Tandem Events, organisers of Develop:Brighton 2019, have today announced the ten finalists in this year’s Indie Showcase competition. Each of the games will be featured in the Expo on Wednesday 10 July and Thursday 11 July at the Hilton Brighton Metropole, during the conference.
The finalists will be competing for two prizes. An Overall Winner will be decided by a panel of judges, while a People’s Choice award will be voted on by attendees. The winners, or winner, will be announced during the final session on the final day of Develop:Brighton.
The finalists were selected by a panel of judges and range from an archaeological narrative adventure to a zen music sandbox game to a fast-paced fighting game for mobile.
The Finalists
- Cadence by Made With Monster Love (PC)
Cadence is a zen music sandbox game. Starting with minimalist puzzles, the experience builds slowly into a safe space for people to understand and explore their own creativity. - Gladiabots by GFX47 (PC, Android)
In Gladiabots, players carefully construct the AI of their robot squad and send them into the battle arena, iterating, improving and repeating until they outsmart all their opponents across 3 distinct game modes in either the single player campaign, freeplay or in online multiplayer. - Heaven’s Vault by inkle (PC, PS4)
Heaven’s Vault is an archaeological narrative adventure with an entire hieroglyphic language to decipher. Players take on the role of Aliya Elasra, who sails the rivers of space with her robot assistant Six, attempting to solve the mysteries of the Nebula’s forgotten 5,000 year history. - Oddman by Set Snail (iOS)
Oddman is a fast-paced fighting game with simple swipe controls for mobile and tablet. You fight against funny looking creatures and push them into piranha infested waters without falling in yourself. With a king of the hill-inspired gameplay the game offers non-stop action and intense boss battles. - Pacer by R8 Games (PC, Xbox One)
Pacer is a pulse-raising future generation anti-gravity racer that mixes high octane speed with fully-customisable craft, allowing players to tweak until they’ve outfitted the perfect winning killing machine to complement their skills. - The Procession to Calvary by Joe Richardson (PC)
The Procession to Calvary is a Pythonesque adventure game made from Renaissance paintings, and a spiritual successor to the critically acclaimed Four Last Things. - Sea Salt by YCJY Games AB (PC)
Sea Salt is a narrative action game with a bit of real-time strategy elements. You control a personalised troop of monsters sent by an Old God, Dagon, to punish humans for not sacrificing what was asked. - Smith and Winston by Execution Unit (PC, PS4, Switch)
When a strange signal is detected in deep space the Federation orders Smith and Winston to go and investigate. What they find, after a brief nap, is a shattered ring world, aliens and an evil overlord called the VOID. - Space Race by Nosebleed Interactive (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One)
Space Race is a loot grind RPG where you race beautiful retro-futuristic vehicles, wreck opponents and upgrade really cool sci-fi abilities rather than crawling dungeons. It’s a CARPG; a 3D racing game that takes its inspiration from some unlikely sources. - Touch Type Tale – Strategic Typing by Pumpernickel Studio (PC)
With barbarians at the gates and an empty throne to claim, an unlikely hero emerges to save the kingdom by typing!? Touch Type Tale is a real-time strategy game featuring a story rich campaign and online competitive play, all controlled by typing.
“We had a fantastic selection of games this year, and competition for the ten places was extremely close!” said developer Alistair Aitcheson, who chaired the judging panel. “The level of variety and imagination was delightful and it was a privilege to be able to try out so many great games.
“We saw technically outstanding work, beautiful art styles, enchanting and witty writing, and some really challenging concepts. On behalf of all the judges, congratulations to the finalists – I’m so excited to see you there at the exhibition – and thank you so much to everyone who entered!”
In 2018 parody golf physics simulator WHAT THE GOLF?and fast-paced arcade platformer Skybolt Zack were voted the Overall and People’s Choice winners respectively.
Shortlisted games in previous editions of the competition include the BAFTA Award-winning That Dragon, Cancer, acclaimed puzzle platformer Gunpoint and Action Henk, which was picked up by publisher Curve Studios following the event.
“This year’s Indie Showcase finalists once again show the diverse range of games being made indies,” said Andy Lane, managing director at Tandem Events. “These games are fascinating, inventive, and will certainly be popular at this year’s Expo.”
Develop:Brighton is a three-day conference and expo running from Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 July 2019 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole. On Wednesday 10 July, at the same venue, the industry will gather to celebrate its best and brightest at The Develop:Star Awards.
Conference passes are available to buy at: www.developconference.com. Entry to the expo, which includes free Indie Bootcamp sessions and networking events, is free.
