IndieCade East 2016

Subversive Humor and The Absurdity of Real Life Experience -- Yifat Shaik

I am here to advocate on behalf of the ridiculous. To be more specific, I aim to show you that we need more subversive humor in games and why you don’t actually have to be ‘serious’ to be serious. I will also draw from my experience of making Real Army Simulator, to highlight how you can make a game that subvert popular game concepts ("fun" in this case) while still being enjoyable

Real Army Simulator is the often humorous, slightly satirical and sometime real account of what is really like to be a soldier in the army. Pulled from Yifat and a few of her personal friends real account of their mandatory army service in the Israeli army, Real Army Simulator tries to show a more realistic view of the army and what it’s like to be part of it. The game presents life in the army as being part of a large bureaucratic and mundane machine rather than the glorified heroic experience often depicted in game

Verbs: How to Make Life Experiences Reflect in Your Games -- Charles Babb
My talk is about how to live a life of doing things for the sake of improving game ideas, game designs, and one’s creative process. I discuss my personal and professional lives (separately and together). I provide instruction on how to get the most out of each experiences and perpetually exist in a state of flow connecting activity to activity while critically analyzing and cataloging the events for creative processing and sharing in one’s games and other creative endeavors.

I discuss my personal life from traveling and studying throughout the world to working across various entertainment industries: music, manga (comics), television, film, marketing research, and video games. I focus on the importance of transforming minutes into moments into usable memories to recall throughout your creative process. I discuss how to best utilize your communities and embrace the myriad of experiences that sprout out of collisions and interactions within the community. The combination of your mental and physical activities with your communities’ activities empower one’s creative process to produce enriching and flavorful products.

Dames Making Games is a nonprofit organization running a wide range of programs and events for women, nb, gender-nonconforming and queer folks interested in games. This talk will address the current development of the DMG community development kit, funded by Refiguring Innovation in Games and the Toronto Arts Council, and how it facilitates diverse, sustainable, interdisciplinary collaboration in media arts.

This presentation will highlight the work of NYPLarcade, a project launched in 2012 at the New York Public Library to promote gaming literacy among adult patrons. It has since expanded to include game discussions and Twine workshops in New York City schools, and has been featured on Polygon, Gamasutra, and NPR. In the talk, outreach librarian Thomas Knowlton will detail how independent games are uniquely situated to offer a process-based learning environment and a forum for discussing narrative, design, and social issues.

Nigeria Geek Girls Club: Creating a new Face of Africa through Computer Games and Apps Development
Founded by Dr Yetunde Folajimi, the Nigeria Geek Girls Club is part the global efforts aimed at increasing female interests in computing, thereby increasing female  programmers and making sure that Nigeria is at par with the rest of the world. This is realized by involving women in the digital creativity process through regular summer camps, trainings and hackathons. Over the years, the Nigeria Geegk girls Club has introduced female perspectives to game creation throughout the learning and implementation processes. Consequently, young girls and women in Nigeria have been equipped to create African flavoured games and promote the culture and heritage of Africa in the process. This discussion will  showcase our experience, challenges and success story, and present the methods and models that have helped us prepare a new generation of girls and women to be part of global explosion in the computer games industry.

The discussion around diversity in games is one that often stops at character types and skin tones. At this juncture many people see a few superficial changes to characters to be a success. Some fear for their game's financial future if they are "forced" to do the bare minimum. Others refuse to examine their choices, get defensive when asked about them, and continue making games that usually uphold the status quo, consciously or not. Just as games are not solely defined by their graphics, or stories, however, neither should the conversation about diversity in games be limited in that fashion. Here we'll be examining several games by an array of creators and will be breaking down how each game tackled, subverted or perhaps avoided the deeper conversation around diversity in games.

Kickstarters and crowdfunding campaigns have become a new normal for independent games, but how do you tackle this stuff if you're not a Double Fine or a Star Citizen? In this talk, merritt will share some insights from her experience crowdfunding small to medium-sized political, personal, and creative projects. You'll learn tricks like rolling your own campaign platforms to keep your costs low, working with your networks to raise interest in your project, and telling a story without giving yourself away. Because everybody needs money. That's why they call it money. 

How do the games we produce offer metaphors for the culture we aspire to create as indie game developers?

Quench is a story-driven puzzle game set in a colourful, geometric landscape. You play as Shepherd, an avatar of nature, and you have the power to control the weather to guide herds of animals on a perilous journey. LongStory is an inclusive episodic dating/adventure game about surviving your teenage years. 

In this discussion, Tabby Rose, Executive Producer of Quench (http://quenchgame.com/) and Miriam Verburg Executive Producer of LongStory game will discuss the importance of connection and reciprocity, both in terms of the central vision for their respective games and in their work as indie game producers. 

Through a frank discussion of the strategies and tactics they have utilized to fund and create their projects Tabby and Miriam will explore how reciprocity and community helped them gain the resources and supports neccesary to bring their indie game projects into existence. In discussing a more collaborative view of start-up culture they will critique the narrative of the 'bootstrap' entrepreneur, and offer participants a fresh perspective on the start up process as a collective effort that often succeeds best when individual projects are understood  to exist in a broad eco-system that includes families, friends, agencies, and even the occasional hot meal. 

Organizations like the IndieMegabooth don’t make games; rather they take on much of the emotional labour or “worry work” associated with maintaining relationships with stakeholders and facilitating the production, distribution, and reception of indie games. Although there’s a general consensus that the IMB is a positive force in indie gaming, it’s difficult for them to parse the actual impact and relevance of their activities, especially in terms of improving the diversity and sustainability of indie developers.

This talk shares findings of the Indie Interfaces research study, which surveyed and interviewed indie developers exhibiting at events such as PAXPrime. While the IMB is committed to upholding indie games as a space of diversity, inclusivity, and innovation, we found in practice they mirror many of the same issues. For example, at PaxPRIME 2015, 93% surveyed respondents were male, 82% self-identify as white, and the average income was over $70,000USD. Accordingly, we’ll discuss the current demographic composition of Megabooth exhibitors and some of the initiatives currently underway with the IMB to “curate diversity”. We’ll present takeaways on how other organizations like the IMB can contribute to increasing diversity and inclusivity in the game industry.

This panel brings in experts from funding agencies in both the US and Canada to discuss arts funding for game creators. Our goal is to help the IndieCade community identify pathways to economic sustainability within a fine arts context through a review of possible resources and strategies of funding.