INDIE GAMES

by Bounthavy Suvilay, Various Artists (Artist), Sarah Rodriguez (Editor)

Video games have grown exponentially in recent years and have captured the hearts of millions thanks to the success of titles such as Minecraft, Journey, Limbo, Dead Cells, The Banner Saga or Firewatch.

To compete with the blockbusters, the independents have had to be massively creative and come up with innovative gameplay, top-notch writing, original graphic universes, and sumptuous soundtracks. INDIE GAMES pays homage to some of the greatest success stories in the world of independent video games.

Superbly illustrated, INDIE GAMES contains more than three hundred images from titles that revolutionized the gaming industry. Full of anecdotes and interviews with personalities like industry veteran Eric Chahi and young designers like Ian Dallas. You will see behind the scenes at Indie studios, revealing the creators, designs and marketing. This exploration will give you a better understanding on what is an “Indie” game.

Official and authorized, with the participation of studios around the world, including over 50 interviews highlighting over 70 games, INDIE GAMES is the most complete and up-to-date overview of indie video gaming. With exclusive behind the scenes content provided by the studios, it serves as a fitting tribute to the audacity of these developers, who have elevated video games into an art.

Genres: Nonfiction, Games, Video Games, Gaming

232 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2020

Reviews

[Geoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art in this book is utterly gorgeous and should be read simply to see how different video game designers are using the medium to make beautiful art. The text seems like a straightforward taxonomy and history of different aspects of indie games. I guess the larger question is why have indie games as a category? Is there anything coherent about grouping these games together other than thy were developed outside of a large corporation? But again, read this book for the art - if you look at it and remain unconvinced that video games are an interesting visual and storytelling artistic medium, them i'm not sure anything could convince you!

**Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Goodnight C. Lullaby]

J'ai surtout regardé les jolies images parce que je ne peux pas me concentrer sur autant de textes... Surtout quand y'a, à côté, de si jolies images 😻

Bon par contre je suis tombée sur plusieurs passages parlant de What remains of Edith Finch? en qualifiant le jeu de drôle et moi, ce jeu, je le trouve hyper malaisant 😹

[Marzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful and interesting book. Visually it's very appealing,
There are a lot of beautiful images and I'm sure printed version will be awesome.
This book is a must have for gamers!

[eleos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Envie de jouer à tous les jeux indé qui existent

[Desiree M · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC provided freely for review via NetGalley.

A nice coffee table book which briefly describes Indie games and the art, music, and production behind them. From time to time, it seems the central essay portions of the book touch upon the more controversial or alarming parts of the gaming world, but overall not much in extreme depth. There's mention that people may not take video games seriously (but it isn't followed by any mention of how that's in large part to the massively destructive "gamergate", which expelled mass amounts of racism and misogyny and inevitably led to neo-fascist recruiting and radicalization while pushing a narrative that games can't have 'political meaning' or else they'll be too 'pc'), and there's some mention of "crunch" happening to various studios, burnout, or the instability of American game studios in particular (not having the same social nets as other countries), but it's sort of lightly acknowledged only.

The images are beautiful, the games chosen vary across a wide range of platforms, and the interviews are interesting. If you like games and want artwork from a bunch of different ones, this might be worth a purchase. It's not really a strong history of Indie games, but it does overview it briefly. I learned some new things, but it definitely is more a "pretty book" than an intensive one, if that makes sense!

[Oxana Tomova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indie Games is a big book about, you guessed it - indie games.
The book is colourful, with many screenshots and concept arts from well-known indie games. I'm pretty sure that it looks amazing in print, as it looked quite nice on a PC as well. However, I think the formatting could have been done a bit better as the text is quite small compared to the page size, which means that pages with no pictures can feel overwhelming.
Another thing I'm not quite fond of, but some people might like or even prefer, is the fact that the style in which the book is written is very modern-article-like. For me, unfortunately, that makes it sound a bit chaotic, not well-enough structured, and at times not informed enough or quite out-of-date (e.g. PewDiePie is quoted as having 56M subscribers, however he hit 100M mid-2019).
Overall, the book has some interesting information, but I think it cold have been better condensed.
I'd still recommend anyone interested to read it.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.*

[MK · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Indie Games: The Origins of Minecraft, Journey, Limbo, Dead Cells, The Banner Saga and Firewatch, Bounthazvy Suvilay provides a combination of history and critique of the world of indie games. The rising genre of indie games continues to grow, and as Suvilay points out, is increasingly difficult to define as it shifts between a descriptor of the way the game was designed to a more specific style of game. Regardless of how it is defined, there are many notable indie games that have gained momentum in recent years, and Suvilay uses images and stories of these games to emphasize various aspects of the genre, including the spectrum of gameplay that ranges from a more visual narrative approach to one that focuses more on the mechanics, and the ways these games have influenced the industry. Suvilay provides a full overview of indie games that dives into the history, development, mechanics, visuals, and music that go into creating these games in a way that is easy to understand and palatable for existing gamers and curious non-gamers alike.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really thorough exploration of the indie video gaming world!

This books shares the history of indie games in the mid-aughts and the rise of indie apps and games. It talks about what makes a game indie, classifications of games, and how they're made from development type to different gameplay.

The art included in this book is beautiful! There are lots of great shots of interesting games. I was also pleasantly surprised to find the history behind some of the indie games I've enjoyed. There's also a couple interviews in the book with developers and creators.

I was expecting more depth into the history of indie gaming, but enjoyed this read for what it offers. There is some insight to what makes an indie game successful, scalable, and sellable. Overall it's an informative read!

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Indie Games: The Origins of Minecraft, Journey, Limbo, Dead Cells, The Banner Saga and Firewatch’ by Bounthavy Suvilay is an ebook that tells the story of the modern Indie Game revolution.

The book is structured around individual chapters each with themes dedicated to the history of Indie Games, the hardship that the development process can bring to smaller development teams, the types of game mechanics that can be found, etc. Discussed are the real and implied constraints in graphics and sound. The book concludes with an interview with Indie Game creator Eric Chahi. Throughout the book are illustrations from successful games of the period.

I found it an interesting read that wasn’t too deep and had creator comments. The pictures show the variety of different styles of games that can be found.

[Emmalyn Renato · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stunning compendium describing all the aspects involved with making successful indie video games. Originally written for a French audience (and therefore including titles from several French studios), this is an English edition of that book. Gorgeous images go along with interview snippets and anecdotes from multi indie game personalities. After reading it, I went and got Event[0] and Samorost 3, and I plan to replay two old favorites that I already have (Machinarium and Botanicula).

[Michaël · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai trouvé que les images et extraits visuels sont intéressants, mais quant au propos même de l'oeuvre, il est assez général et superficiel. Ce n'est pas un mal, mais il y a des aspects d'un jeu indépendant où j'aurais aimé que ça plonge un peu plus. Enfin, certains des jeux indépendants que je préfère datent d'après la période couverte. Hélas, ce sera pour le tome suivant.

[Karrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art work was amazing! This is an oversized book, with "centerfolds" through-out of the art. A lot of the games were for consoles, which I don't have, and have been playing games on my phone. A lot of them have been released tho, so it was cool to look at.

[Aloysius · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at some of the more independent video games of recent years, from story and mechanics to graphics and music.