Introducing Project PIGI: The First Locally-Driven Initiative to Create and Promote Original Philippine-Made Games

Independent game development studios Ranida Games, Squeaky Wheel, and Yangyang Mobile are excited to present Project PIGI (Philippine Indie Games Initiative), a first of its kind IP creation and mentorship initiative to help Philippine game developers level up and make their dream games a reality. Project PIGI aims to bridge the gap between Philippine game developers and publishers to open up funding opportunities and stimulate the creation of new IPs. 

Project PIGI co-organizers are united in the belief that creating and propagating Philippine-made game IP will cement the status of the Philippines as a player in the game development industry. The program will run for 10 months from August 2021 until April 2022, and it will pass through three stages.

The first stage of the process will take six months and will include project submission phase and monthly game development panels. These panels will cover the process of game creation from conceptualization and team management, all the way up to how to pitch games to publishers and platforms. At this stage, developers will also be invited to submit their games to be reviewed by a panel of local experts. 

In the second stage, up to 10 of the most promising game entries will be selected from the pool of candidates to receive additional support from an all-Filipino roster of mentors. These mentors are all veteran game developers who have excelled in their fields and are eager to pass on their wisdom to the next batch of developers rising out of the Philippines. Mentors will advise these finalists over a period of three months so they can polish their prototypes and create pitch decks.

The final stage of the initiative is an online pitch day event wherein the finalists will present their games to an audience of local and international viewers, including publishers and platform holders. A panel of judges will critique their pitches, and along with the audience, will vote for a Judges’ choice and an Audience’s choice award for their favorite game pitches. After the pitch day, the Project PIGI organizing committee members will help finalists reach out to partners and publishers to help them secure publishing and possibly funding for their games.

Project PIGI is supported by GDAP (Game Developers Association of the Philippines) and SIKAP (Creative Content Creators Association of the Philippines) together with the following sponsors: Raw Fury, OP Games, Neon Doctrine, Philips, Unity, and Boomzap. For more information, visit project PIGI’s official website and Facebook page.