IndieCade is an international juried festival of

independent games An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

. IndieCade is known as "the video game industry's

Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada * Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pla ...

."Fritz, Ben
"IndieCade, the video game industry's Sundance"
Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009, accessed July 21, 2011. At IndieCade, independent

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

developers are selected to screen and promote their work at the annual IndieCade festival and showcase events.Leigh Alexande
IndieCade Announces Call For Submissions March 7, 2008 Gamasutra
/ref> In 2009, IndieCade launched a conference track featuring classes, panels, workshops, and keynotes. The conference has since become a major attraction for indie developers and others in the industry.

Background

IndieCade was formed by Creative Media Collaborative, an alliance of industry producers and leaders founded in 2005. IndieCade's board of advisors includes (among others)

Seamus Blackley Jonathan "Seamus" Blackley (born 1968) is an American video game designer and former agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators. He is best known for creating and designing the original Xbox in 2001. Career After enter ...

, Tracy Fullerton, Megan Gaiser,

Andy Gavin Andrew Scott Gavin (born June 11, 1970) is an American video game programmer, entrepreneur, and novelist. Gavin co-founded the video game company Naughty Dog with childhood friend Jason Rubin in 1986, which released games including ''Crash Bandico ...

, Carl Goodman,

John Hight John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, Robin Hunicke,

Henry Jenkins Henry Jenkins III (born June 4, 1958) is an American media scholar and Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, a joint professorship at the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School for Communication a ...

Richard Lemarchand Richard Lemarchand is game designer, teacher, and author. He is known for being the lead designer on the ''Uncharted'' video game series from Naughty Dog. Game Design After graduating from Oxford with a degree in physics and philosophy, in 1991 ...

, Frans Mayra,

Jamil Moledina Jamil Moledina ( hi, जमल मोलेदीना) is a businessman who works in the video game industry. Moledina has worked in senior management roles for the Game Developers Conference, EA Partners, and mobile gaming companies Funzio and W ...

Janet Murray Janet Horowitz Murray (born 1946) is an American professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before coming to Georgia Tech in 1999, she was a Senior Research Scientist in the Center for ...

Robert Nashak The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

Carolyn Rauch Carolyn is a female given name, a variant of Caroline. Other spellings include Karolyn, Carolyne, Carolynn or Carolynne. Caroline itself is one of the feminine forms of Charles. List of Notable People *Carolyn Bennett (born 1950), Canadian pol ...

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 ...

Keita Takahashi is a Japanese game designer and artist, his most notable titles being ''Katamari Damacy'' and its sequel, ''We Love Katamari''. The original ''Katamari'' game was a surprise hit and was praised for its quirkiness, originality, and charm. Takahas ...

Will Wright (game designer) William Ralph Wright (born January 20, 1960) is an American video game designer and co-founder of the former game development company Maxis, and then part of Electronic Arts (EA). In April 2009, he left EA to run Stupid Fun Club Camp, an enterta ...

, and

Eric Zimmerman Eric Zimmerman (born 1969) is an American game designer and the co-founder and CEO of Gamelab, a computer game development company based in Manhattan. GameLab is known for the game ''Diner Dash''. Each year Zimmerman hosts the Game Design C ...

. IndieCade founder is

Stephanie Barish Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russian " Ste ...

, Festival Chair is

Celia Pearce Celia Pearce (born September 6, 1961) is an American game designer currently teaching at Northeastern University as an associate professor. She is a co-founder and current Festival Chair of IndieCade, an international festival of independent game ...

, and Festival Director is Sam Roberts. The festival started as part of E3 before being spun off as an independent event in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as ...

. In 2009 the festival moved to Culver City, where a

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game and an "urban" scavenger hunt were part of the festivities. aming's got the indie spirit"Culver City's Indiecase festival showcases low-budget, artful video games". Los Angeles Times. October 3, 2009 The

Indiecade festival IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. IndieCade is known as "the video game industry's Sundance."Fritz, Ben"IndieCade, the video game industry's Sundance" Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009, accessed July 21, 2011. ...

is the only stand-alone festival for independent games in the United States, and open to the public. Games are submitted for consideration to the IndieCade festival juryOfficial Site
/ref> in the early spring and a selection of finalists for the culminating annual IndieCade festival is determined and announced by the fall. Additional games from the pool of IndieCade submissions are showcased at a variety of events each year around the world. 2009 IndieCade showcase events included E3, the

Ottawa International Animation Festival The Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual animated film and media festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OIAF was founded in 1975, with the first festival held from August 10 to 15 in 1976. Initially organized by ...

