The Big Indie Pitch is a regular event run by the makers of Pocket Gamer and PC Games Insider. It sees indie developers engage in a speed-dating-styled pitching competition for fame and those sweet, sweet promotional packages.

The event gives indies five 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 a number of past Big Indie Pitch contestants to offer their views.

Today, we're speaking to Clement Marthe from PlayTogether Studio, who submitted Run Prop, Run! to The Digital Big Indie Pitch (PC+Console Edition) #13, and walked away as the joint second place runner-up.

Sophia Aubrey Drake: Tell us a little about yourself and your indie studio - who is on the team, and what are their inspirations?

Clement Marthe: I'm Clement Marthe (AKA Clem), founder of PlayTogether Studio. We focus on multiplayer cooperative experiences. Our inspirations come not only from the games we play (way too many), but also from movies and books.

Tell us about Run Prop, Run! that you pitched at the competition.

Run Prop, Run! is a modernized prop hunt game with abilities, platforming and crazy game rules like "last prop standing". We have awesome plans for 2022: a new game mode, fresh content, and a big surprise for the end of the year.

What do you think are the most unique and interesting aspects of Run Prop, Run! that gamers may never have seen before.

I don't think someone ever saw that many googly eyes. Jokes aside, there's a unique Last Prop Standing mode that is not in other hide-and-seek games.

Prop Hunt games have been growing in popularity recently, as have party games that allow for a lot of chaotic fun. What made you choose this type of game, and what do you think you bring to it that may not have been seen before?

We are the only prop hunt that is actually non-violent. We're also the only one with a Last Prop Standing mode where you start with 1 hunter versus 11 props and then finish at 11 hunters versus 1 prop. Through this, the tension keeps rising for an epic ending.

How did you come to choose the platforms that you would develop Run Prop, Run! for?

We chose Steam because it was the fastest way to get onto the market with decent exposure. But we built the game with multi-platform in mind so we also aim at the consoles for 2023 and mobile for 2022.

Looking at the studio a little more now. How hard is it to survive as an Indie developer? 

Immensely hard. Even if I'm thankful for the tremendous support local studios get from the Quebec province, it gets harder and harder to get noticed in this ocean of games.

Are there any tips and advice you would give to an independent developer out there who are just starting out?

It is frightening, but get your early prototype in front of playtesters as soon as possible! You will get priceless information on where you should head next.

How did you find your experience pitching as a part of the Big Indie Pitch?

The "speed-pitching" format is quite unique but it's awesome to focus on what really matters about your game. I've learned a lot in the process.

What do you feel you have gained from the experience, and what do you still hope to gain?

I've met tons of interesting people and got a lot of valuable feedback on the game and the studio. We already started to implement changes in the game design.

What are your hopes for this game in the future, and do you have any plans for any future projects?

I hope we'll find the right publisher for Run Prop, Run!, the game has tremendous potential, we just need the right partners to support the development of the game. We want to add a new game mode, support more platforms and add a massive surprise feature by the end of 2023.

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, or even our new Digital pitches.

All our upcoming pitches including how to enter can be found over on our upcoming events page on BigIndiePitch.com.

Get the latest news, interviews and in-depth analysis on Twitter, Facebook, and our daily newsletter.