IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. Game types include

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, live-action games, and

tabletop games Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a Table (furniture), table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, Tabletop role-playing game, tabletop role-playing games, or ti ...

. Independent game developers are selected to demo, screen, and promote their work at the annual IndieCade festival and showcase events.Leigh Alexande
IndieCade Announces Call For Submissions March 7, 2008 Gamasutra
/ref> IndieCade also includes a conference track featuring classes, panels, workshops, and keynotes. Since 2020, the annual festival has taken place online under the name IndieCade Anywhere & Everywhere. The IndieCade festival is the only stand-alone festival open to the public in the United States for exclusively independent games. Games are submitted for consideration to the IndieCade festival jury in the early spring and a selection of finalists for the culminating annual IndieCade festival is determined and announced by the fall."IndieCade Official Site
/ref> Additional games from the pool of IndieCade submissions are showcased at a variety of events each year around the world. Ben Fritz for the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

called IndieCade "the video game industry's Sundance."Fritz, Ben
"IndieCade, the video game industry's Sundance"
Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009, accessed July 21, 2011.

IndieCade awards

Approximately 40 games each year are selected to exhibit. The finalists are eligible to compete in IndieCade's Red Carpet Awards. Audience Choice and Developer Choice Awards are announced separately during the festival's closing party. Awards categories vary by year. Typical categories include: * Best In Show * Best Story/World Design * Best Technology * Best Gameplay Design * Best Visuals * Best Sound * Best Interaction * Community Impact * Special Recognition

Locations and dates

Festival events

Showcase The IndieCade showcase is the heart of the IndieCade festival and consists of approximately 40 finalist games selected for their creativity, unique vision, and technological innovation. The showcase involves both digital and physical games. It is free and open to the public.

History

IndieCade was formed by Creative Media Collaborative, an alliance of industry producers and leaders founded in 2005. IndieCade's board of advisors have included (among others) Seamus Blackley, Tracy Fullerton, Megan Gaiser, Andy Gavin, Carl Goodman, John Hight,

Robin Hunicke Robin Hunicke (; born March 15, 1973) is an American video game designer and producer. She is a professor of game design at UC Santa Cruz and the co-founder of Funomena. Hunicke began her career at Electronic Arts where she worked on multipl ...

Henry Jenkins Henry Guy Jenkins III (born June 4, 1958) is an American media scholar and Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, a joint professorship at the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School for Communicatio ...

, Richard Lemarchand, Frans Mayra, Jamil Moledina,

Janet Murray Janet Horowitz Murray (born 1946) is an American professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before coming to Georgia Tech in 1999, she was a Senior Research Scientist in the Center fo ...

, Robert Nashak, Carolyn Rauch, Kellee Santiago, Keita Takahashi, Will Wright, and Eric Zimmerman. IndieCade founder is Stephanie Barish, Festival Chair is Celia Pearce, and Festival Director is Sam Roberts. The festival started as part of E3 before being spun off as an independent event in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

. In 2009, IndieCade moved its flagship stand-alone festival from

, to

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

(Los Angeles), California, where a

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game and an "urban" scavenger hunt were part of the festivities. aming's got the indie spirit"Culver City's Indiecase festival showcases low-budget, artful video games". Los Angeles Times. October 3, 2009 The

Ottawa International Animation Festival The Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual animated film and media festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OIAF was founded in 1975, with the first festival held from August 10 to 15 in 1976. Initially organized b ...

(OIAF) partnered with the IndieCade organization in 2009. Each year, IndieCade created a "city-sized arcade" in downtown Culver City. The festival transformed a central blacktop parking lot on Main Street, leveraging the open space by building temporary structures that host parties, individual games, and planned and spontaneous Big Games. In 2016 IndieCade Europe was rebooted and took place in Paris, where it returned in 2017 and 2018. Since 2020, the annual IndieCade festival has taken place online under the name IndieCade Anywhere & Everywhere.

Previous events

Showcase Prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the main showcase was known as the "Game Walk" with several games exhibited in various locations across downtown

: the fire station, NextSpace coworking offices, and the Gregg Fleishman Studio, all turned into temporary galleries for the festival. Night Games Night Games was an evening centered large-scale physical and hybrid games played outside after dark. Examples of game types included single-player experiences played on a giant screen in front of an audience ('' SuperHyperCube''), multiplayer games that use only certain mechanics such as glowing wands or laser pointers ('' Johann Sebastian Joust'', ''Renga''), and large performance pieces involving many players (''Humanoid Asteroids''). IndieCade promoted Night Games to feature the beauty and innovation of modern game design in all forms, outside the label of what are commonly perceived to be "traditional" games. Big Games The Big Games program served as an extension to IndieCade's mission to promote games of all kinds. Big Games are large, multi-player games played outside and involving physical activity, and range to include technology, tactics, and personal interaction. Big Games were curated by on-site docents, and presented projects such as

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(a turn based game of tag),

Reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

(an Alternate Reality game), and Meatspace Invasion (a mixed virtual/real-world tag/shooting style game). It was free and open to the public. 3D Game Jam The first IndieCade Mobile 3D

Game Jam A game jam is an event where participants try to make a video game from scratch. Depending on the format, participants might work independently, or in teams. The event duration usually ranges from 24 to 72 hours. Participants are generally program ...

was hosted in Los Angeles at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

's Interactive Media Division on August 6–7, 2011. During the two-day event, 12 teams began the process of creating a fully functional 3D mobile game for the LG Thrill 4G. 6 finalists were chosen to go on to the next round of refining their games in order to compete for the LG Mobile 3D Award at the Red Carpet Award Ceremonies. Holiday Party The first annual IndieCade Holiday Party took place at

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on to develop ...

headquarters in Santa Monica on December 14, 2011. The fundraiser featured postcard art sent in by the community, available for sale by silent auction. The art show was curated by Glitch Lab. Notable art contributors were

Pendleton Ward Pendleton Ward is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor who has worked for Cartoon Network Studios, Frederator Studios, and Netflix Animation. He created the series ''Adventure Time'', the Internet series ''Brave ...

(creator of ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

''), Jason Torchinsky, as well as Amanda Williams and Katherine Rubenstein.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.indiecade.com/ Animation film festivals in the United Kingdom Animation film festivals in the United States Festivals established in 2005 Game awards Gaming conventions Indie game festivals Trade shows in the United States