A host of digital affordances, including reduced cost production tools, open distribution platforms, and ubiquitous connectivity, have engendered the growth of indie games among makers and users, forcing critics to reconsider the question of who makes games and why. Taking seriously this new mode of cultural produciton compells analysts to reconsider the blurred boundaries and relations of makers, users and texts as well as their respective relationship to cultural power and hierarchy. The contributions to Indie Games in the Digital Age consider these questions and examine a series of firms, makers, games and scenes, ranging from giants like Nintendo and Microsoft to grassroots games like Cards Against Humanity and Stardew Valley, to chart more precisely the productive and instructive disruption that this new site of cultural production offers.
Too often "indie" is applied to gaming in a haphazard way that pretends uniformity across both production and genre. Indie Games in the Digital Age does an excellent job of forging new ground, showing just how complex and rich the possibilities and challenges of independent games truly are. By considering indie games not as an aesthetic but as a set of practices including the production of workers, the use and engagement by game players and fans, this book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the full scope of video game production and its broader implications on digital culture and modern life.