Last weekend, IndieCade East was held once again at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. For three (extremely cold) days, I spent my time attending talks, playing games, and, of course, interacting with some amazing indie talent. Promoted as “IndieCade Festival’s sarcastic, all-black-wearing cousin,” IndieCade East had keynotes, talks, panels, workshops, an eSports showcase, Show & Tell, a curated showcase (entitled “Love & Rejection, Gesture, and Horizons”), and my personal favorite, Night Games. There was so much to do that even after three days, I hadn’t done it all.
There were some impressive talks, including the three keynotes. They started with “Play Design and the Opposite of Boredom” by Gonzalo Frasca on Friday, then flowed into “Playing a Story: How Narrative and Gameplay Can Become One and the Same” by Thomas Grip on Saturday, and finished with “Diversity in Audience, Diversity in Creators” by Mary Flanagan on Sunday. Everything from crowdfunding to strategies for getting press to inclusivity in games was covered through the dozens of talks, panels, and workshops.
As for the games on display, Sony and Nintendo each had a strong presence. Sony had some televisions set up with several games running, including Starwhal, Chasm, Jamestown Plus, Earthnight, and the gruelingly difficult Titan Souls, as well as some games on Vita. Nintendo had some Wii U and New 3DS games, including Ironfall, Elliot’s Quest, and Blek.
The “Love & Rejection, Gesture, and Horizons” showcase included Fract OSC, how do you Do it?, Realistic Kissing Simulator, and Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, which I play at every event I can. The other showcase was full of eSports, including two personal favorites, ClusterPuck 99 and Screencheat, which were amazing on a huge screen.
My two favorite places to see and play games were in the Show & Tell, which was a constantly rotating library of games on Saturday and Sunday, and Night Games, which was when everyone took over the museum after it closed on Saturday night and played a myriad of digital and fully interactive games. My personal favorites were Henka Twist Caper, a PlayStation Move game coming to PlayStation 4 soon, and Ninja Fall, a physical game where one person plays the Ninja and the other, the Sensai. The Sensai must guide the Ninja across a treacherous landscape, helping them obtain a sword and take out the other players – all while the Ninjas in play wear blindfolds. It was a blast!
As always, IndieCade East was over much too soon, and I found myself wishing I’d had more time to play games. While I did miss Killer Queen quite a bit (I played it so much at IndieCade East 2014), and felt that the showcase from last year was better than this year’s “Love & Rejection, Gesture, and Horizons,” I still had a great time playing games, speaking with developers, and listening to some of the most brilliant minds in indie games today. For anyone on the East Coast looking to get into independent development, this event is a must for you, so get next year’s on your radar now.
