Hacker Cinema
Indie Game: The Movie
2012 · Film · documentary · 103 min
Directed by James Swirsky, Lisanne Pajot
Follows the dramatic journeys of video game developers as they create and release their games to the world. It's about making video games, but at its core, it's about the creative process, and exposing yourself through your work.
37 positive4 negative1 mixed23 neutralfrom 65 commenters
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72 comments on Hacker News
Any video recommendations? I've now watched the Leaf Corcoran (itch.io) one, (https://xoxofest.com/2016/videos/leaf-corcoran/), the Maciej Ceglowski (pinboard.in) one (https://xoxofest.com/2013/videos/maciej-ceglowski/), and the James Swirsky & Lisanne Pajot (Indie Game: The Movie) one (https://xoxofest.com/2012/videos/james-swirsky-lisanne-pajot/). These are making me nostalgic for the early 2010s.
Look up Indie Game: The Movie
This doc and the Elixir doc don't really capture much imo. They are short and hardly get the origin stories told before ending. There isn't much to get excited about before they are over, and they feel kinda like they exist to stroke the egos of those appearing in the film, and not so much to show the community or more importantly the people outside of the community, how awesome these things are. Give me a 1.5 hour long doc on elixir and rails and get past the patting each other on the backs part and into the struggles over the years, switch back and forth between different uses at different shops, etc. Essentially, steal the format of Indie Game The Movie and I'll be more into these because I want there to be great docs about software
You're almost certainly thinking of Phil Fish, who did indeed leave the games industry after creating Fez, being featured in Indie Game The Movie (alongside Jon Blow of Braid, which might be the source of the confusion), and getting in a lot of spicy Twitter arguments.
I really like this list. I would only add:
- Indie game: the movie
- Moneyball
If anything I'd say Fez's real achievement is the art. Once the novelty of the 2D/3D hybrid gimmick has dried up (which happens pretty fast), the gameplay is pretty mediocre.
If you watched Indie Game: The Movie, it seemed like pretty much the entirety of Phil Fish's effort went into obsessing over the art. And I have to give him credit that it looks pretty damn good.
Not at all. I think Indie Game The Movie took a lot of liberties to show him a certain way. I think the stress of it all got to him and now he does other things. I’m more aquatinted with the programmer Renaud from back in the days. I think the media loves a juicy meltdown story and tried to make him a scapegoat for the indie game industry going mainstream.
Indie games not on magazines says more about the indie games at the time, nothing more. How many times you going to feature Jonathan Blow?
Was Phil Fish insufferable? I don’t know, never met him. Did he say some things that were not in alignment with my worldview? Yeah, sure.
I do think Fez, the game, the wonderful spectacularly clever game, was the indie equivalent of a Mario brothers hit.
The void I think you speak of was when XNA died, MonoGame wasn’t quite there yet, people jumped to Unity and it took them awhile to get up to speed in it. Others like me went off and wrote their own engines and stuff, others joined the ranks of the studios.
I think Phil made the best game he could. That’s all that matters. Everything else is superfluous.
I agree. It makes me reminisce about the time I watched “Indie Game: The Movie (2012)”.
Good luck to all indie game developers!
If you need a break, seeing this documentary about it will be worth your time: Indie Game: The Movie (2012) https://moviewise.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/indie-game-the-movie/
And, if you need some encouragement or diversion about the joy and reward of learning and how it get help you achieve "flow" and happiness from your work, please read: Some Advice On Happiness From A Few Good Movies https://moviewise.substack.com/p/going-through-an-existential-crisis
I enjoyed Branching Paths, which gave provides a unique window into the Japanese indie game developer scene -- If you liked Indie Game: The Movie 2012 and are interested in Japanese media, then watch at least the trailer:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/494680/Branching_Paths/
Ed: “If you can’t get the work done, then the past two years are basically worth nothing … There were at least five times, a good five times, where I totally broke down and I just didn’t want to do it anymore … I was actually really worried that either Tommy or I would die in the process of making this.”
From:
https://moviewise.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/indie-game-the-movie/
You can see Indie Game for free on Mailchimp.com https://mailchimp.com/presents/film/indie-game-the-movie/
I'm going to list just a few of the best I have seen so far:
- The Last Dance [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8420184/]
- Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13651632/]
- Indie Game: The Movie [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1942884/]
- The Staircase [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388644/]
- Making a Murderer [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5189670/]
- Icarus [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333060/]
- Apollo 11 [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8760684/]
I love documentaries, and these are my favourites. All very worth a watch.