(OIAF) partnered with the IndieCade organization "that focuses on independent games and works to cultivate innovation and artistry in interactive media" in 2009, and an independent video gaming ("IndieCade Europe") festival has been held in the United Kingdom in 2007-2009 at Gamecity. In 2016 IndieCade Europe was rebooted and took place in that year and 2017 in Paris, where it will return in 2018.

Location and Dates

In 2009, IndieCade moved its flagship stand-alone festival from

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

(Los Angeles), California. Each year, IndieCade "invades" downtown Culver City to create a "city-sized arcade". The festival transforms a central blacktop parking lot on Main Street, leveraging the open space by building temporary structures that host parties, individual games, and planned and spontaneous Big Games.

Festival events

Showcase The IndieCade showcase is the heart of the IndieCade festival and consists of approximately 40 finalist games selected for their creativity, unique vision, and technological innovation. The showcase involves both digital and physical games. Previously, the this main showcase was known as the "Game Walk" with several games exhibited in various locations across downtown

: the fire station, NextSpace coworking offices, and the Gregg Fleishman Studio, all turned into temporary galleries for the festival. It is free and open to the public. Night Games Night Games is IndieCade's most popular signature event, an evening centered large-scale physical and hybrid games played outside after dark. Examples of game types include single-player experiences played on a giant screen in front of an audience ( SuperHyperCube), multiplayer games that use only certain mechanics such as glowing wands or laser pointers ( Johann Sebastian Joust,

Renga ''Renga'' (, ''linked verse'') is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ''ku (''句), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 mora (sound units, not to be confused with syllables) per line are linked in succession by multiple poets. ...

), and large performance pieces involving many players ( Humanoid Asteroids). IndieCade promotes Night Games to feature the beauty and innovation of modern game design in all forms, outside the label of what are commonly perceived to be "traditional" games. Big Games The Big Games program serves as an extension to IndieCade's mission to promote games of all kinds. Big Games are large, multi-player games played outside and involving physical activity, and range to include technology, tactics, and personal interaction. Big Games are curated by on-site docents, and presents projects such as

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu.Kawakami, pp. 2 ...

(a turn based game of tag),

Reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...

(an Alternate Reality game), and Meatspace Invasion (a mixed virtual/real-world tag/shooting style game). It is free and open to the public.

Annual events

The first IndieCade Mobile 3D Game Jam was hosted in Los Angeles at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

's Interactive Media Division on August 6–7, 2011. During the two-day event, 12 teams began the process of creating a fully functional 3D mobile game for the LG Thrill 4G. 6 finalists were chosen to go on to the next round of refining their games in order to compete for the LG Mobile 3D Award at the Red Carpet Award Ceremonies. The first annual IndieCade Holiday Party took place at

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop '' League of Legends'' and went on ...

(''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by '' Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...

'') headquarters in Santa Monica on December 14, 2011. The fundraiser featured postcard art sent in by the community, available for sale by silent auction. The art show was curated by Glitch Lab. Notable art contributors were

Pendleton Ward Ward Taylor Pendleton Johnston (born September 23, 1982), known professionally as Pendleton Ward or simply Pen Ward, is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor who has worked for Cartoon Network Studios, Frederat ...

(creator of

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

), Jason Torchinsky, as well as Amanda Williams and Katherine Rubenstein.

IndieCade awards ceremony

Approximately 40 games each year are selected to exhibit at GameWalk. The finalists are eligible to compete in IndieCade's Red Carpet Awards. Audience Choice and Developer Choice Awards are announced separately during the festival's Closing Party. Awards categories include: * Best In Show * Best Story/World Design * Best Technology * Best Gameplay Design * Best Visuals * Best Sound * Best Interaction * Community Impact * Special Recognition

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.indiecade.com/ Animation film festivals in the United Kingdom Animation film festivals in the United States Festivals established in 2005 Indie video game festivals