IndieCade 2024

Nov. 15-16, 2024 in Downtown Los Angeles

Check out the 2025 Creators Retreat

Creators Retreat 2024 Session Videos

Join us for the first ever IndieCade Creators Retreat, in partnership with NEM @ ASU!

IndieCade Members and Narrative and Emerging Media @ ASU Community are invited to join us for IndieCade’s first post-pandemic in-person developer event!

Save-the-dates! The Creators Retreat will take place, November 15 & 16th, as an intimate, fully interactive creative retreat with a focus on bringing together gamemakers of all genres and backgrounds for intensive dialogs, inspiration, knowledge-sharing and networking.

This event will offer attendees opportunities to share work, discuss current issues and challenges affecting indie developers, and build new collaborations. The goal will be for participants to come away feeling inspired, invigorated, and connected.

Open Playtesting – Do you have a work-in-progress you’d love to get feedback on? Sign-up for our open playtesting session! Bring a project in any format, at any stage of development, playtest and get feedback from the top indie developers in the field. And if you don’t have anything to show, check out what your peers are working on and help them make better games! All attending IndieCade members are eligible to participate. More information and signup form coming soon.

WHERE
The ASU California Center in downtown Los Angeles
1111 S Broadway Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90015

WHEN
November 15th & 16th, 2024
Each day kicks off with lunch at 12:00 noon and runs until 6:00 pm.

WHO
Space is limited. Participation is by invitation as well as for Developer Plus Members (one ticket per membership and RSVP is required.) This event free to attend for Developer Plus members as part of their benefits.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The IndieCade Creators Retreat @ASU LA – co-sponsored by the ASU Narrative and Emerging Media program – is our first post-pandemic in-person gathering and will be an intimate, community event free to IndieCade Members only. It will take place at ASU’s Los Angeles campus, housed in the beautifully restored, historic Herald Examiner Building, designed in 1913 by pioneering woman architect Julia Morgan. This programming will be highly interactive and generative, designed to facilitate connection and creative exchanges among participants and spawn new topics of interest formed by participants.

Attend

Get a Developer Plus IndieCade membership today!

Festival Homepage

Creators Retreat Schedule

Friday, November 15th

TIME	EVENT	LOCATION
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM	Doors Open & Arrivals Gather in the Main Event Space Room. Please see ASU staff for directions upon arrival.	Main Room
12:00 – 1:00 PM	Lunch & Event Introduction & Opening Keynote Roundtable Kamal Sinclair (The Music Center) & Sam Roberts (IndieCade) Introduction to the event, participating organizations, and the retreat activities with Ryat Yebick (NEM) & Stephanie Barish (IndieCade) Conversation about Night Games and with Night Game Creators – Steven Patinsky (Back off me booty), Hillary Leone (Synch live), and Mike Salyh (Wizards Warehouse) Conversation will take place over a delicious lunch.	Main Room
12:00 – 5:00 PM	The Endless Conversations and Infinite Insights Join us for conversions, interviews, and videos as we build documentation and community. Share topics that are top of mind, that you want to share, discuss, debate, and consider. Themes that arise will be included in the Game Community Conversations session on Saturday at 1:00 pm! Record a micro indie talk or short interview for sharing.	Historic Lobby
1:00 – 3:30 PM	“Artist” Talks & Conversations “Artist” talks are casual presentations or discussions where the creator shares information about their work, creative process, technical process and the themes behind their work. These are opportunities for these creators and the attendees to connect in conversation. Four half-hour cycles of creators in conversion with one another and with attendees in discussion. Moderated by Kris Lorischild; creators include IndieCade Night Games Selections and Festival Nominated games including Diatribes, No More Rainbows, Slasher U: An 18+ Horror Movie Dating Sim, Act 1, HIgher than the Stars, Scan-it Planet, Jungle Jym and more.	Main Room
1:15 – 2:00 PM	Interactive Workshop Dynamic workshop and conversation hosted by Ted DiNola. Risk, Reward, and Revolution: Charting Your Course in Game Creation In this workshop, we’ll dive into the concept of the “ramp of risk” and what it means for creators. You’ll explore where your work sits on this spectrum—whether you’re playing it safe or pushing boundaries—and reflect on how that influences your creative journey. Through open discussion and hands-on exercises, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how your position on the ramp shapes your creative freedom, constraints, and the choices that can define your work. By the end, you’ll have the tools to approach your projects with fresh intentionality, balancing risk and reward to fuel your creativity in resilient ways.	Classroom
2:10 – 2:55 PM	Interactive Workshop Dynamic workshop and conversation led by Celia Pearce Social Scaffolding: Applying Social Science Principles to Audience On Ramping in Playable Theater Geared to playable theater and LARP designers, this highly practical workshop introduces the concept of “social scaffolding,” drawing from social science principles to leverage players’ innate social and cultural knowledge to orient them as to the appropriate behavior in a live, high-agency immersive experience.	Classroom
3:00 – 3:45 PM	Interactive Workshop Dynamic workshop and conversation hosted by James Cox Breaking the illusion: Rethinking Perception & Engagement In this workshop explore how game designers create illusion to immerse players and learn how to use these techniques to enhance your own games.	Classroom
4:00 – 5:00 PM	Changes Ahead: Fireside Chat with IndieCade Award Winning Game Changers Celia Pearce (IndieCade), Morgan Romine (‘22), Kellee Santiago (‘23), & Sarah Elmeleh (‘24) A conversation about the state of the industry, what changes need to be made, successes so far, and thoughts about the future.	Main Room
5:00 – 6:00 PM	Cocktail Reception Join us for drinks, and conversation to close out the day and get ready for Night Games at the Music Center! Music performed by Microwave Buddha / David Javelosa	Main Room