- The Crash Reel
- McConkey
- Buck
- Apollo 11
- Carts of Darkness
- The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
- Samsara
- Baraka
- Brooklyn Castle
- Spellbound
- Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
- Crumb
- The Jinx
- The Art of Flight
- King of Kong
- Indie Game: The Movie
- Capturing the Friedmans
- OJ: Made in America
- The Barkley Marathons
- The Seven Five
- Murderball
- Unbranded
- Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee
- Big River Man
- Hoop Dreams
- Word Wars
- Free Solo
- Long Shot
- Meru
- Being Elmo
- All This Mayhem
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- The Cove
- Project Nim
- Alone in the Wilderness
- Behind the Curve
- The Dawn Wall
- Grizzly Man
- 13th
- Winnebago Man
- Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler
- Get Me Roger Stone
- Icarus
- 13th
- Koyaanisqatsi
- The Thin Blue Line
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Oklahoma City
- Virunga
- The Staircase
- Evil Genius
- Undefeated
- Betting on zero
I found the original “Indie Game: The Movie” very personally inspiring, the sequel less so. It’s a documentary about a number of indie game developers working really hard and risking it all to make it. The passion these people are pouring into their games is palpable.
“Mr. Robot” is great if you don’t mind it’s overdramatized dystopian atmosphere. Probably one of the most realistic use of computers in a TV show. It has ups and downs, some of its best and worst episodes are in its final season, it’s a pretty interesting roller coaster.
“Computer Chess” is a weird black and white fictional movie about people trying to build the best Chess AI in the 80s. I really enjoyed it. Does a great job capturing the vibe of the era.
Jonathan is definitely not on the same scale as Notch. There is only a brief period where Jonathan was well known and mainly due to Indie Game: The Movie
RE: Hero worship
Tangential, but I think that's one thing "Indie Game: The Movie" did really well - it covered the indie game devs while also really humanizing them and their weaknesses.
This was a stat in "Indie Game: The Movie", IIRC at least.
Indie Game: The Movie released in 2012, too.
This was a really nice read. In the past, I've read or seen pieces detailing the personal story of a particular indie game developer, and often I walk away feeling kind of grated by their personalities (See "Indie Game: The Movie" for a particularly high octane example). But after reading it I felt warmed by how much you could see the artist in his art.
I'm a big fan of the book and got a similar feeling from watching Indie Game: The Movie. Good documentary about a few small indie game studios that makes you feel like you can start something amazing.
trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhaT78i1x2M
Braid was one of the three games included in "Indie Game: The Movie." What exactly would Jonathan Blow have needed to do to "market it as an indie", giant glowing arrows on the title screen saying "this is an indie"?
Braid was never marketed as an "indie game". Outside of tigsource and the IGF, "indie games" as a category didn't really take until a few years later (with things like Super Meat Boy and it's inclusion in 'Indie Game : The Movie'). The term was largely unknown until 2010 or so
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=indie%20games
> They're not going to live in cardboard boxes.
Maybe not, but I've seen quite a few indies with massive debt, and who are struggling with depression & anxiety as a result, and that's huge pressure on their family. Which makes keeping the family together an added anxiety, and then it's a vicious cycle. [It echoes the Phil Fish line from Indie Game: The Movie about wanting to kill himself.]
Burning yourself out on making a game (or a startup, or anything) is not worth that. Family and general happiness is so important. Keep things in scope so that if the lottery ticket doesn't work out, you've still got things to fall back on.
I haven't played the new Doom yet, but having recently watched the sequel to "Indie Game: The Movie", is the destruction of the comm screen related to the hate in the movie of current games starting out with so much hand-holding and obligatory tutorials that break the immersion and thwart the joy of discovery? If so, gotta love the commentary...
I think that was the guy behind Fez, Phil Fish:
> Fish, meanwhile, is heartbreakingly invested in a game he can't finish for his own perfectionism. "It's me, my ego. My identity is at risk. It's my perception of myself," he says of Fez. In the film's most startling moment, he's asked what he will do if he doesn't finish the game. "I will kill myself," he replies, meaning it. "That's my incentive to finish it." The flash of black humour relieves the tension, but it's an alarming vision of a man in desperate times.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-06-indie-game-the-movie-review
I'm pretty sure this is the guy who said in the "Indie Game: the Movie" documentary something akin to: "If my game doesn't succeed I'm going to kill myself" in a sincere fashion.
EDIT: It was the game developer named Fez who made the statement [1].
[1]: 39:00 mark of Indie Game: the Movie .
