Sure, we gamers enjoy the triple-A, million dollars games that big-name, big-time developers and publishers with large employee numbers churn out to us in retail stores every year. However, how about the games that aren’t big budget titles, made by a small team of people (if not just one person), and don’t get the same mainstream attention? Here’s a secret: some of those independently-developed video games are just as fun (if not MORE fun) than their big-budget counterparts. For the real stories behind some the most recently acclaimed games of this type, look no further than the documentary, Indie Game: The Movie.
In Indie Game: The Movie, directed by James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, we get a glimpse at the underdogs of the video game industry, indie game developers, who sacrifice money, health and emotional sanity to realize their lifelong passions and dreams of sharing their creative visions with the rest of the world. The film follows Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes during the development of Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish, during the development of Fez, and Jonathan Blow, who reflects on the success of his game, Braid. Indie Game: The Movie, a winner of a Sundance award, captures the tension and drama by focusing on these creators’ vulnerability and obsessive quest to express themselves through this modern day, interactive digital art form.
This is a fantastic documentary largely due to the passion and dedication of the gamer-creators it follows, but also cos of the pleasing originality displayed in their games.
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