Indie Games in the Digital Age
Cynthia Wang editor MJ Clarke editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:30th Dec '21
Currently unavailable, currently targeted to be due back around 22nd October 2025, but could change
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.
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.
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 *
ISBN: 9781501388545
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 286g
240 pages