PitchYaGame June 2024

PitchYaGame started during COVID lockdown in 2020 and its purpose was for indie game developers to pitch their works in progress and bring attention from publishers, possible future or present customers and more. Created by @LiamTwose on Twitter, PitchYaGame has blown up to unimaginable reach with more and more pitches each time around. I started as a member of team PYG during the very first one in a very minor role on instructing people on how to post, answering questions and directing them to available sites as well as the official Discord. It is now done twice a year opposed to the previous monthly formula as its too large to have so often.

I started these articles with an accompanying podcast from the start. Although those old articles are no longer available, the podcasts are still live. I have made the decision to continue these articles as well as my podcast to try and help shine a light on hard working indie devs who have works of art that I myself would purchase and/or play. So with that said, here are some games from June 2024's PitchYaGame that I found to be interesting and entertaining. There were so many to choose from so I chose some that looked unique to me as there were a lot of games of similar genres that were too close together for me to choose which one to put in this article. So, that being said, its good to be back and lets get into it

The first game I want to mention is "i am a Caterpillar" where obviously, you play as a caterpillar. The movement in this game looks extremely smooth, it has a gliding mechanic where you use what looks like a flower pedal that propels like a helicopter blade as well as a beautiful looking environment. I will keep this one short, because to be honest I was hesitant to add it to the list because the dev mentioned they didn't have time to do a pitch, which is kind of the point to "Pitch Ya Game" but they did post it during the time window and it looked too good to not mention at least. The game is also available to wishlist on Steam with no official release date set as of posting this article.

Pitch: "It’s the last #PitchYaGame before the full release of One S‘More – our wholesome puzzle game! 🍪 Rearrange all kinds of sweets to build a path for your squishy marshmallow friend. Challenging puzzles in bite-sized levels call for creative use of the simple mechanics. 🧠"

With a demo currently available and a release date of September 23rd 2024, in One S'more you play as a marshmallow solving puzzles on platforms trying to make it to the chocolate cookie platforms to become the perfect smore. The demo also appears to have an editor where players can create their own level designs and unique challenges for others to play. The level biomes have amazing artwork and work well to stand out from each other but still look part of the same world. This is one of the games I will be playing the demo for to get a more detailed look at the game and mechanics.

Pitch: "#PitchYaGame !!! RED SNOW is a brutally violent snowboarding game where your kills boost your combo score. Flip, spin, and grind to survive against violent mobs of winter-sports-enthusiasts. Upgrade your arsenal between runs and become the ultimate snowboarder-warrior."

RED FREAKIN SNOW!!! So call me old ok, I loved games like Cool Boarders, SSX, etc. The graphics in this game give me the feel of these old snowboarding games, but then you add GUNS!!! How can you not have grown up in the area of N64 and not be absolutely hyped over something like this? As of right now I believe they have released a demo and have a 2024 planned release, there are also regular live streams it seems like from the steam page. But man!!! Being mid-air doing a 360/720/900 while bullet storming other snowboarders and getting hit and mangled yourself is the experience we knew we always wanted as a kid but knew we could never get.. until now!

"🍻 Run your fantasy Tavern 👨‍🍳 Cook delicious food 👹 Meet funny characters"

I included this as not only a unique take on this type of game, but for all the extras put in. I'm no stranger to how popular games like "Diner Dash" are. In this 3D first person Sims type game, you get to design your bar, open the doors, pour the beers and give table service directly to the customers. This is a game I would expect to be in 2D vecor or pixel art and not the game I have seen here. Maybe because I don't play many sim games, but this one has just done so much more than at least the popular ones I've seen. It does look like they also have a demo available and is slated for an August 2024 release. They are actually currently streaming the game as I type this so I am pausing this article to watch for a while ha.

Pitch: "Hi #PitchYaGame Urchins & Ink is a twin shooter that teaches Japanese! We hope to make weebs literate🎌Whether sub or dub, knowing your favorite characters never hurt🦑❤️ Absolute beginner to Kanji welcome!"

Not always easy to find an educational game that I feel like I would play or recommend because most times they come out kind of corny or simple and its hard to work education into a game. In this case, it flows all so well together and feels like you are just playing a game. As I'm not familiar with (though I plan on being now) the languages offered, it appears to have 3 different forms of Japanese you can practice and learn here. The game is out and available now as well. One thing before I move on that I have to mention, is the dev's passion put into this game and every project I see in her posts. The dressing up, the props, the posters! Everything just has so much love for the craft behind it that it excites me to follow her journey and see where this game goes and hope I can have some hand in helping people find this game as well!

