Movie review - "Indie Game: The Movie"

"Indie Game: The Movie" shows the nail-biting, teeth-grinding, ulcer-erupting stress and strain that comes with the territory of independent video game production and distribution.  This movie follows the progress of three very different programmers and their teams as they work towards the same goal, the completion and release of their respective video games that each has been struggling with for a very long time.

The three creators each have reached an in-pass with their respective monsters; Jonothan Blow, the creator of the game "Braid" weighs commercial success against sense of self & how that translates into his game. 

The creative team of Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes (or Team Meat to which they are referred,) makers of the game "Super Meat Boy" struggle with a very tight deadline for the release of their game and suffer the slings and arrows of working non-stop and the effect it has on their personal lives and physical conditions.

Fez creator Phil Fish and partner Renaud Bédard also struggle to complete what has become their defining creation, "Fez".  Introduced with a great deal of favor and popularity at a gaming convention several years prior to the making of the film, "Fez" has lost a great deal of momentum with the passing of time.  Now, the team struggles to get it released at an upcoming convention while struggling against time, forces from within, and their own personal demons.

The struggles of these artists, not only against external forces but also against their own personalities is the principle drive of this film.  How does one measure success; monetary gain, the acceptance of others, or the feeling that personal goals have been realized.  This is at the heart of Indie Game: The Movie.

You can visit the official site of the movie as well as the sites of the individual creators here.

Indie Game: The Movie - the official site
Braid
Super Meat Boy
Fez