The IndieCade Festival is one of the biggest and most well liked events in indie gaming in the world, bringing an international crowd together to play, make, and revel in exciting indie goodness that the rest of the world won’t see for years, if ever! No matter what genre you’re into, or if you’re a fan or a developer, this is a welcoming place with a wonderful atmosphere that will have you smiling so big you’ll swear your life gets bonus points for it.
This year’s festival was heavily into AR and VR, much like the rest of the industry at the moment. Indie AR in particular is much more innovative than anything you’ll see by big outlets that have to play it safe, however. You would also get to experience the design jam regarding this, which is much more than a digital sketch challenge since it puts the people themselves into the experience for added fun.
Of course, you’ll also get to enjoy a slew of wonderful panels, largely based around the more esoteric aspects of the gaming industry. These things get very fun, as pretty much everyone’s favorite games are a treasure trove of recommendations that are so obscure that you’ll always find a new gem mentioned that you had no idea existed.
Awards are always given out as well, which makes for a competitive vibe perfectly suited to a convention about games themselves. Some games are clearly trying to win that top spot by being productively weird, while others go out of their way to not get it by leaving you with moral quandaries and related moral things. It all makes for a meta game to the conference that’s already about games, and we love every moment of it.
Summing Up How This Year’s Con Went
If you want an indie gaming festival that’s as much about playing games as it is making them, then you’ll find yourself at home here every October. The crowd is unique, the games even more so, and things go on into the night under the open sky. Everything sells out pretty quickly, but if you’re lucky enough to make an attendance, you won’t regret it, and surely won’t forget a moment of it! It’s the only place you can play under the stars with the cutting edge in hipster gaming.
