Video games are one of the most fastest and biggest industries within the current technological market. The amount of time consumers invest within video games collectively is astounding, and the culture created behind it is very common place in popular culture. The development of these video games, and the stress behind creating these video games, is something that people are not entirely aware of.
Many of the triple-A production video games, such as Call of Duty, Mass Effect, or Battlefield have massive production teams around them. With tight schedules and often hectic due dates, these teams often work tirelessly around the clock, building the next multimillion dollar blockbuster video game.
There are also independent video game developers, individuals who are not affiliated with any publisher. They set their due dates and their deadlines. However, this comes at a cost: they are not paid hourly and their sole income solely depend on their end-product. There are no benefits, no vacations, no insurance whatsoever. It ultimately depends on the success of their end product, thus there is a high risk-reward.
The documentary "Indie Game: The Movie" covers this extensively. It takes the narrative of several indie gamers and covers their journey in their quest to create the next big indie title. Its a gritty, but realistic depiction of the kinds of pressures and stress that these individuals face. Another similiar documentary is "Pixels and Polygons"
GUevara-Villalobos, Orlando. "Cultures of independent game production: Examining the relationship between community and labour ." Digra. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/11307.08157.pdf>.
I saw Indie Game the Movie before and thought it was quite interesting. Also I thought you put a pretty accurate comparison of indie games to AAA titles. Maybe you could throw out some example of indie games.
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