The Games of IndieCade

What was originally one single post, my editor decided would be a good idea to split into three. It turned out to be a very good idea and not just because it gave me two extra weeks of breathing room. Talking about 13 games no one has ever heard of before and probably won’t again for quite a while may have been a bit much. Part 1 remained the same from the original text up until the cut off, but the real treat was having to come up with new material for the introductions of part 2 and part 3.

I sat down and pulled out my notebook and looked over all the stuff I had written and listed the games out of them I felt I had something, anything to say. I figured 10 games would be a good round number. Well there were a few more than 10 and I just rolled with it. And instead of doing any sort of list – on how I would do such a thing I wouldn’t know where to start – I figured straight alphabetical would be the most fair.

I submitted it whole, but my editor figured splitting them up 5/4/4 would be best. Doing so meant that part 2 was criminally short and would need padding to get to the 1000 word minimum I shoot for. I’m not entirely sure if there is the minimum for the blog post on PopMatters. In any case I realize a quick summation of what this post was about and getting readers up to speed wasn’t going to fill the space. So I did what I apparently do best: muse.

I read through the the write ups for each post and found some theme connecting the games on which to hang an intro. In part 2 I wax about the need of breaking boundaries through the lens of genre and in part 3 through the lens of creator self limitation. I do feel there is a calcification of thought in both developers and the audience regarding what constitutes a game. It’s why we get ludicrous arguments over what is and is not a game, most of which go to great lengths to actively ignore a long history of games outside a particular geek centered sphere.

Though, while I like the exercise to pontificate for a few paragraphs the real center of these pieces is getting to talk about how each of these 13 games are awesome for one reason or another. Cyberpunk investigation sim, Ancient Greek strategy board game, mind bending geographic navigation, historical RPG road trip, one button first person walker, Morse Code tapping game and more. Not going to see that at E3 or PAX.

IndieCade East was a wonderful time and I’m definitely go again next year if I can.