“Indie Game: The Movie”, directed by Lisane Pajot and James
Swirsky, gives a look at the world of independent computer (XBOX360) game
developers, and what makes them tick – as they ramp up for a show in Boston.
These mostly are “informal” young men with loose social
connections. Some say they have their
backs up against the wall. If they don’t
get their games working and make a decent result at the show (in terms
particularly not only of official reviews and sales but Facebook Likes) their
future “careers” are over. One is a
diabetic and is shown injecting himself, but still wants to make enough to help
his parents pay off their house.
There is something familiar but disconcerting when one of
the gamers says that if he doesn’t make it, his life is over and he will kill
himself. People either succeed or fail
in his world. When they fail, they disappear forever. Everyone is on his own, without many real-world social connections (although
the men do have teams and little companies, and some have girl friends, and
particularly attentive cats, which never seem to damage the computers). This was the most striking point of the movie.
One of the developers explains how his game, “Super Meat Boy”,
is supposed to work. The character has no skin, and be killed by a spray of
salt. He explains how the player learns
the game.
At the show in Boston, “Peter” has to constantly fix his
game, Fez, as it freezes when real users try it.
This may be one of the first films where the “visuals”
consist of heavily indented java code.
It's worthy of note that none of the games seem to be violent. They seem to involve imaginary characters that evoke some sympathy from the players.
It's worthy of note that none of the games seem to be violent. They seem to involve imaginary characters that evoke some sympathy from the players.
I wondered how gaming programs compare to chess-playing
programs, which normally have run on super-computers, to play at an
international level.
I wondered how good the games that emulate fantasy baseball
or football work. Is there a game that
can replicate in detail all the physics of pitched and batted baseballs,
allowing for different stadium outfields?
When I was a boy in the 1950s, we invented pinball-type baseball games
to be played in cardboard stadiums.
I could think of other ideas. Imagine a game set on an extraterrestrial
planet that is tidally locked and where only an annular ring (in perpetual
twilight) has a climate mild enough for the characters to live.
Or imagine my screenplay.
A guy like me is abducted by “angels” and taken to a space-station near
Titan. Both the “angels” and “me” need
each other to “survive” on our own terms, as the Earth back home is on borrowed
time. That sounds like an idea for a
game, doesn’t it? I shouldn’t give too
much away.
The film website is here. The film (BlinkWorks Media) showed at Sundance.
Google Talks actually has a 50 minute interview with the
directors on YouTube:
2 comments:
A comment was accidentally placed on wrong blog, and rejected. I think the comment belongs here on this film.
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(That comment was "anonymous".)
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