Indie Con DC (with DC Geeks, IGDA, and Gaming in Public)

By Samantha Tynes

Indie Con DC is this Saturday, August 3rd, from 4:00PM to 10:00PM at Public Tenley (the first three hours are open to all ages, and after 7:00 the event changes over to 21+ only).

Earlier this year, an idea for an event began to form, and Indie Con DC has come a long way since its inception earlier. We here at DC Geeks are co-sponsoring the one-day free convention with the DC chapter of IGDA. Similar to events like Gaming in Public, the event will be focused on local indie game developers and connecting them with local players (like many of you).

Indie Con DC: booze, games, community, giveaways, and more.
(image from Gaming in Public's FB)

I'm hoping that you'll help make the inaugural con a success and come out to join us at Public Bar in Tenley. As you may have noticed from the "This Week in Geek" events listings, Public Tenley is very geek and e-sport friendly - you may know it from One Nation of Gamers' events like BarCraft. On August 11th the weekend after Indie Con, they're hosting the DC Pubstomp, a screening the DOTA2 International Finals. 

While planning for Indie Con, I met with Jacob Clark (half of Gaming in Public and the mastermind behind Indies Need Booze), and the first thing I noticed was how obvious his enthusiasm was for his events and groups, made apparent by a type of abundant energy. Jacob has been involved in video game events for some time. He started Gaming In Public about two years ago to foster the local community of indie developers. Meanwhile, Indies Need Booze had such a successful party at PAX East that they're already making plans for next year's PAX and MAGFest.

About every month, he and his co-organizer John meet at Public Tenley with other local gamers to play some good indie games. What makes this different from the average "beer and game" events is that Jacob and John get the developers to do interviews over Skype and hand out game keys. It’s a great way for indie developers to get exposure, and for gamers to socialize. Why game at home when you can do it with friends (and potentially get free new games)? 

Public Tenley hosting BarCraft DC's MLG Anaheim tournament
(image by Yida Li)

Larger game companies and their development teams often seem disconnected from their players. Indie developers don't have that problem as often. Of course, that's not true of every indie developer, but overall the sense of community is still there. Many of the developers make games because it’s what they love. As local developer for City State Entertainment, Andrew Meggs mentioned in our podcast with him, game creation is such a passion for him that he's less of a gamer than you might expect. Developers do make some money from indie games, but often not enough to make a living off of, unless the team is capable of putting out a constant stream of new games, which can be difficult for an individual developer or small teams.

Recently, Gaming in Public held events for Retro/Grade and Cloudberry Kingdom. Jacob explained that he plans events by both casting a wide net for developers and spending time playing the potential games, then picking the best. His criteria is simple; games that are fun, quick to learn, and easy to pick up and put down. There are several indie games with a good, involved story and interesting mechanics, but the events' focus is still social. So now you have it on peer-reviewed authority that it's worth your while to pick up Retro/Grade and pre-order Cloudberry Kingdom (which at least on Steam nets you a free soundtrack).

Editor's Note: Seriously, get Retro/Grade. It's amazingly fun.
(image from Retro/Grade's site)

One of the great things about Indie Con DC is that even though everyone involved is hoping for a large turnout, the event has never lost our focus. We're all about local indie game developers and players coming together to game and maybe share a pint. Here's the latest list of our developers:

• Callen Shaw: leader of The Unallied (Flip Cup, Drinkards Beer Pong, Snowball Showdown, 3D-struction, and Flippin' Shadows)
• Taro Omiya: founder of Omiya Games (The Sentient Cube and Touch Yoga) and programmer for e4software (Swarm! and Solitaire Double-Deck HD)
• Matthew Mauriello: Project Manager from Tumbleweed Express
• Josh Nan: creator of Spell Broken from Sage Dragon
• Andrew Eiche: co-founder of Birdcage Games and Awesome Sound Guy (official title) for Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby from Dejobaan Games
• Chris Klimas and Joel Haddock: creators of Camp Keepalive from Twofold Secret
• Daniel Silber: creator of Threads of Reality from Interstellar Tortoise LLC
• Martin Smith: Lead Programmer at JumpCore Productions for Undead Overlord, and developer on Pandora's Blocks (a project from IGDA DC's Global Game Jam).
• Melanie Stegman: the director of the Learning Technologies Program at the Federation of American Scientists, and organizer for IGDA DC, and designer for Immune Attack and its sequel Immune Defense

I ’m so excited about Indie Con DC. As you can see, our venue is great and the line-up is great. We have cool games to be played - from quick party games to educational ones. The excitement of everyone involved is palpable and contagious. It’s free, it’s open all ages, it’s supporting local developers, and there will be giveaways  Did I mention it’s free?