Saturday, November 16th

TIME	EVENT	LOCATION
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM	Doors Open & Tours of the Narrative and Emerging Media Program Gather in the Historic Lobby for tours that include the full spectrum of experiences at this cutting edge XR site and labs.	Meet in the Historic Lobby
12:00 – 1:00 PM	Lunch Program & Big Fun Game ! Myles Nye (‘24 Bernie De Koven Big Fun Honorary Award Recipient) Over lunch, multiple time IndieCade Award recipient Myles Nye will run a big fun game or maybe even games ! Conversation will take place over a delicious lunch.	Main Room
12:00 – 5:00 PM	The Endless Conversations and Insights Join us for conversions, interviews, videos as we build documentation and community Share topics that are top of mind, that you want to share, discuss, debate, and consider. Themes that arise will be included in the Game Community Conversations session on Saturday at 1:00 pm ! Record a micro indie talk or short interview for sharing.	Historic Lobby
1:00 – 3:00 PM	Game Community Conversations Moderator: Jeremy Gibson Bond and MJ Johns Facilitated community discussions, and an opportunity for topics of interest, importance, passion, and exploration and from the community. This is for everyone immersed in, interested in, or adjacent to games! Proposed topics will be collected in advance in the Historic Lobby and on Discord.	Main Room
1:00 – 1:45 PM	Interactive Workshop Dynamic workshop and conversation hosted by Mark Marino. Generating Games Promptly with AI Let’s rapid prototype some text-based games using AI Tools, No programming, only prompting.	Classroom
3:00 – 4:30 PM	Open Playtesting Moderated by Kelly Devine and Juan Gril An open opportunity to pop up to play, discuss and share one another’s work To ensure space, sign-up in advance! (Sign ups are online and will be available in the Historic Lobby)	Main Room
3:00 – 3:45 PM	Interactive Workshop Dynamic workshop and conversation hosted by Nonny de la Pena De la Peña has been on the cover of the Wall Street Journal magazine as a WSJ “Technology Innovator of the Year” and has been called “The Godmother of Virtual Reality” by Engadget, The Guardian and others. Fast Company named her “One of the People Who Made the World More Creative” for her pioneering work in immersive journalism, a field she is widely credited with establishing. She is one of CNET en Español’s 20 most influential Latinos in tech, and a Wired Magazine #MakeTechHuman Agent of Change. A former correspondent for Newsweek, she has more than 20 years of award-winning experience in print, film, and TV. Her virtual-reality work has been featured by the BBC, Mashable, Vice, and Wired.	Classroom
4:30 – 5:00 PM	Fireside Chat with IndieCade Trailblazer : Looking Forward Nonny de la Pena (‘23 IndieCade Trailblazer Awardee) and Stephanie Barish (IndieCade) Join us for our closing conversion that is all about looking forward.	Main Room
5:00 – 6:00 PM	Cocktail Reception Join us for drinks, and conversation to close out the day and get ready for Night Games at the Music Center! Music performed by Microwave Buddha / David Javelosa	Main Room

ABOUT NEM @ ASU

The Los Angeles-based MA in Narrative and Emerging Media (MA-NEM) focuses on the development of a creative practice and critical understanding of emerging storytelling and immersive experience content creation in augmented, virtual and extended reality, and short-form digital, streaming and virtual production. The program is a collaborative effort between the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

NEM: https://film.asu.edu/degree-programs/narrative-and-emerging-media