Indie Games in the Digital Age
by M.J. Clarke, Cynthia Wang
A host of digital affordances, including reduced cost production tools, open distribution platforms, and ubiquitous connectivity, have engendered the growth of indie games among makers and users, forcing critics to reconsider the question of who makes games and why. Taking seriously this new mode of cultural produciton compells analysts to reconsider the blurred boundaries and relations of makers, users and texts as well as their respective relationship to cultural power and hierarchy. The contributions to Indie Games in the Digital Age consider these questions and examine a series of firms, makers, games and scenes, ranging from giants like Nintendo and Microsoft to grassroots games like Cards Against Humanity and Stardew Valley, to chart more precisely the productive and instructive disruption that this new site of cultural production offers.
Paperback
English
Brand New
Author Biography
M.J. Clarke is an assistant professor of TV Film and Media Studies at Cal State LA, USA. His research on popular culture and media industries has appeared in the journals Television and New Media and The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics as well as the anthologies Superhero Synergies and The Comics of Charles Schulz. His examination of network television at the end of the 20th Century, Transmedia Television, is available from Bloomsbury.Cynthia Wang is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Cal State LA, USA. Her research takes a critical cultural perspective on how digital media and the Internet reconfigures social relations, cultural practices, and power dynamics. She has published in Social Media + Society, Time & Society, and Journalism Studies among others.
Table of Contents
1. IntroductionM.J. Clarke (Cal State LA, USA) & Cynthia Wang (Cal State LA, USA)2. This is how a garden grows: Cultivating emergent networks in the development of Stardew ValleyKevin Rutherford (SUNY Cortland, USA)3. The making of Escape Room in a BoxCynthia Wang (Cal State LA, USA)4. A semi-commercial endeavor: TSR Hobbies and fan publishingAaron Trammell (UC Irvine, USA)5. From tool to community to style: The influence of software tools on game development communities and aestheticsEmilie Reed (University of Abertay, UK)6. Paper code and digital goods: The economic values in type-in market gamesPatrick Davidson (New York University, USA)7. Playing out of Steam: Indie games, dependent networks, and The Stanley ParableCaleb Andrew Milligan (University of Florida, USA)8. Brews, burgers and indie bombast: The antiestablishment neoliberalism of Devolver DigitalJohn Vanderhoef (California State University, Dominguez Hills, USA)9. In search of queer spaces: Indie games, representation, and the politics of inclusionCody Mejeur (Michigan State University, USA)10. The powers and pitfalls of queer indie game-making: An interview with Mo CohenBonnie Ruberg (UC Irvine, USA)11. Postmortems and indie cultural workM.J. Clarke (Cal State LA, USA)12. Conclusion M.J. Clarke (Cal State LA, USA) & Cynthia Wang (Cal State LA, USA)Index
Review
A wide-ranging set of research examining the varied socio-cultural and economic enclaves of the indie games world. It provides a useful sense of the intersectional nature of independent games and their value to the broader communities that connect them. * Lindsay D. Grace, Knight Chair of Interactive Media, University of Miami, USA *
Too often "indie" is applied to gaming in a haphazard way that pretends uniformity across both production and genre. Indie Games in the Digital Age does an excellent job of forging new ground, showing just how complex and rich the possibilities and challenges of independent games truly are. By considering indie games not as an aesthetic but as a set of practices including the production of workers, the use and engagement by game players and fans, this book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the full scope of video game production and its broader implications on digital culture and modern life. * Randy Nichols, Assistant Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington Tacoma, USA *
Promotional
A critical anthology examining the contexts and consequences of the recent growth of indie video and analogue games that has challenged notions of cultural production and theories of cultural power in media studies.
Review Quote
Too often "indie" is applied to gaming in a haphazard way that pretends uniformity across both production and genre. Indie Games in the Digital Age does an excellent job of forging new ground, showing just how complex and rich the possibilities and challenges of independent games truly are. By considering indie games not as an aesthetic but as a set of practices including the production of workers, the use and engagement by game players and fans, this book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the full scope of video game production and its broader implications on digital culture and modern life.
Promotional "Headline"
A critical anthology examining the contexts and consequences of the recent growth of indie video and analogue games that has challenged notions of cultural production and theories of cultural power in media studies.
Feature
Presents the first collection on 'indie games'
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