Episode 22 – PIG Squad’s Indie Game Adventure

In this episode we talk with Will Lewis and John Henrich, founders of the Portland Indie Game Squad, about the creation of their developer collective as well as the philosophy of what does—or does not—make a game “indie”. Whether an indie descriptor defines an actual genre, what constitutes an independent developer and the standard fifteen dollar price point are among discussion topics. (Skeletor also makes an appearance.) So, are AJBS snobs for only playing indie games? Well, maybe.
Featuring music from Chipocrite and Mechlo and the Bad Bits recorded at Micropalooza 2011
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the Micropalooza album, available soon!



According to the Urban Dictionary, indie would be defined as “an obscure form of (video games) which you only learn about from someone slightly more hip than yourself.”
The word also appears to be a compound of the words “in” and “die.” Which easily leads to an assumption that an indie game is one in which you die. Which, oddly enough, is usually the exact opposite of most players intent. Using that logic, one might create an indie version of Pacman in which the object is to crash into a ghost as quickly as possible. Or perhaps eating so many pills that ones Pacman overdoses or chokes to death, depending on the level of social commentary desired by the (indie) developers. With this definition, Adult Swim has some very indie titles indeed.
Also, have you noticed how fewer and fewer pools still support adult swim time? Can’t a half naked, fully grown in a public pool enjoy a Beer without children splashing their nasty children water in it? I mean really… And I apologize about the rabbit trail.
Also, the Urban Dictionary defines Rabbit Trail as “a city-dwellers belittling or irritated reference to the suburbs, especially suburbs far from the urban locations which are well-known to the city dweller. To get out to the rabbit trails usually requires a lot of driving, or will make the city dweller get home late, or are likely to cause the city-dweller to get lost. Also referred to as “mother fuckin’ rabbit trails.”
[...] podcast also reminds me that John and I guest-spoke on the AJumpsBShoots Podcast last, like, November or something. We give a kinda introductory talk into our opinions on indie [...]