What it means to make an indie film during the golden age of indie video games

This month, we explore what it takes to make a successful video game and how that has changed over the past decade. May's “Econ Extra Credit” selection includes: “Indie Game: The Movie” What is available is Rent or purchase on multiple streaming platforms.

When Indie Game: The Movie was released in 2012, the idea that video games could be a form of art was just beginning to be accepted by the mainstream.

Lisanne Pajot described it as a kind of golden age for indie games. The number of creators was still relatively small, and any game had a chance to gain attention with little or no marketing funds.

But a lot has changed in the industry, Pageot told Econ Extra Credit. For example, independent game developers are more competitive and less well-known, making it harder to break through.

We spoke to Pageotto about how the challenges she and co-director James Swirski faced making an indie film reflected the difficulties their subjects faced developing indie games. I did. Pageot, who continues to document game development through her own company, BlinkWorks Media, believes her “creator-her-story” is universal, no matter how laborious it may be. I talked about why I think it's attractive.

Below are edited excerpts from our conversation.

Econ extra credits: As the industry grew, so did the amount of money invested in games. The indie developers featured in your movie said they wanted to make something personal and didn't think about whether their game would have a lot of fans, but they wanted to make something personal and didn't care about whether their game would have a lot of fans. It also needed to be successful.

Pageot: Yes, there is that tension. I think that's the same with all indie productions, right? Whether you make movies or games, you want to make sure that the time you spend making something is worth it.

I think there was a lot of tension in this movie. Because at the time, the idea was that games were personal creations and personal storytelling. [or] Art was new to the mainstream. There are probably more games as art now than there were back then. However, it is becoming difficult to break through now.

At the time of this movie, there were even fewer games. [Online gaming community] Steam was releasing probably less than 20 games a month. Now it's a few thousand games a month, maybe 1,500 games. So there's been a huge leap in creativity, and that's great. It's just hard to make a living as an independent creator.

EEC: Do you see any similarities between the creative process and financial pressures of being an indie game maker and your work as an indie film maker?

Pageot: So we raised funds on Kickstarter. I think we were one of the first movies to use Kickstarter at the time. At first he tried to raise $10,000, which wasn't enough to make the movie, but it seemed like a lot to ask from strangers on the internet.

But when we went to distribute the film, we were going to Sundance. [Film Festival], which we were really lucky to be a part of — there was some tension. Back then, movies had a specific way of being released by region. It has never been easier to buy movies online. We had a lot of Kickstarter backers, so if we had sold the film to a distributor, it would have been canceled and it would have taken a very long time for the Kickstarter people to finally get their hands on the film. I knew it would have been.

So we decided to distribute it ourselves.We've done tours, booked theaters, booked our own theaters [release]. I created a website. I created an app on Steam. We went on iTunes and ended up selling DVDs and Blu-Rays and all sorts of other merchandise. [discs], all T-shirts and posters. That was insane. It was a really busy time. It was similar to what was happening in indie games at the time. People were creating their own streams that streamed directly to their viewers. And he thought, for example, if he could get 1,000 people to buy the movie, he would break even and that would be a win. That's what we did.

EEC: Have you reached your break-even point?

Pajot: If 1,000 people bought the film, that would be about $100,000, which is pretty close to a year's salary. [$50,000 each for Pajot and Swirsky]. [Production lasted two years, so] We needed to make $200,000.

The film was released in 2012 and continued to be marketed and distributed for another two to three years. In the end, the return was well worth the five years of effort. But did I ever think that would happen when I decided to shoot this from my small car or something like that driving around North America? No, not at all.

EEC: Were you surprised by the audience's reaction to the film?

Pageot: I think people got what they wanted from it. Some people may think, “This moves me, I want to do this, I want to make an indie game.'' But some people look at that and think, “Oh, that's really hard.'' They don't look like they're having much fun. It seems very intense. I don't want to be one of them. ”

Looking back now, I think people are hungry for a reason to create. So when you see someone creating something, even if it doesn't always look like it's hard or fun, people are drawn to it because they have a longing to create something for themselves. I think.

I kind of know what the solution will be. The solution to everyone's problems in this movie is the staff, the people they work with. But at the time, no one knew it would work and we didn't have the money to hire people, but we still wanted to do it.

And we [as filmmakers] I was in a very similar situation. We really wanted to make a movie. We didn't have enough money to pay people, so we did everything ourselves. The result is a lot of work.

EEC: Maybe people wouldn't start if they really knew what they needed?

Pageot: No, you wouldn't do that.

EEC: You haven't made a feature film since Indie Game. why is that?

Pageot: oh, I had a seizure and started working on other feature films. I think the reason we haven't jumped in until now is because there are so many other opportunities that have come up.

We've been working with the Game Awards for almost 10 years. Every year we create a short document for this show. And we also create other stories, which are typically funded by companies and brands like Roblox. Basically it's all about the people in the game world.

I keep thinking that someday I'll run out of opportunities. And then we have to figure it out and make something ourselves. And you know, it can still happen.

However, we have been really lucky to receive funding and the opportunity to create work, often with friends. And that helps with things like the season of our lives where we have young children. It's just like it's a young person's job to drive around for six months to follow a story. That's what they can do. It's more difficult now. But did you know? my children grow up. Maybe then do something else.

please play with us

Every month we'll be introducing some of our staff's favorite games, so we'd love to introduce yours too! What video games did you like when you were a kid? Are you still playing? Do you have a new favorite?

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