Here are a couple games you and your daughter might enjoy:
FEZ - also a puzzle-platformer, featured with Braid and Super Meat Boy in Indie Game: The Movie
Portal/Portal 2 - a first-person platform/puzzler with a sci-fi atmosphere
The Long Dark - a single-player adventure/survival game that takes place in the Canadian wilderness. Not a puzzler, but has a painterly art style like Braid and a sense of discovery exploring new locations.
Terraria/Minecraft - these games are already immensely popular among kids. Mining/crafting adventure games in 2-d and 3-d, respectively. There is a creative component in building forts/bases.
FTL: Faster than Light - a spaceship rogue-like game. Too complex for a young child, but fun gameplay if you're into Star Trek/Battlestar Galactica sci-fi themes.
Kerbal Space Program - THE game to learn rocket science and orbital mechanics [1]. Fun, engaging, and tremendously educational. If you've ever dreamed of orbiting the planet or landing on the moon, this is an incredible game. I recommend starting with Science or Career mode, because Sandbox is just overwhelming with the number of parts available. You will probably need to design the rockets at first, but your child can be involved with launching/staging (just requires pressing space bar at the right time).
[1] https://xkcd.com/1356/
Indie Game: The Movie is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. The cinematography is amazing, and they tell a great story about each of the dev teams they follow. Definitely worth a watch.
Yeah, agreed, he's quite the talent. I was more than a little pissed off when Indie Game: The Movie made a special effort to make him look like some kind of nutball for the audience to laugh at. I can't stress how terrible that documentary was. It played up hateful stereotypes of "pathetic geeks" and other things best found on sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory.
Blow was treated very unfairly, imo. He's actually interesting to listen to and something of a deep and critical thinker. Clearly he's someone who understands that games can be a transcendent experience like any art.
I just hope he's working on a VR game soon. I suspect the Vive is going to change everything in a couple months. I'd love to VR in the kinds of worlds he builds.
JBlow is featured in the documentary Indie Game[0][1] which follows the trials and tribulations of development and launch of two indie games Super Meat Boy and Fez.
It's surprising how similar the whole experience is to launching a startup!
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_Game:_The_Movie
[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1942884/
The King of California (the fact you can believe in something and not let obstacles get in the way.)
Indie Game: The Movie
The Revenge Of The Electric Car
just to name a few...
Yeah, they did a good job with Indie Game: The Movie [0] with an order of magnitude less drama.
[0] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1942884/
For anyone interested in a bit of background about him and some other indie gaming greats, I highly recommend checking out "Indie Game the Movie" - it's a documentary about the development process of Braid (Jonathan Blow), Fez (Phil Fish), and Super Meat Boy (Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes).
At about 10 USD it's a bit steeply priced, but I found it well worthwhile: http://buy.indiegamethemovie.com/
That already exists, it's called Indie Game: The Movie.
Definitely add your spiel to the listing on the pirate bay website... see 'Indie Game the Movie' there.
http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7700740
I looked the slides for the first class. They looked fine, although the video is probably where all the meat is.
But I was extremely dissapointed with your Resources slide. Reddit, Twitter and Indie Game the Movie? Where is "A Theory of Fun for Game Design", "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses", "Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design", etc. Where is the real, valid and, may I say, academic knowledge we have?
You say have worked in the industry, and I believe you, but if this the direction you give people to learn more (or they are your sources), I kinda doubt the validity of your knowledge.
I mean, Indie Game the Movie? What does that have to do with Game Design?
For anyone who this article interested, I highly recommend watching Indie Game: The Movie. To say the least, it was eye-opening for me, as someone who hasn't put much creative work in the public space in any very visible way.
It's incredibly humanizing to see these people who built indie games that I enjoy greatly go through the amount of stress that they do, all over pieces of software that most people rarely blink an eye at.
It's also completely understanding when people like Phil Fish or Don Nguyen quit the industry. It takes a certain mindset, and I don't think people who start making games for the fun of expressing themselves fully realize it at first.
You will enjoy these then:
Confessions of a Superhero - wannabe actors working on Hollywood streets as costumed superheroes for tips.
The Great Happiness Space - Japanese male prostitutes entertaining girls in pubs. Suprising twist in the end.
Indie Game The Movie, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope - titles say it all. I guess these two are well known around here, like King of Kong you mentioned.
The only thing I don't like about FEZ is his creator. And the "Indie Game: The Movie" just reinforced that impression. What a douche.