Pitch: "#PitchYaGame I am creating a #horror game where you play as a baby on a Tricycle which you can customize, paint and ride around the childcare around with! 🚲 👶"

Ok.. so this is TERRIFYING!! You play as a baby, I got that part. But I'm not quite sure if the baby is supposed to be scared or if others might possibly be scared of this baby, who apparently is cruising around on a customizable tricycle through hell having a good ol' time just stacking toys in their lil wagon. So it does look like a chapter based game and says that Chapter 1 demo is out now, which I will be playing for my article on the deeper dive for games that have demos available. There's no set release date as of yet but looks like they are definitely getting close. This is one I'm excited to see where it goes and I'm very curious on how the chapter structure, if it is how I think it is, is going to work in this game.

Pitch: " Old School Rally is a PS1-style rally game inspired by the classics, carefully designed to look like late '90s game. 🏁"

I gotta say, I never thought I would see something that looked so real but also reminded me of Excite Bike at the same time. It has a 3D realism too it but still maintains this pixel look. Its the perfect balance between modern and retro. It does have a demo available as well as a 2024 release date. There seems to be a decent collection of cars from what I see on the steam page, not sure if all cars are even shown. Has both 3rd and 1st person views, music gets you in the mood to go drag race someone that looks at you crazy at the next red light you might happen to pull up on. The night time driving and the way the headlights kind of grab the street and sides of the "mountain" area is really neat as well. I didn't see too many racing games this time around, but again, growing up in that era of video games makes it hard for there to be one I would choose over Old School RALLY!

Pitch: "Slay the Minotaur is a challenging action roguelike where you must become the strongest in the labyrinth before the terrifying Minotaur kills you!"

So this one is my guilty pleasure! If you have listened to previous podcasts or heard me talk about ANYTHING Greek Mythology, you will know that's my favorite thing of all time. So the idea of a minotaur and a labyrinth was all i needed to hear to put this game on my list. I am also (still) working on a labyrinth game (but enough about me). In the trailer here I see cyclops, Medusa and other enemies as well as an old school semi clunky fighting style that brings me back to the PS1 days, and I mean that in the greatest way possible. The game IS available on steam right now for 4.99 so this is an automatic purchase from me!

Pitch: "Screenbound is a game where you play in 2d and 3d at the same time! Certain factors influence both dimensions, so you can't focus on just one."

I'm not even going to pretend like I understand how to play this game. You are walking around in a 3D world while holding on a Gameboy type handheld system and what appears on that handheld, you can use in your 3D world, even if it isn't visable in your 3D world. WILD and such a unique concept. I don't think I've seen 3D and 2D put together in this type of way at all ever. It is available for wishlist and looks like the dev has a stream coming up for a steam event. Definitely check in on this one as soon as possible.

Pitch: "Exclusive #PitchYaGame drop- a teaser trailer for our new game! Scare your friends & be scared in our haunted house multiplayer VR game for the Quest 3! 👻Set scary traps to freak out your friends 👹Appear in front of them as horrible monsters 😱If they scream, you get a point!"

Admittedly I have only played a handful of VR games as not many people I know own a headset and I prefer to play games with people. I couldn't find a title for this game or a cover art but I think this is artwork that will be going in the game. The idea of a haunted house that you get together with other players is an incredible idea. Its like a jump scare Dead By Daylight and that is such an amazing concept. Setting traps and jump scares, trying to avoid jump scares in a haunted hotel. The idea of this game just hit with me as a huge fan of horror games and movies alike. Never got scared in haunted houses as a child as they were all sort of predictable to me, but my friends setting up something to scare me? The people who know me? That might be a fun challenge to take on!

In conclusion, thank you everyone for making it this far in the article. There were SO MANY good games during this round of PitchYaGame, so many in fact I may have to do a round 2 to this article! There are still so many games I want to talk about still but wanted to keep my first article back to 10 games to not overwhelm. The podcast will also be available a day or so after the release of this, I will be playing all the games that have demos available and will be returning here for that in depth look at each. I also plan on reaching out to some of these devs for interviews to talk about there games from their perspectives. Thank you for reading.. Stay decent!