First of all, I would like to say that this movie is a fascinating look into the lives of people who are putting everything on the line for the purpose of developing a game, and it gives due respect to a craft that really gets none from the average person. "Indie Game" displays the passion that these developers have - on more than one occasion, more than one of them contemplates suicide, with Phil Fish coming off as particularly passionate and psychotic.
One problem that I have, though, is that the movie follows three games to begin with: "Super Meat Boy" (Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes), "Fez" (Phil Fish ), and "Braid" (Jonathan Blow), but since "Braid" had already been released, it is basically dropped from the second half of the movie as it focuses more on the deadline pressures of the other two games. Having recently read a fascinating interview with Jonathan Blow, the themes and tropes in this games are incredibly interesting, and the movie makes no effort to discuss them in anyway (though, funnily, it does display his frustration at the fact that nobody understood "Braid" upon release). Mr. Blow also has an interesting take on the video game industry, and I would have liked to see his, as well as the other developers' opinions on it, further than "Call of Duty sucks".
Still a good movie that video-game lovers will eat up and that non-video game fans should watch to get a little insight into how games are made, the pressures that are felt, etc.
One problem that I have, though, is that the movie follows three games to begin with: "Super Meat Boy" (Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes), "Fez" (Phil Fish ), and "Braid" (Jonathan Blow), but since "Braid" had already been released, it is basically dropped from the second half of the movie as it focuses more on the deadline pressures of the other two games. Having recently read a fascinating interview with Jonathan Blow, the themes and tropes in this games are incredibly interesting, and the movie makes no effort to discuss them in anyway (though, funnily, it does display his frustration at the fact that nobody understood "Braid" upon release). Mr. Blow also has an interesting take on the video game industry, and I would have liked to see his, as well as the other developers' opinions on it, further than "Call of Duty sucks".
Still a good movie that video-game lovers will eat up and that non-video game fans should watch to get a little insight into how games are made, the pressures that are felt, etc.