[Commlist] New book: Independent Videogames: Cultures, Networks, Techniques and Politics

Paolo Ruffino is glad to announce the publication of the collection of 
essays /Independent Videogames: Cultures, Networks, Techniques and 
Politics/. The edited collection maps the current trajectories of 
independent game development, at a time when game makers engage with 
videogame production in a myriad of different ways, ranging from 
full-time employment to brief and casual investments of time and resources.

The book focuses on four key thematic areas (cultures, networks, 
techniques and politics), which open up questions surrounding gender 
inclusivity, creative freedom, funding and publishing strategies, 
labour, precarity, and social practices taking place in the new contexts 
of production of the videogame industry. The collection includes a 
section of geographically specific case studies, with contributions from 
Latin America, Finland, Australia, United States and the United Kingdom. 
A final afterword by Bart Simon from Concordia University makes the 
point on what ‘indie game studies’ have achieved so far, and points at 
future challenges.

It has been a great pleasure and honour to be responsible for the 
curation of this collection. It has given me the opportunity to work 
with some of the most brilliant authors who have been researching 
videogame production over the past 10-15 years. I would like to thank 
the authors for their invaluable contribution, and Routledge for their 
support throughout the publication.

I hope that the book will be useful for scholars, researchers and 
students interested in independent videogames and game production 
studies. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions 
about the publication.

For more information:
https://www.routledge.com/Independent-Videogames-Cultures-Networks-Techniques-And-Politics/Ruffino/p/book/9780367336202 
<https://www.routledge.com/Independent-Videogames-Cultures-Networks-Techniques-And-Politics/Ruffino/p/book/9780367336202>

Table of Contents

1. After Independence
Paolo Ruffino (University of Liverpool, UK)

Part I: Cultures

2. Decoding and Recoding Game Jams and Independent Game-making Spaces 
for Diversity and Inclusion
Aphra Kerr (Maynooth University, Ireland)

3. Queering Indie: How LGBTQ Experiences Challenge Dominant Narratives 
of Independent Games
Bonnie Ruberg (University of California Irvine, USA)

4. Virtually Indie: On the Characteristics of Independent Game 
Development for Virtual Reality Headsets
Paweł Grabarczyk (IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

Part II: Networks

5. Network or Die? What Social Networking Analysis Can Tell Us About 
Indie Game Development
Pierson Browne and Jennifer Whitson (University of Waterloo, Canada)

6. Strange Bedfellows: Indie Games and Academia
Celia Pearce (Northeastern University, USA)

Part III: Techniques

7. The Conditions of Videogame Production: The Nature and Stakes of 
Creative Freedom in Stiegler’s Philosophy of Technicity
Patrick Crogan (University of the West of England, UK)

8. Boutique Indie: Annapurna Interactive and Contemporary Independent 
Game Development
Felan Parker (University of Toronto, Canada)

9. Game Production Studies: Studio Studies Theory, Method and Practice
Casey O’Donnell (Michigan State University, USA)

Part IV: Politics

10. Game Workers Unite: Unionization Among Independent Developers
Jamie Woodcock (The Open University, UK)

11. Playing with Risk: Political-Economy, Independent Games, and the 
Precarity of Development in Crowded Commercial Markets
Nadav Lipkin (La Roche University, USA)

Part V: Local Indie Game Studies

12. Playful Peripheries: The Consolidation of Independent Game 
Production in Latin America
Orlando Guevara-Villalobos (University of Costa Rica)

13. The Melbourne Indie Game Scenes: Value Regimes in Localized Game 
Development
Brendan Keogh (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)

14. Modes of Independence in the Finnish Game Development Scene
Olli Sotamaa (Tampere University, Finland)

15. The Rebels Across the Street: IndiE3 and the Strategic Geography of 
Indie Game Promotion
John Vanderhoef (California State University, Dominguez Hills, USA)

16. Freedom from the Industry Standard: Student Working Imaginaries and 
Independence in Games Higher Education
Alison Harvey (York University, Canada)

17. Afterword: The Cultural Conditions of Being Indie
Bart Simon (Concordia University, Canada)

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