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List of contents
1. Introduction
M.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 Valley
Kevin Rutherford (SUNY Cortland, USA)
3. The making of Escape Room in a Box
Cynthia Wang (Cal State LA, USA)
4. A semi-commercial endeavor: TSR Hobbies and fan publishing
Aaron Trammell (UC Irvine, USA)
5. From tool to community to style: The influence of software tools on game development communities and aesthetics
Emilie Reed (University of Abertay, UK)
6. Paper code and digital goods: The economic values in type-in market games
Patrick Davidson (New York University, USA)
7. Playing out of Steam: Indie games, dependent networks, and The Stanley Parable
Caleb Andrew Milligan (University of Florida, USA)
8. Brews, burgers and indie bombast: The antiestablishment neoliberalism of Devolver Digital
John Vanderhoef (California State University, Dominguez Hills, USA)
9. In search of queer spaces: Indie games, representation, and the politics of inclusion
Cody Mejeur (Michigan State University, USA)
10. The powers and pitfalls of queer indie game-making: An interview with Mo Cohen
Bonnie Ruberg (UC Irvine, USA)
11. Postmortems and indie cultural work
M.J. Clarke (Cal State LA, USA)
12. Conclusion
M.J. Clarke (Cal State LA, USA) & Cynthia Wang (Cal State LA, USA)
Index
About the author
MJ 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.
Summary
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.
Foreword
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.
Additional text
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.
