GameLoading: Rise of the Indies Review – Indie Love, Encapsulated

Indie games have really grown up, haven’t they?

GameLoading Rise of the Indies is the second big-time documentary regarding the not-so underground-anymore indie games industry, yet another sign of their increasing relevance alongside the household names of the biggest blockbuster video games. The 96-minute movie gets at that idea from the beginning; the fact that indie games have long ago carved out their own identities beyond gerunds like “shooting” and “killing.” Post establishing that, the movie relentlessly pursues showcasing not only indie games, but also the international spaces and creators that bring them to life. Then, the camera moves to Austin, Texas, a fairly important place for the documentary and hotbed of indie creativity.

While GameLoading doesn’t dwell too much on any single title or studio, The Stanley Parable and its two creators, American Davey Wreden and Brit William Pugh, are featured most prominently throughout. Stanley ties the movie together, telling how Wreden got into making games. This gives a great example of a game development arch – from publishing a free demo, a nerve-wracking release day on Steam,  to receiving an award at the San Francisco Game Development Conference.

The Texan house is something of an indie haven. The maker of SoundSelf (a music exploration game where your voice plays a role,) Robin Arnott, lives there as well, and they host parties with people playing “alternative” games, ones that require a group of people to huddle over a lone iPad. There’s also Samurai Gun , a more straight-forward four-person deathmatch.

But while the Stanley arch is clear in the movie, the rest of it often jumps around fast enough to make it slightly difficult to keep up. GameLoading goes back and forth between Texas, then, then to Texas again, then to San Francisco, then Europe, then San Francisco again – while mixing various indie topics on the go. It isn’t exactly “hard to follow” – nothing in the movie is difficult to grasp, there’s scarcely any arcane terminology – but the topic changes didn’t usually feature a visible transition to signal them.

Train Jam is one of the threads that starts out in the middle and races with the viewers towards the end, and it contributes to the slightly chaotic nature of the documentary. It isn’t a large subplot, however. That’s one feature that could have worked better if it was introduced earlier, but perhaps it wasn’t meaty enough to carry throughout the whole documentary. In some way, the structure of the documentary does reflect indie game design, which has its own artistic chaos, unwritten rules, and various little communities that, thanks to the internet, continue coalescing into firmer structures.

If one word had to describe GameLoading ’s take on indies, “community” is the obvious choice. The colorful cast brings a diverse, celebratory look at the spirit of indie game development. That’s probably the strongest feat of the decidedly positive and upbeat GameLoading . It’s amazing how much the 96-minute feature encapsulates.  There’s a heart-wrenching segment featuring Ryan Green’s story ( That Dragon, Cancer ) about creating a game telling the hardships of raising a young son with cancer.  There’s exploration of visual novels and how they intersect with interactivity (Christine Love, Analogue: A Hate Story ). Furthermore, the movie breaks stereotypes about coding being just a nerdy thing and explores children actively picking it up as a hobby and taking lessons.

There’s plenty of other star power, often appearing for short bits, like John Romero and Tom Hall from Id Software ( Doom ). This diversity hammers the message to treat indie gaming as a celebration. It defines what exactly indie games are – personal, honest, reflexive, in many ways contrasting blockbuster, AAA titles.

The darker aspects of indie game development round out a balanced look at the scene. It almost seemed like the documentary will only talk about the positive and successful aspects of being a designer, but it saved some hardships for the latter half. Marketing is probably one of the toughest, yet most-crucial aspects, and GameLoading doesn’t hold back in saying that for every successful title, hundreds are duds. Despite these tones, which are certainly needed in painting a complete picture, GameLoading ‘s message is inspirational, overall.

People immersed in the indie game scene will mostly see familiar faces instead of surprising ones. That’s not to say there is no value to view it the film for those already immersed in the community, though. Furthermore, there’s a large market of gamers who have only heard of the biggest indies, but it remains a largely unexplored realm. Another great feat of GameLoading is its accessibility for both gamer and non-gamer audiences. If indie games ever needed something to show how “legitimate” they are to someone who doesn’t understand them, this is it.

GameLoading: Rise of the Indies is out now, purchasable via a variety of platforms: The official website, Steam, Humble Bundle, Xbox Video, iTunes, and more. There’s also a special “Member’s Bundle” that contains extra content such as the soundtrack, an eBook, and additional footage.