A lot has happened since this iconic game development document came out

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I attended a screening of Indie Game: The Movie, probably still the most famous video game development documentary, in early 2012. It was held at the Game Developers Conference — "the definition of a home audience," as I wrote at the time — and it received a standing ovation from a large audience in the Great Hall of San Francisco's Moscone Center. The Kickstarter-funded film had already screened at the Sundance Film Festival at the time, but this was the debut in front of its true audience: people who love games, people who make games, people who dream of making games. Of course, they ramped up the film's confident storytelling, larger-than-life characters, and romanticization of the artist's struggle.

Watching the film again now – it's available to rent or buy on Prime Video and Apple TV – is a strange experience. Twelve years is not a very long time in film, or in the real world, and you can hardly call the film dated. The people in the film live in a world that is recognizable as the one we inhabit now; they use smartphones and check the discourse on Twitter and YouTube. The film itself, directed by James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, is a slick, well-edited modern-style documentary, and is notable for how cleverly and stylishly it uses video game footage – still a rarity now. As a comprehensive account of video game development, it has been surpassed, especially by the two stunningly candid Double Fine documentary series, but you can't hold it against that.