You can join Gaming in Public through Meetup, grab Retro/Grade and Cloudberry Kingdom on Steam and PSN, and RSVP for Indie Con DC either through this link or on the Facebook page. Please note that from 4:00PM to 7:00PM the event is open to all ages and from 7:00PM to 10:00PM the event changes to 21+ only.

Iron Sky Review

Disclaimer: If you are a believer in American Exceptionalism, if you have been a bit too enthusiastic with your patriotism during the current Olympics, or if you believe that a certain former governor from Alaska is the only sane future for the United States, then do yourself a favor: skip this movie and this review.

Moon. Nazis. 

Nazis, check. "Not Palin," check. "Not Palin" using the office as a home gym? Not pictured, but double check.
(promotional image for Iron Sky)

That is all.

If you really need more reasons to watch the movie, I can say a bit more about the brilliantly camptastic and geek-pandering movie Iron Sky. After all, DC Geeks just finished sponsoring a showing of the film in the DC area, and I owe it to you who weren't there to tell you just what you missed out on.

Dieselpunk/ fantasy/ comedy/ space porn of the highest order.

Iron Sky is a magnificent, partially fan-funded film that is available on demand in the US market. As in, you get enough folks to demand it, they’ll put on a showing. A big chunk of the film budget was raised from fan investors and through fan purchases of Iron Sky merch, including their War Bond kits, which seem to still be available. The rest of the funds, the vast majority of them, came from a series of European institutions that encourage and support film-making. 

Beyond the international investors, one of the selling points for the Finnish movie is its non-Amerocentric viewpoint, which uses the stereotype of a war-mongering, blindly patriotic America to, in my opinion, great comedic effect. Truth be told, while this is a dark comedy it also confirms some of my darker thoughts on how America is perceived by the rest of the world. The pseudo-Palin president is terrifyingly honest in her Oval Office interactions, and what pieces of Americana that are shown adhere to parody and trope.

Honestly, for the first ten or twenty minutes, I was worried that the movie would degenerate into Black Dynamite in Space. One of the two male leads is an African American. On a moonbase. A Nazi moonbase. You can see where this is going. But only until the first of many unexpected moments, after which, I was laughing hard enough that a fellow DCG writer was elbowing me in the ribs to shush me.

You know. Like they do... (promotional image for Iron Sky)

That’s how the whole film operates. Fun, a bit campy, pretty special effects, what seems like a cute story. Then there’s the twist, a weapon that is completely logical when you think about it (and one which hard sci-fi fans will appreciate if they get past the other violations of science and physics). Trying not to spoil anything, but the most amusing and horrifying moment in the movie played off of the stereotype of the uneducated Americans who wouldn't recognize historical references if it were blaring in their face.

So if you can take a joke or fifty at America's expense (as well as Britain's, India's, Finland's, and North Korea's expenses, to be fair); you owe it to yourself to get some friends, find a showing, and enjoy it. I even heard someone as they exited the theater muttering “That was the worst film I've seen in ten years,” laughing through the whole remark. This is not great cinema. It's fun cinema, and if you want to enjoy watching it, you have to appreciate the difference.

Dun dun duuun! (promotional image for Iron Sky)

During the credits, I noticed the "Iron Sky Community" and fan-funding shoutouts listed. In the immediate Google search, I found ways to spread the word as well as rumors regarding sequels or prequels. I don’t know how they’ll do it given where the story went, but I certainly hope they do. The writers, director, and producers have all gone on my automated alerts. I want to know about their future projects. That’s how much fun I had.

Since the Iron Sky community is so eager to have everyone share and embed their media, let's watch that trailer one last time: