Indie Game: The Movie (2012)

           This documentary film follows four independent video game designers as they develop and release their work. These indie developers stand in stark contrast to the big-budget games produced by corporate monsters using teams with hundreds of people. Jonathan Blow of San Francisco talks us through his three years of work on Braid, one of the top-rated games of all times. Phil Fish of Canada is the creator of Fez, which suffered numerous delays until its release in 2012. Ed Mcmillen of Santa Cruz, California, and his partner Tommy Refenes of North Carolina designed Super Meat Boy, which has sold over a million copies. The film does a good job of showing the social and emotional isolation these techno-recluses endure. Fish fears legal action from a former partner. Despite their independence, they all must interface with the corporations. They struggle with the emotions of success, failure, and gamer responses. Anyone who has ever teed up a game will appreciate it in a new way after seeing what it takes to make one.