The film Indie Game: The Movie, directed by Lisanne Pijat and James Swirsky, is an in-depth analysis of the
underground movement in the gaming world. While most people know of the big
names in the industry, such as Bioware and other big companies, some of the
greatest and most popular games have come from a few or less who strived for
years to make their game absolutely perfect. The film travels between three
different programmers, making three different games at different times. It
follows a loose chronological order tracing the Xbox development path of the
Flash-based online smash-hit Super Meat Boy
as it leads up to its release for the console. This structure can seem a bit too loose occasionally. The documentary
tries to capture the love and feelings they stuff into their games, but comes
up short. At times, it felt rushed and more than a little biased towards the
independent developer.
The film
had extremely well done cinematography, as is evident when we first meet the programmers
for Super Meat Boy. The film immediately tells the backstory of one of them
through shots between him at work, his room as a child, and drawings of what he
thought about as a child. Not only is this touching and makes you feel for the
artists, it is also very well done, with no background music to take away from
it all. It simply ends up being about the story and the visuals, just as it
should be. This scene was very touching and very moving.
Another
scene that was very well done was the introduction to the actual film itself,
with all its references to classic games. Not being of the generation myself, I
can’t truly relate to those who grew up with the classics, but I have been
exposed to them enough nowadays to truly understand the path that video games
have taken since their birth. The independent artists of the game design world,
for their simplicity, difficulty and control schemes are looking to such games more
and more. In this movie, the throwbacks they show to the classics of the gaming
world really add that second layer of depth to the stories they tell of growing
up with those classic systems and programs.
Indie Game: The Movie is a look into the
minds and souls of the modern independent game artists, and is a decently put-together
piece of filmmaking. The film at times can be incredibly biased only towards independent
artists and even at times disrespects corporate programmers. This, though
annoying, does contrast to the issues they try to bring to the forefront, like
money issues and trying to sell their products to a large audience. The film
teaches us that games don’t have to come from big developers to be good; with a
little heart and a lot of imagination, anyone can create a huge success in the
video gaming world. This film may have its flaws, but at heart it’s a
well-presented piece on the plight of the artist.
