IndieCade East

Museum of the Moving Image is partnering with IndieCade, the country’s premier festival for independent games—dubbed “the video game industry’s Sundance” by the Los Angeles Times—to present the first-ever East Coast edition of the festival. IndieCade East, taking place throughout the Museum from February 15 through 17, 2013, will feature 20 playable IndieCade Official Selection games; presentations from designers, academics, and journalists including Kris Piotrowski (Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP) and Doug Wilson (Johann Sebastien Joust); seminars and workshops for budding game makers led by industry experts; an arcade tournament; a festival-long game jam; and much more. 

Throughout the weekend, the Museum will also present “The Game-Making Game,” a workshop for children ages 8 and older. All festival attendees are also welcome to visit Spacewar! Video Games Blast Off, an exhibition that commemorates the 50th anniversary of video games, on view through March 3. 

Over three days, IndieCade East will include:

• Presentations by game designer Kris Piotrowski, of indie game studio CAPY; Doug Wilson, game designer and partner at Die Gute Fabrik; Eric Zimmerman, co-founder of Gamelab and co-author of game design textbook Rules of Play; game designer, critic, and researcher Ian Bogost; theorist Jesper Juul, assistant professor at the NYU Game Center; game designer and educator Nick Fortugno (Diner Dash, Ayiti: The Cost of Life); John Sharp, art historian, game designer, educator, and curator of the Museum’s Spacewar!exhibition; and many others
• Showcase featuring 20 new, independent games drawn from IndieCade’s October 2012 festival competition—all playable
• “Well Played,” a series of four events featuring finalist games from the 2012 competition that will be played live and analyzed by professionals in the Museum’s Main Theater
• Night Games, a Saturday evening of game play over two floors of the Museum
• New York-centric game design challenge: students and faculty from NYU Game Center and Parsons The New School for Design will face-off in a real-time competition to design a video game in one hour
• Game Slam, in which game makers present their works (like a poetry slam, but with games), and an ongoing festival Show and Tell, inviting attendees to share their own games and to receive feedback
• Ten-game arcade tournament in the exhibition Spacewar! Video Games Blast Off
• Festival-long game jam, in which invited participants work day-and-night to build a game, culminating in a presentation of the completed games.

Full Festival Pass (includes all events): $80 public / $60 students/seniors/Museum members 
Day One (Friday): $15 public / $10 students/seniors/Museum members 
Day Two (Saturday, excludes Night Games): $30 public / $20 students/seniors/Museum members 
Night Games (Saturday evening): $12 public / $9 students/seniors/Museum members 
Day Three (Sunday): $30 public / $20 students/seniors/Museum members