Indie Game: The Movie

Josey Wales

I thought this might fit better in this forum than in the Film forum but if it needs to be moved feel free. This is a trailer for a documentary following the making of three indie games - Super Meat Boy, Fez and Braid.

It looks to be very well shot and it will be interesting to get a behind the scenes look at how these games are made. It is going to be at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtBZ68Fx1Kw

Ciaran500

Didn't expect much but it looks great and its following two of my favourite indie games by far. Will be keeping an eye out for this.

Temptamperu

Looks interesting alright. I wish I knew how to make games

chin_grin

Hey, sorry to bump up an old thread (did a search and didn't want to create a new one).

Just wondering that seeing this is out now, who has watched it and what are your opinions of it?

I feel it very limiting only following three indie games (Fez, Super Meat Boy and Braid).

But on the other hand it's a great look at the industry and great to see the talent and the effort that goes in to making them.

I'd even go as far as to say it's quite inspirational (creatively).

VinLieger

chin_grin wrote: »

Hey, sorry to bump up an old thread (did a search and didn't want to create a new one).

Just wondering that seeing this is out now, who has watched it and what are your opinions of it?

I feel it very limiting only following three indie games (Fez, Super Meat Boy and Braid).

But on the other hand it's a great look at the industry and great to see the talent and the effort that goes in to making them.

I'd even go as far as to say it's quite inspirational (creatively).

Really enjoyed it, think it is a must watch for anyone with even a casual interest in gaming and a good insight into how indie games are created.

They did film several indie studios but decided on these 3 for the movie as they were the most compelling stories.
The special edition dvd, when its released, will have loads of bonus footage from the other stuff they filmed

chin_grin

VinLieger wrote: »

Really enjoyed it, think it is a must watch for anyone with even a casual interest in gaming and a good insight into how indie games are created.

They did film several indie studios but decided on these 3 for the movie as they were the most compelling stories.
The special edition dvd, when its released, will have loads of bonus footage from the other stuff they filmed

Actually watched it twice and was surprised to enjoy it again!

Yeah I've come to the conclusion that in this case less is more and it was a good snapshot of three games instead of bogging themselves down with more information that an amateur (like me) would probably get confused and/or lose interest.

That scene when

Fish is in the hotel and raging at his former partner still makes me feel uncomfortable! I even found I was tearing up when Ed McMillen is talking about being an inspiration to someone else.

(Spoilered that just in case!)

Also on a second watch I found out that the filmmakers REALLY like slow pans going from right to left. :pac:

hooradiation

It does seem to lend a lot of weight to the theory that in order to be 'indie' you need to have terrible facial hair.

chin_grin

hooradiation wrote: »

It does seem to lend a lot of weight to the theory that in order to be 'indie' you need to have terrible facial hair.

...or look like Wolverine. :pac:

Josey Wales

I watched Indie Game: The Movie last night and thought it was excellent. Not only did the makers choose their subjects well but it was very nicely shot too.

See the reaction of the Team Meat guys to the success of the game on XBLA was awesome. It really got across the emotional investment they had in that project and how amazing it must be to see that faith repaid.

On the other hand I didn't like Phil Fish at all. He nearly makes me not want to bother with trying out Fez. I'd love to hear what his former partners side of the story. It is a shame he refused to co-operate with the documentary. And seeing todays news that they have decided to put the Fez patch back live that has a bug that will break the game for 1% (a small percentage but must constitute a large number of people) because they want to save money isn't a nice way to repay their customers.

chin_grin

Josey Wales wrote: »

I watched Indie Game: The Movie last night and thought it was excellent. Not only did the makers choose their subjects well but it was very nicely shot too.

See the reaction of the Team Meat guys to the success of the game on XBLA was awesome. It really got across the emotional investment they had in that project and how amazing it must be to see that faith repaid.

On the other hand I didn't like Phil Fish at all. He nearly makes me not want to bother with trying out Fez. I'd love to hear what his former partners side of the story. It is a shame he refused to co-operate with the documentary. And seeing todays news that they have decided to put the Fez patch back live that has a bug that will break the game for 1% (a small percentage but must constitute a large number of people) because they want to save money isn't a nice way to repay their customers.

I read on (I think it was kotaku) earlier that the patch would set them back 40k. And on top of that they still owe Microsoft money for making them 'featured' in the xbla.

I understood his eccentricities and therefore him cracking under pressure, but I wouldn't like to be on the end if he did 'break down'. That rant in the hotel was very unnerving.

C14N

Josey Wales wrote: »

I'd love to hear what his former partners side of the story. It is a shame he refused to co-operate with the documentary.

It said at some point in the credits that he wasn't asked to participate, he didn't refuse the offer.