I'm probably the last person on HN who hadn't seen 'Indie Game: The Movie' but an entire third or fourth of it is about the development of Fez by Phil Fish.
That said, I wish Fish would make a second Fez and just not say a word about it until it's maybe a month out. He'd still get hype and sell a ton of game without people pissing him off.
For folks who liked this post, you would probably find Indie Game: The Movie interesting. (It's on Netflix.)
I am becoming impressed with the documentaries coming from KickStarter campaigns.
Indie Game: The Movie
Story of Mojang (Minecraft)
Now this......
"Good Will Hunting" - inspiring and heartwarming classic
"Django Unchained" - Quentin Tarantino's latest amazing film
"Indie Game: The Movie" + "Mojang: The Story of Minecraft" - the most amazing documentaries that I have ever seen
Honestly, I cannot think of any other movies that can join these four in my list of favorites. I would LOVE to see a documentary about the lifecycle of a mobile app development team's entire development process.
Also the Super Meat Boy devs were promised specific promotional considerations, were told that they wouldn't have a chance of success without them, put themselves through incredible agony to meet the corresponding deadline only to find that the promised promotional placement never came. A bit of this is covered in Indie Game the Movie, more on various blogs and postmortems afterwards.
Indie Game: The Movie
Minecraft: The Story of Mojang
I would love a documentary that is like M:TSoM, but solely about app developers.
Are you sure about your examples?
I think you're confusing "xbox live arcade" with "xbox live." You don't have to create games with XNA to get them on xbox live. I specifically remember C++ code in Indie Game: The Movie (for Super Meat Boy). And I'd bet money that Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid, prefers C++ over C#.
This isn't to say C# isn't a viable option on consoles. I believe FEZ is all C#...that game is incredible, from an art design standpoint at least. It did have visible garbage collection pauses though.
Same sentiment on wishing to play both, but I don't think they suck. It's all they have resources for. Have you seen the documentary on Fez in Indie Game: The Movie (2012)? It's on Netflix streaming and it is awesome. Everyone that puts their heart and soul into a game like that and get torn down but trudges ahead despite all odds should be rewarded... even if you are funded by the Canadian government: www.imdb.com/title/tt1942884
Saw Fez on Indie Game: The Movie. Glad to see it worked out, I'd recommend the movie to anyone that hasn't seen it yet either its a great watch.
>The level editor was programmed in a rush and he didn't think that anyone would exploit something offered to them for free.
There's simply no way he actually believed that. It reads as a way to further shift blame to the exploiter by painting him as someone who hasn't just exploited an indie game darling, but has taken advantage of their altruism.
>In the end, the guy who warned him that an "evil hacker" could compromise the system, turned out to be that evil hacker himself.
I really wonder if Mr. Hacker would have gone ahead and done that if Tommy hadn't been so smug about blowing the guy off. If "it's fine" was asking for trouble, "I've done this for a while now" was positively begging for it.
I vaguely recall this incident from when it happened, but having recently watched Indie Game The Movie puts a new perspective on it.
That chain of events fits the personalities demonstrated in the documentary like a glove.
7 hours into the discussion and no link to "Indie Game The Movie" movie that follows SMB devs for few months prior to the launch?
http://www.indiegamethemovie.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1942884
I watched this earlier (backed on Kickstarter) and it's fun to watch. There's no great insight into Minecraft and you won't come away from it knowing more about Minecraft or Mojang or why Minecraft is so successful, but you will see the personalities of some of those involved and things about the community and the things people have done. If you're a fan of Minecraft it's definitely worth watching (but it isn't a Minecraft equivalent of "Indie Game: The Movie")
I'm disappointed that none of the devs of games in HIBs have open-sourced their games since the first one. It was always fun to have a glimpse at the code. I guess the Lugaru source fiasco[0] may have discouraged other devs from open-sourcing their games.
It's also a bit odd that Indie Game: The Movie shows up as a game on Steam. I'm somewhat surprised that Valve hasn't properly expanded into the video/music space given that they sell both movies and soundtracks (to games) on Steam.
[0]http://blog.wolfire.com/2011/02/Counterfeit-Lugaru-on-Apple-s-App-Store-developing
I have to say that 'Indie Game the movie' is absolutely fantastic. It's the programmer's 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'. (with added bonus points for their DRM-free delivery).
Well worth your $10 through http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/ or whatever you pay through this bundle. Go watch the trailer and then buy it in some form.
and for reference: 92% on RT
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/indie_game_the_movie_2012/
For me, it's: "well-priced, DRM-free copy of Indie Game: The Movie (Soundtrack)". So far it's been a pretty good album as background music for work.
