Independent Video Games and the Games ‘Indiestry’ Spectrum: Dissecting the Online Discourse of Independent Game Developers in Industry Culture by Robin Lillian Haislett, B.S., M.A. A Dissertation In Media and Communication Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Robert Moses Peaslee Chair of Committee Dr. Todd Chambers Dr. Megan Condis Dr. Wyatt Philips Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School December, 2019 Copyright 2019, Robin Lillian Haislett Texas Tech University, Robin Lillian Haislett, December 2019 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This is the result of the supremely knowledgeable Dr. Robert Moses Peaslee who took me to Fantastic Fest Arcade in 2012 as part of a fandom and fan production class during my doctoral work. This is where I met many of the independent game designers I’ve come to know and respect while feeling this renewed sense of vigor about my academic studies. I came alive when I discovered this area of study and I still have that spark every time I talk about it to others or read someone else’s inquiry into independent game development. For this, I thank Dr. Peaslee for being the catalyst in finding a home for my passions. More pertinent to the pages that follow, Dr. Peaslee also carefully combed through each malformed draft I sent his way, narrowed my range of topics, encouraged me to keep my sense of progress and challenged me to overcome challenges I had not previously faced. I feel honored to have worked with him on this as well as previous projects. I would have been lost without the guidance of Dr. Megan Condis whose expertise in games and Internet culture guided my search for the games and media used in this work. Dr. Todd Chambers directed me to the ways in which I could investigate this phenomenon as well as patiently noting which aspects needed to be highlighted and trimmed. Dr. Wyatt Philips used his extensive background in independent film production and practices to steer me closer to other media and find the common threads connecting each medium in their practices. Most of all, I need to thank my family for encouraging my academic pursuits and the resulting chaos. They were the consistent force in writing this, keeping me sane and offering sledgehammers for my writer’s block. ii Texas Tech University, Robin Lillian Haislett, December 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEGEMENTS…………………………………………………………….....ii ABSTRACT…………...………………………………………………………………....vi LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………….vii 1. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………...…………………….……1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………...………11 Origins of Game Studies……………………………………………………………..…..12 Ludology and narratology………………………………………………………..14 Rules, community and social contracts…………………………………………..17 Summary of game studies………………………………………………...……...20 Games Industry in Flux…………………………………………………………………..21 Facets of Game Creation…………………………………………………………………23 Independent Culture……………………………………………………...………………24 Music……………………………………………………………………………..27 Film…………………………………………………………………………...….29 Impact of Digital Distribution……………………………………………………………33 Independent Games………………………………………………………………………39 Independent game developers……………………………………………………39 Independent videogames…………………………………………………………41 Indie versus mainstream games and development……………………………….42 Public Relations………………………………………………………………………….47 Relationship management theory……………………………………….………..47 Social media and relationship management……………………….……..51 Independent production culture and social media……………………….53 3. RATIONALE AND METHOD……………………….…………………………….57 Qualitative methodology…………………………………………………………60 Method of examination………………………………………..…………………61 Cases for examination……………………………………………………………63 Data collection…………………………………………………………………...65 Pentad analysis…………………………………………………………………...67 4. CUPHEAD AND STUDIO MDHR……………………..…………………………..70 Game description………………………………………………………………...71 Development……………………………………………………………………..72 Public Twitter profile…………………………………………………………….78 Language and tone……………………………………………………….79 Use of “indie”……………………………………………………………82 First-party partnerships…………………………………………………..85 Betting the farm………………………………………………………….90 Including the audience……………………………………...……………92 Independent inclusion………………………………………………………..…100 Summary……..…………………………………………………………………102 iii Texas Tech University, Robin Lillian Haislett, December 2019 5. NUCLEAR THRONE AND VLAMBEER……………………………………...…104 Game description……………………………………………………………….105 History of the studio…………………………………………………………….108 War of the clones……………………………………………………….108 Publicity for indie community………………………………………….112 First-party partnerships…………………………………………………116 Performative game development…………………………………….…119 Public Twitter profile………………………………………...…………………122 Language and tone………………………………...……………………124 Contributing to indie community……………………………………….128 Relationships with first-party developers………………………………129 Transparent game development……………………………….………..131 Habitus of indie game development………………………………...….135 Summary………………………………………………………….…………….145 6. DYS4IA AND ANNA ANTHROPY…………………………….….……………...147 Brief developer biography………………………………………….………..…148 Game description…………………………………………………….…………151 Public Twitter feed………………………………………………………..…….158 Language and tone………………………………………….…………..159 Signal boosting…….……………………………………….…………..160 Commentary on games and industry………….…………….…………..161 Online activism………………………………..………………………..172 Use of indie…………………………..…………………………………174 Summary………………………………………..………………………………182 7. COMPARATIVE PENTAD ANALYSIS…………………………….………..….184 Applying the pentad……………………………………………….……………186 Studio MDHR..........................................................................................187 Vlambeer..................................................................................................190 Anna Anthropy.........................................................................................192 Conclusion of Burke’s pentad..............................................................................193 8. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS..............................................................................194 How indie is utilized............................................................................................195 Themes of indie characteristics............................................................................199 Contributing to others..............................................................................199 Humility...................................................................................................200 Vulnerability............................................................................................201 Resist authority........................................................................................202 Taste culture.........................................................................................................203 Detractors.............................................................................................................205 Games “Indiestry” ...............................................................................................206 iv Texas Tech University, Robin Lillian Haislett, December 2019 Limitations...........................................................................................................209 Future research.....................................................................................................210 Conclusion...........................................................................................................212 9. REFERENCES...........................................................................................................214 v Texas Tech University, Robin Lillian Haislett, December 2019 ABSTRACT The independent versus mainstream production culture is one spread across all media including videogames. The aim of the dissertation was to analyze and examine the patterns and use of online communication through Twitter, endorsed articles and their studio website content among three individual development studios – Studio MDHR and Cuphead, Vlambeer and Nuclear Throne, and Anna Anthropy and Dys4ia. These developers range in their involvement with first-party developers such as Sony and Microsoft as well as the size and diversity of their team. The application of Burke’s pentad and discovery of emergent themes through grounded theory yielded significant differences among the three cases. It is suggested that a spectrum of independent game development attitude and interaction with the audience is influenced by their involvement with mainstream game industry entities; the closer the independent studio is to first-party involvement, the more it resembles the habitus of the ‘indiestry’ of game development. Also, the research revealed there is no stated assertion of being ‘indie’ by the developers, but they use their online Twitter profile to convey the values of independent production culture. These findings can be instructional to social media managers for independent production clientele as well as lending to the study of independent game developers, the sprawling definitions of “independent,” and the addition of the term “indiestry” to the videogame development vernacular. vi Texas Tech University, Robin Lillian Haislett, December 2019 LIST OF FIGURES 1. List of parent studios and the film studios each entity owns………………………….31 2. Screenshot of Cuphead gameplay from the Studio MDHR presskit()page…………...71 3.