, you’ll be able to collect champions, create and grow your own team, style your heroes to your preferred look, and of course gather a plethora of different weapons and skills.

From here you and your team will set off on a quest through a fantasy world filled with knights, mages, dragons and even zombies. Hopefully, the team you create will be up to the task of wiping out the darkest evil and in turn restoring peace and tranquillity to the world of Lazara.

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11
Puzzle Tower by Oleksandr Ieremenko

Puzzle Tower is a single-player puzzler in which players must chase that high score by either dumping or destroying all of the balls placed within the aforementioned “Puzzle Tower”. This might sound simple, but this is of course a puzzle game, and as such there are a variety of challenges placed in front of you.

These challenges will include puzzles such as having to combine self-destroying balls, unlock cross locked disks, flip towers and avoid obstacles. To top it off, all of this takes place across two different environments, including the deep recesses of space, and the unforgiving heat of the desert.

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12
Collapsus by Wraith Games

Collapsus is a brand new block-busting puzzle game with a twist. Within the game, you’ll join Leon the Chameleon as you tilt, twist, turn, and flip your way through one huge never-ending puzzle. Think of the greats of the genre such as Tetris and Puyo-Puyo all mashed together, but then throw on top the fact that you can control the board itself.

What’s more, in Collapsus you aren’t being tasked with swapping the blocks. Instead, you must utilise the resource-management mechanic to permanently break them, before allowing gravity to do its work with the remaining blocks. Of course, don’t forget the fact that you can rotate the screen.

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13
Xelon Tusk: Mission Space Moles by Spinal Developments

In this re-imagining of the children's classic "Whack-a-mole", players are cast in the role of fearless leader Xelon Tusk as he and his Portal Keepers attempt to stop a stealth invasion of our solar system from the nefarious space moles. To stop them players must not only seek to capture these moles but also make sure they equally don’t escape through alternative portals.

The game is still in the very early stages of development, but through Xelon Tusk Spinal Developments hope to create a game that replicates and advances the carnival fun that many of us will remember from childhood.

14
Jafar Adventures by Shinko Games / Kokoro Games

Set in a starving world in which all food has been mysteriously poisoned, you control the one person seemingly invulnerable to these plights. That person is Jafar, a man who sets off on a journey to save the world by finding magical ingredients and creating brand meals not affected by this global catastrophe.

The gameplay itself takes the form of a traditional endless runner, in which players must avoid pitfalls and traps whilst collecting as much of these special ingredients as possible. Interestingly, thanks to the inspiration of the Arabic language, players will find that in this game you will be running from right to left on the screen, rather than the western standard of left to right.

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15
Quoridor by DorfakET

Inspired by the board game of the same name, in this online turn-based board players must look to get their board piece to the last cell on the 9X9 board. Of course, this isn’t quite as simple as it sounds though, as each player is granted ten walls that allow them to block their opponent’s way.

For fans of the growing digital board game genre, this is definitely one to keep your eyes on, as it hopes to bring a popular experience to the small screen and give board game fans a brand new experience to enjoy.

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Sophia Aubrey Drake
Sophia Aubrey Drake
A 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. She's also currently on a quest to catch every last Pokemon.