IndieCade: A History

IndieCade launched in 2007 as an alternative to the mainstream video game industry. Since its inaugural festival in 2008, it has grown exponentially to become an integral part of today’s vibrant indie game scene. IndieCade: A History – The Interdependence of Independents chronicles the story of IndieCade as told by one of its three co-founders—its modest beginnings and its evolving role in the larger independent games ecosystem over its decade-plus history. It also takes a broader view, looking at the various factors of the indie ecosystem that have contributed to making independent games writ large such a major force in today’s video game industry. Lushly illustrated with photographs and archival material, IndieCade: A History captures the experience of being part of a blossoming and resilient “community of play and practice.” Building on the growing body of “indie game studies” scholarship, it argues that independence is ultimately sustainable only through interdependence.

Author Celia Pearce is an award-winning game designer, curator and researcher. She is author of Communities of Play: Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual Words (The MIT Press 2009), and is the co-founder, along with Stephanie Barish and Sam Roberts, of IndieCade.