NOTES ON A PANEL: “WHAT IS AN INDIE GAME?”

indiegame

Seems like no art form is without the argument of “what is indie?” I got a glimpse of this argument in the context of video games at a lively panel at Penny Arcade Expo 2009 moderated by N’Gai Croal (Consultant, Writer, Columnist, Hit Detection LLC). Below are my quick and dirty notes. So what is an indie game to you?

Simon Carless (Chairman, Independent Games Festival):

an indie game is a “punk rock experience”
games that cost $1 like I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!1
so many different “flavors” of indie games out there, from platformers to RTS, etc.
the word “indie” being overused way too much in the industry now, practically means nothing
when people submit to IGF they have to tick a box that asks “are you indie?”
if something potentially non-indie is accepted there is a community friction rule in place, how much will this piss people off?
there should be an “alternative games” label

Derek Yu (Editor-In-Chief, The Independent Gaming Source):

an indie game has no budget
actually it’s a question that really doesn’t have an answer
two ideas when it comes to determining an indie game: intent and priority. The bigger the team, the bigger the budget the more these two ideas change
Dwarf Fortress is a completely inaccessible indie game, but it’s interesting
remember that borrowing money to make a game is in direct proportion to how far over you’re willing to bend over for it

Boyd Multerer (XNA General Manager, Microsoft):

an indie game is about innovation and fun, not budget
there’s a selection problem, mechanisms need to be in place to let the good stuff rise to the top
for indie games to truly thrive there must be more hits to come out of it, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT of gaming so to speak
let the community define what’s fun

James Silva (President, Ska Studios):