Gameloading: Rise Of The Indies Documentary Review

Indie is a term that has been around for a few years now, generally used to describe a subsection of games made by small teams without publisher backing. That term has also been used as a genre label, placing all sorts of titles under the same umbrella even when gameplay varies wildly in that field. Gameloading: Rise Of The Indies is a documentary that was funded through Kickstarter, with the aim to discover what indie developers go through and the processes and thoughts behind making a game.

One of the most important statements made in Gameloading is that the indie scene isn’t a new thing, but one that has been dormant since the early 80’s. From the late 80’s right up to the mid-2000’s, gaming has been dominated by big studios, making it hard for anyone outside of that scene to get onto a platform without financial backing and publisher approval. It’s only thanks to the rise of digital distribution that anyone can decide to make a game and sell it in a large market.

And that is the main message thoughout, as various people from all sorts of backgrounds go on a journey to create games that all have different ideas and messages behind them. One of the main games that features in the documentary is The Stanley Parable, with much of the focus on Davey Wreden and William Pugh as they work towards its release. However it jumps around to talk to all kinds of people in the indie game space, from well known names like Id Software co-founder John Romero, Zoe Quinn & Mike Bithell, to others who don’t feature anywhere near as much in the headlines.

Take for example Robin Arnott and his game SoundSelf. It’s a title that is right out there with even its creator unable to truly define what SoundSelf is. It is an experience where vocals change what is happening on screen, but even that definition is vague. SoundSelf is just one example of what Gameloading portrays as an indie game; something that isn’t afraid to experiment and play with expectations. In fact as the documentary follows the process of each developer, you can’t help but feel this is the reason all of them entered game development.

One of the questions asked of the developers is whether a game should be fun, but the answer generally seems to be that a game should be entertaining. A game could cover some very mature themes like depression and oppression, not fun topics but the experience of them can provide entertainment. You see this thinking applied to titles like Depression Quest and Analogue: A Hate Story. These indie games come from personal experience, and can research into obscure history like the Josean dynasty of Korea.

Gameloading really does show that every single indie game that releases has a game maker, or a small group of them, who come from very different backgrounds and have a freedom to make what they wish. Some will use their personal experiences as the basis, while others will take one aspect of game design and go from there. The documentary also shows how open the indie development scene is, and how people from all over the world can get together and create something no one has seen before.

But it doesn’t just focus on development but also the amount of travel that must be done to really promote a game. Individuals are shown going from Nottingham to Seattle and onward to San Francisco, as well as many other places to make the public aware of their title. However this kind of promotion offers very little chance of success due to how much competition there is. Ashley Zeldin of Adorkable Games is someone who didn’t engage in this promotion and states that led to a game not getting much fanfare.

The documentary also shows that not everyone is comfortable with this kind of self promotion with the term ‘imposter syndrome’ used to describe it, where developers don’t feel they deserve to be at a convention with their own booth. I felt a greater sense of appreciation of what indie developers have to go through, including stepping out of their comfort zones just so they can introduce someone else to a new experience.

Gameloading: Rise Of The Indies also covers the future of the development scene, focusing quite heavily on how groups have been set up to teach children to code, and how it will be much easier for them to do so than the generations that came before. However that isn’t the only focus on the future of indies, and there is naturally some talk of the harassment that developers have faced from certain sections of the gaming community. While the individual experiences have been horrible for those involved, there has come a steely resistance too.

Those that spoke of their harrasment haven’t decided to abandon the industry, but instead try to counter the attacks and make the community a much healthier and safer place for the those children that will one day be making games and travelling the world to promote their products. This is one of the strongest messages within the documentary, backing up the lesson that anyone can make a game and all are welcome in this community of digital expression.

By the end of the film, I felt so much positivity thanks to the amount of passion of the developers and how excited they were about their projects. The launch day segment for The Stanley Parable just makes you smile as you see all of the hard work pay off. This is a documentary that celebrates the work and efforts of indie developers, and I think it should be viewed by those that are thinking of making their own games. There is a lot of advice given by the developers that are featured, which new people can learn from.

Gameloading: Rise Of The Indies doesn’t focus on all of the problems an indie developer can face, but where it does so it represents it in a mature way. It can almost be a whirlwind of developers at times, with some only getting a couple of sentences before it moves on, but in a way, that ties into breadth of the industry, the cameraderie and the good behind indie development, with some inspiring stories throughout.