Sorry to be digging up an old thread but after all of the controversy surrounding Fez 2 being cancelled a short while back, I decided to give this a watch on Netflix. I honestly can't understand all of the hate for Fish. I remember Marcus Beer giving him plenty of un-constructive criticism (calling him things like "tosspot", "hipster", "wanker" and so on) and with that in mind I really felt sided with Fish in hindsight.

I agree that he's not the most likable guy in the world and some people might find some of the stuff in the movie off-putting, such as when he says he would seriously kill himself if Fez didn't get made or that he was worried he would try to kill his former partner if he met him at PAX. I would have liked to hear at least a brief account of the partner's side of the dispute too.

Despite that, he was quite understandable for most of the film. He was given grief from the start about Fez not coming out on time and he clearly had some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder if he felt the need to go back and start the game again three times. The amount of stress he was clearly under was phenomenal and it seems like his entire life was consumed by making Fez and he had nothing else. His entire social life was put on hold for a few years, it sounds like he didn't get any free time, there were the family troubles he talked about and then the partner who kept him wondering if he would have a lawsuit for showing up at PAX. Then he gets to PAX and you can see the humiliation of not getting the game to run properly. Add the stress of whether people would actually even like the game when it's all done and it's pretty easy to see why someone would freak out like he did in the hotel room.

And then after all those years of slaving away, some guy from the internet who really has no contributions of his own on the industry and a bunch of angry, entitled gamers start lashing out spitefully at him and calling him names. It just seems really unfair on the guy from my point of view.

Anyway, sorry for dragging up a (now) old story, I just kept thinking about this after seeing the movie.

Kirby

I get what you are saying but it was his own game.....an indie game. The only pressure he was under was manufactured by he himself and he chose to make the game his life.

While I feel a little sorry for him, I have only a certain amount of sympathy for people who do these things to themselves.

Retr0gamer

Kirby wrote: »

I get what you are saying but it was his own game.....an indie game. The only pressure he was under was manufactured by he himself and he chose to make the game his life.

As someone that just finished making a game if you don't put your entire life on hols it's never going to get made. It's an unfortunate truth about game development.

GTR63

Retr0gamer wrote: »

As someone that just finished making a game if you don't put your entire life on hols it's never going to get made. It's an unfortunate truth about game development.

What kinda game did you make?
A turn based RPG?

Grumpypants

C14N wrote: »

And then after all those years of slaving away, some guy from the internet who really has no contributions of his own on the industry and a bunch of angry, entitled gamers start lashing out spitefully at him and calling him names. It just seems really unfair on the guy from my point of view.

This is the key, some people would love to be able to make games or do something creative but they either lack the skills or they lack the will to put in the effort. Now they are angry at themselves but they don't know how to direct this anger. Rather than looking inwards and trying to make a change or even trying to put in a fraction of the effort people like Fish do, they would rather drag everyone down around them to their own level.

The sad thing is there are a lot of these people out there, and with the growth of the internet they have been able to gather into an audience. So you get people like Jim Sterling, Marcus Beer and similar "commentators" who have contributed nothing to the industry, have never created anything of any note who take the easy way out and instead of saying I can do better and going and doing it, they go online and shout like spoilt 12 year olds about how someone who has poured his life into making a game owes them something!

Not The Real Scarecrow

Anyone look at the new stuff that came out?Supposedly about 100 minutes of catching up with most of the people involved with it since the release of the games. Think the extras are on Steam for about a fiver.

K.O.Kiki

Retr0gamer wrote: »

As someone that just finished making a game if you don't put your entire life on hols it's never going to get made. It's an unfortunate truth about game development.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABA_Games
Kenta Cho did alright for a while.

*edit*
More: http://www.ricedigital.co.uk/doujin-classics-the-works-of-kenta-cho/

Retr0gamer

GTR63 wrote: »

What kinda game did you make?
A turn based RPG?

It's under NDA and I made it as slave labour for a college course for sa client. It's an education title. It will be in the news on the 25th.

C14N

Kirby wrote: »

I get what you are saying but it was his own game.....an indie game. The only pressure he was under was manufactured by he himself and he chose to make the game his life.

While I feel a little sorry for him, I have only a certain amount of sympathy for people who do these things to themselves.

Well I'm sure he did need the money too. You can't really just spend 3+ years on a full time job and not make anything back off it, especially with the grant from the Canadian government. And he was under pressure from the gaming community. The film showed that since the first demonstration of Fez, years before its release, he was getting hassled by internet commenters about making it come out.

Mr.Saturn

Meatwad wrote: »

Anyone look at the new stuff that came out?Supposedly about 100 minutes of catching up with most of the people involved with it since the release of the games. Think the extras are on Steam for about a fiver.

Quite a share of it is fluff, but there's enough content, such as Q&As and follow-ups, to make it worthwhile.