Although I have seen the title Indie Game: The Movie pop up on my Netflix account multiple times, I never really had an interest in watching it. I think this was mostly because I figured it was just going to be about games that I had never heard of before, or that it would about the most “retro” (hipster if you will) games out there. So when I started the movie and was immediately intrigued by the games they were talking about, I was actually quite surprised. I thought it was an very interesting look at another side of video games, namely the world of independently created games.
One of the things that stuck out to me about the movie was how games such as Super Meat Boy, Limbo and FEZ were created by one or two people. This is surprising to me because I have actually heard, and played, some of these games, which I thought were different but still entertaining. I guess I thought that all “well put together games“ must have been created by groups of programers, as it is a very time consuming process. I figured if only two people were to work on a game it would be a simple game such as the Impossible Quiz or other little online flash games. On this same line, that means that if these games are a success, the programers stand to make a lot of money because it is only split between only a couple of people.
Shifting gears, the values that I saw were addressed in the movie had a lot to do with free self expression, individualistic honesty, and even a bit of empowerment. The programers all talked about how the games they created were self reflections of their own personal struggles, dreams, and childhood fantasies. They also talked about how (if the games failed to come together) they would never join a big game company because it would stifle their creativity and would not allow them to create the exact game they wanted to. Lastly, they talked about how their hope is that people come to realize that games can be an art form, and that if people have the passion, they too can create a piece of art that reflects their personality and is not tied directly to corporate gaming.
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