I watched this earlier today on Netflix. It wasn't the most interesting or aesthetically pleasing documentary I've ever seen, but it kept my attention. I could relate to the frustration of a lot of these developers, having just completed my first semester of my Master's degree.
The face of everyone in graduate school or developing a game independently.
The movie focuses on Jonathon Blow (Braid), Phil Fish (Fez), and Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes (Super Meat Boy); indie video game developers who go through hell to get a product out not knowing whether it will be a success or total failure, or in Jonathon Blow's case, find success critically and financially, but not interpersonally.
They say if you mention Jonathon Blow more than three times, he'll appear in your comments section.
If you're looking for a highly technical approach to how independent games get made, this movie is not the place to look. The only time I remember a game being discussed in too much detail from the programmer's side was Fish's obsession with refining the pixel art in Fez, and when McMillen relates his ideas about game design and mechanics for a short part of the movie.
The Super Meat Boy develepors designed their game so you could feel their pain when making it.
Rather, this movie is about the triumphs and failures of the human spirit in the context of making a video game independently. Jonathon Blow can't enjoy critical success when so many people seem to understand his game on only a surface level, causing him to leave comments on blogs and reviews by people he believes just "don't get" Braid. The result is not that he makes new friends. Phil Fish tries to promote and work on Fez while dealing with depression, the dissolution of grant money to make the game, and legal battles with his former developing work partner. Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes run on little sleep or food and suffer mental breakdowns to get Super Meat Boy on the XBOX Live Arcade by its launch date, and then there's the extra hoops they have to jump through dealing with Microsoft on top of their developing work.
He might look cute, but this little bastard is off to serve subpeonas to unsuspecting game developers.
Overall, I give the movie a 3/5. It can be repetitive and it certainly could have been cut down a bit in my opinion, but it's worth seeing because it highlights the passion of video game makers in an inspiring way. Plus, there's a credit sequence featuring clips from a bunch of indie games not really focused on in the movie itself, so if nothing else, you can fast forward to the end for ideas on some games to download.
TL;DR version: Not too shabby, not too great, but if you're interested in it, you'll probably like it.
