Creating memorable moments at IndieCade 2012

Being surrounded by people who love fun

Admittedly, when I showed up to Culver City for IndieCade, I was pretty overwhelmed. There were people everywhere, walking around, socializing, and playing games. After I took everything in, I realized I was surrounded by a massive group of people – developers, fans, writers, families – who just wanted to have a good time. That’s really what IndieCade is about, and when you think about it, that’s what video games are about a lot of the time, too. Whether they were playing games in the firehouse, listening in on public panels, purchasing sweet merch, or checking out some physical games, people were there to have fun. These were folks who play games religiously and individuals who hardly or never play games at all, enjoying themselves and having a blast. It was definitely a great ambiance.

Playing Hokra with my sister

Because IndieCade is open to the public, I decided to invite my sister Mary to come along with me. I figured it would be fun, and I thought I’d force her to play a couple of games while we were there. We came across developer Ramiro Corbetta, who had earlier spoken during the inspiration panel and was now showing off Hokra, and we had a nice chat with him. My sister and I also teamed up to play Hokra against a couple of other attendees. We got smoked, but we had a ton of fun the entire time. It was indicative of the inviting atmosphere of IndieCade. Case in point: My sister doesn’t play anything other than Mario Kart about once or twice a year, and she totally dug Hokra.

Finally eating at Tito’s Tacos

I’ve lived in the Los Angeles County my entire life, and I’ve never eaten at Tito’s Tacos, which used to run ads on late-night TV and is considered by many a staple of Culver City. I decided to finally check the place out since it was only a five-minute drive from IndieCade, and I was glad to discover that Tito can make a mean shredded beef burrito. (The dude was actually hustlin’ in the kitchen!) I couldn’t ask for a better way to top off my IndieCade experience. I attended a fun award show, checked out a panel, soaked in the indie gaming vibe, played some great games, and had a tasty burrito to wrap things up.

IndieCade, see ya next year!

Want to talk about indie games, Kirby, or cheap pizza? Follow me on Twitter @dr_davidsanchez.

This year’s IndieCade was a true spectacle. After attempting to attend last year and erroneously showing up right when the independent games festival ended on a Sunday night, I was dead set on checking out IndieCade 2012, even if it was just for one day. I ended up attending the IndieCade Red Carpet Awards and one day of the festival itself, and in those two days, I had an absolute blast. I didn’t take many pictures of noteworthy stuff, but I did make sure to create some memorable experiences. So without further adieu, here are my top moments from IndieCade 2012.

Attending the enjoyably cheesy award show

The IndieCade Red Carpet Awards presented a select handful of impressive nominees with awards for art design, world design, overall quality, and so on. While not all of my personal picks walked away with an award, there’s no denying that the winners certainly earned their praise and recognition. But aside from seeing cool titles like Dyad and Unmanned take home awards, it was also a lot of fun witnessing the spectacularly cheesy script that host Felicia Day was working off of. I’m a socially awkward dude by nature, so seeing awkward behavior being part of an award show was pretty hilarious (and oddly comforting). There were also a couple of fun activities set up by Wise Guys Events which included dividing up the audience into two groups and having them throw balloons at each other. Yes, it was actually fun.

Getting honest insight during a developer panel

The main attraction of IndieCade is the showcase of titles that are playable to the public. Aside from offering pure, unadulterated fun, though, the festival is also host to several developer conferences. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend a single panel, which ended up revolving around the theme of inspiration. I heard the folks behind titles such as Prom Week and Hokra talk about how they were doing what they love, how they weren’t in the games industry for the money, and how they didn’t know what to expect from the future. It was an interesting and enlightening talk that really made me proud to be a supporter of indie games.