The Indie Fund is an organization created by several
independent game developers to help fund budding indie video game development. The Indie Fund was created in early 2010, its purpose aimed "to encourage the next generation of game developers" by providing them funding for development of these games without the terms that would normally be associated with publication agreements.
The founding and current members of the Indie Fund include: Ron Carmel and
Kyle Gabler of
2D Boy,
Jonathan Blow
Jonathan Blow (born 1971) is an American video game designer and programmer. He is best known for his work on the independent video games '' Braid'' (2008) and '' The Witness'' (2016).
Born in California, Blow developed a passion for game prog ...
, creator of
''Braid'' and
''The Witness'',
Kellee Santiago
Kellee Santiago is a Venezuelan American video game designer and Video game producer, producer. She is the co-founder and former president of thatgamecompany. Santiago was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and raised in Richmond, Virginia, where Santia ...
formerly of
thatgamecompany
Thatgamecompany, Inc. (stylized as thatgamecompany) is an American independent video game development company founded by University of Southern California students Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago in 2006. The company was a developer for Sony Co ...
and currently at
Niantic Niantic may refer to:
* Niantic people, tribe of American Indians
* Niantic, Inc., mobile app developer known for the mobile games ''Ingress'' and ''Pokémon Go''
Ships
* ''Niantic'' (whaling vessel), relic of San Francisco Gold Rush
*USS ''Ni ...
, Nathan Vella of
Capybara Games, Matthew Wegner of Flashbang Studios and Aaron Isaksen of AppAbove Games.
History
Members of the Indie Game organization have identified difficulties for indie developers to be able to fund their projects. Ron Carmel noted that there are typically two ways that this funding can occur: either through the developers providing their own money to initiate the project, or by signing deals with publishers for funding in exchange for part of the game's revenues being given back to the publisher. Neither of these choices were considered optimal for an aspiring developer, according to Carmel.
In 2008, several self-published indie games, including ''
Audiosurf'', ''
Braid'', ''
Castle Crashers
''Castle Crashers'' is a 2D side scrolling hack-and-slash video game developed by The Behemoth. It features music created by members of New