Memory-Insufficient-spec-alt

Recommendations

Info

Another Brickin the WallA history of indie gamesClaris Cyarron@cyarronClaris is an arcane laserbabe, trans-architect, wasteland wandererand narrative agitator. She works at Silverstring as an ineffabilityconsultant and feminist hex evoker.This piece has been reprinted from the Fall 2024anthology of The Indie Revue with permissionfrom its original author.IndieCadewas last week, and althoughI’m a bit jetlagged,I’m still gleefully poring over the event detailsI downloaded. I’ve got many memories left togo through, but one of my favorite bits thus far hasbeen the appearance of Kelley Arman, lead writeron the Ancient Crests series, at the hyper-exclusiveFlawless Victory party.The whole 5-hour memory is great (and can bedownloaded from her Ancient Crests blog), butthe best part was when, a little over an hour in,
she climbed on stage and challenged the MC to adance-off on the pristine, first-gen Dance DanceRevolution pad that had been restored specificallyfor the event. I don’t want to spoil what happensnext, but suffice it say that ten minutes later, thebubble machines were turned on and the party reallygot started.Peering through the screen at the glamourousworld of game designers, watching the weeklyvideo recap for updates on the extraordinary livesof eccentric, exciting, elusive digital artists, viewingthe lives they have authored and the episodessectioned off and commodified for entertainment,one could be forgiven for not remembering that itwasn’t always like this.It’s hard for me to believe it too, and I’ve spent theentirety of my professional life—almost 9 yearsnow—exploring and commenting on the digitalart and games scene. But even just a decade ago,going to a game’s PAX booth meant meeting some(if not all) of the devs. Going to a GDC party wasas simple as showing up on time and paying thecover charge.Making friends with your heroeswas often as easy as introducingyourself.The goal wasn’t to create a space where artistscould continually reach further and push theboundaries of the artform, but to push against thevery boundary between creator and player. Thegoal was to get everyone creating games and tolet this movement spill outward to inculcate andinform every aspect of a digitally connected, system-ladenworld.I suppose it’s easy to look back on this as simplyan extension of bygone, starry-eyed Silicon Valleyutopianism, but at the time, this radical inclusionismwas meant to be in direct oppositionto the tech-startup brand of Randian heroics that
Page 1: MemoryInsufficientGames history ezi
Page 4 and 5: EditedbyRachel Simone Weiland Zoya
Page 6 and 7: Blood and RosesMargaret Atwood andt
Page 8 and 9: man rights associated with the arre
Page 11: tinuous loop.Jimmy and his friend p
Page 14 and 15: And somehow the truth justspilled o
Page 17: metrical hairdos, lighting tricks,
Page 21 and 22: ty only reality can provide.First o
Page 23 and 24: elief of the common folk and protec
Page 25 and 26: I couldn’t agree more, but that d
Page 27 and 28: a game of chess at the end of time
Page 29 and 30: and to widespread industrialization
Page 31 and 32: sual novel indicates that when give
Page 33 and 34: ApokalypsisRapture, death andmythma
Page 35 and 36: The societies we live in shown tobe
Page 37 and 38: government they and their opponents
Page 39 and 40: A few weeks later, my family and I
Page 41 and 42: lack room. I plant my posterior and
Page 43 and 44: velopers should shy away from a mod
Page 45 and 46: garded as frivolous. The response t
Page 47 and 48: ed by hobbyists, using their creati
Page 49 and 50: Europe might have fallen into a new
Page 51 and 52: US corporations such as Microsoft h
Page 53 and 54: enacting socialism within the natio
Page 55 and 56: Bottom-up feedback sometimesled to
Page 60: DO-IT-YOURSELF VIDEO GAME HISTORY,

Memory-Insufficient-spec-alt

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?