Indie Game: The Movie is excellent. I guess I'll have to buy this one.
I'm pretty much going to treat this as a well-priced, DRM-free copy of "Indie Game: The Movie", with some free games attached that I don't have the time to play. :)
They have "Indie Game: The Movie": http://store.steampowered.com/app/207080
So they may add more stuff in the future.
another great documentary:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Indie_Game_The_Movie/70229918?trkid=7115812
about indie games
Indie Game: The Movie - http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/
It's a great documentary!
You can follow their development story in Indie Game: The Movie. Very interesting, especially if you're new to the indie game scene.
I think it's important for stories like this to get out there to contrast with big successes like Super Meat Boy and Fez (which were featured in the awesome movie "Indie Game: The Movie").
In "Indie Game: The Movie" he mentions that their initial funding came (partly?) from a grant from the Canadian government, to promote creative development etc. What happened after that ran out I don't know.
That would be Indie Game: The Movie http://buy.indiegamethemovie.com/
I recently watched the documentary 'Indie Game: the Movie.' While it was great to see small teams make games that sold tens of thousands of copies, some of the devs seemed to have an unwarranted superiority complex about their games vs. mainstream productions. Sure, the big companies often churn out sequels based on the same formulas, but most of these indie games were just riding the coat-tails of 90s platformers. Slapping an edgy theme on a basic platformer and throwing in a couple new gimmicks doesn't make something a transcendent work of art, or competitive with large scale productions. The only game they talked about that seemed genuinely groundbreaking was Minecraft (no pun intended).
I have to make a confession. Initially, I was quite tempted to pirate this film through Pirate Bay. But then I noticed the following comment by the co-director himself. I was incredibly impressed with the tone of the comment, and decided to go ahead and purchase the movie through Amazon, despite the fact that I will probably not have time to watch it in the near future.
Notice that he doesn't chastise, berate, or threaten the individuals who are downloading it through Pirate Bay. In fact, like many scene release .nfo files from piracy groups, he even states, "If you like the movie, consider purchasing it". This is the __right__ way to tackle piracy, in my opinion, and should be commended.
Here is the comment:
Hi Guys,
My name is James Swirsky - I’m one of the two people who made Indie Game: The Movie. Myself and Lisanne Pajot spent our last two years working on this film. We kept a pretty active blog about the production of the film on our site (www.indiegamethemovie.com).
We are a two person team, making the film completely independently. And we want to keep on making films for your enjoyment.
If you like the movie, consider purchasing it over on iTunes, Steam or DRM-Free (in a variety of encodes) directly from us over at www.IndieGameTheMovie.com. You can also get a copy to share with a friend if you’d like to.
Thanks for taking an interest in our film.
-James Swirsky Co-director/Maker of Indie Game: The Movie
It's also available on Blu-ray: http://shop.indiegamethemovie.com/collections/buy-the-movie/products/bluray-regular-edition
And available in iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/indie-game-the-movie/id522421254
I'm tossing between the iTunes and direct download honestly. I like how Apple has it tied to my account and it will be always available (at least I'm assuming at this point). I can then stream it directly to my Apple TV without downloading into iTunes directly.
However, it's only 720p where as the direct download is available DRM free and in 1080p. I just have to wonder, what is VHX? Do we have to worry about them going out of business and I can not longer download the movie? I know, make a backup, but the convenience of these iTunes digital copies that come with the Blu-ray's have spoiled me.
Yes, it is.
Your link is a video on Steam; a trailer for a movie available elsewhere. You can't actually buy Zombie Movie on Steam. Maybe you could, at some point? I haven't heard of it.
Indie Game: The Movie is the first movie available for purchase on Steam (as far as I know)! Steam has 40+ million users, so this is a pretty big precedent.
I saw "Indie Game The Movie" last night (http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/). They followed the ups and downs of developing fez and super meat boy (and some braid).
If you're racing to develop something before you run out of money, take a break and go see this movie. You'll love it.
The funding had its plug pulled at least once (or not renewed), afaik. The authors continued on despite this and more funding was found. Indie Game the Movie chronicles some of this.
For what it's worth, I'll mention this.
I've seen a few episodes of Startup Junkies (http://www.hulu.com/start-up-junkies). It's not the greatest but fairly entertaining.
Also, Indie Game: The Movie seems pretty interesting. I'm not sure when it'll be out though. http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/
The movie that is associated with that clip looks very interesting (Indie Game The Movie). Nice find!
Can't wait for 2011 :).