Museum of Moving Image to Open 25 MUST-PLAY VIDEO GAMES Exhibit 12/14

Museum of the Moving Image and IndieCade the International Festival of Independent Games will present Indie Essentials: 25 Must-Play Video Games, an exhibition of more than two dozen games that represent the diversity and innovation of the "indie" video game scene. All games were created by individuals or small teams working independently of large studios and publishers. Visitors will be able to play all titles featured.

The games will include cutting-edge titles-most notably the award winners of 2013 IndieCade: International Festival of Independent Games-presented alongside a selection of independent games that have had great impact on game design and culture in the last decade. Among the games are popular and groundbreaking titles such as Minecraft (2011) and Braid (2008), as well as underappreciated ones such as the web-based game QWOP (2008), and new discoveries Gone Home (2013) and Quadrilateral Cowboy (planned 2014).

Indie Essentials opens December 14, 2013 and will be on view through March 2, 2014, in the Museum's third-floor changing exhibitions gallery. The exhibition is organized by Jason Eppink, Museum of the Moving Image, Associate Curator of Digital Media; Aaron Isaksen, IndieCade East Chair; Matt Parker, IndieCade East Chair; Sam Roberts, IndieCade Festival Director; and Stephanie Barish, IndieCade CEO.

Games featured in Indie Essentials (* indicates IndieCade 2013 award winner)

Alien Hominid, 2002, PC. Developer: The Behemoth (Pennsylvania, USA). A 2-D side-scrolling shooter, Alien Hominid is notable for its comic book visual aesthetic, arcade-style gameplay, difficult levels, and quirky sense of humor. The game's online success encouraged its creators to develop versions for game consoles.

Braid. 2008, PC. Developer: Jonathan Blow (San Francisco, USA). A critically acclaimed puzzle platformer, Braid features a painterly style and unique time-control mechanics that address narrative themes of causality, desire, and regret.

Canabalt. 2009, iOS. Developer: Adam Saltsman (Austin, USA). Canabalt pioneered the endless runner genre, which uses procedural level generation to dynamically create a different level every play.

Dear Esther. 2012, PC. Developer: The Chinese Room (Brighton, United Kingdom). Dear Esther applies the interactive conventions of a first person shooter to craft a non-linear narrative. The game's atmospheric visuals and haunting score composed by Jessica Curry immerse players in a lonely and isolated world.

Diner Dash. 2004, PC. Developer: Game Lab (New York City, USA). Credited with popularizing the time management genre in video games, Diner Dash places players in a fast-paced system where they must prioritize tasks to make as much money for the restaurant as possible.

Everyday Shooter. 2007, PS3. Developer: Jonathan Mak (Toronto, Canada). A traditional shooter placed in the context of a musical album, each level plays a new song that works in congress with the level's unique visual design, sound design, and puzzle mechanic. The result is an aesthetically cohesive experience, rooted in a conventional genre.

Flower. 2007, PS3. Developer: Thatgamecompany (Los Angeles, USA). The player controls the wind, guiding petals to bring life, color, and light to a dark and devastated landscape, in this meditative game. Flower's vivid graphics, simple gameplay, and accessible controls made it popular among gamers and nongamers alike.

Gone Home*. 2013, PC. Developer: The Fullbright Company (San Francisco, USA). In this interactive story, the player explores a domestic environment to slowly uncover the history of the family who lived there.

Kentucky Route Zero*. 2013, PC. Developer: Cardboard Computer (Chicago, USA). Kentucky Route Zero is a magical realist adventure game about a secret highway in the caves beneath Kentucky. The game's evocative visual design, distinct setting, and original music appropriate the common point-and-click mechanic to expose characters' inner emotions.

Killer Queen Arcade*. 2013, arcade. Developer: Sortasoft (New York City, USA). A ten-player real time strategy arcade game, fully realized with a large back-to-back custom arcade cabinet for up to five players on each team, Killer Queen Arcade creates a complex interplay between teamwork, offense, and defense.

Machinarium. 2011, PC. Developer: Amanita Design (Brno, Czech Republic). This point-and-click adventure game is notable for its dream logic and distinctive hand-drawn aesthetic. The player solves puzzles hidden in the game's visual design to advance the story.

Minecraft. 2011, PC. Developer: Notch (Stockholm, Sweden). In the popular open world game Minecraft, players can explore and craft structures in a 3-D environment made of simple building blocks.

N 2.0. 2005, PC. Developer: Metanet Software (Toronto, Canada). A minimalist single-screen puzzle platformer, N has more than 100 notoriously difficult levels, where death is frequent and dramatic.

Passage. 2007, PC. Developer: Jason Rohrer (Davis, California, USA). A five-minute game in which the player navigates a lifetime of obstacles and choices, Passage uses low-resolution graphics and audio to enhance its visual and mechanical metaphors, creating a deeply affecting and emotional experience.

The Path. 2012, PC. Developer: Tale of Tales (Ghent, Belgium). This atmospheric gothic horror story, based on Little Red Riding Hood, uses careful level design to misdirect and manipulate the player into violating the game's one instruction.

Porpentine Twine Compilation*. 2013, PC. Developer: Porpentine (Boston, USA). In this collection of experiments, statements, tricks, stories, and games, players explore the edges of poetry and interactivity.

Quadrilateral Cowboy*. (Releasing in 2014), PC. Developer: Blendo Games (Los Angeles). By manually typing code, players hack through security systems in a 1980s-era cyberpunk world.

QWOP. 2008, PC. Developer: Bennett Foddy (Oxford, United Kingdom). In this Flash game-notorious for its frustrating yet addictive gameplay-the leg muscles of a virtual athlete are mapped to individual keys that the player must carefully coordinate to move the character forward.

Slash Dash*. 2013, PC. Developer: Nevernaut Games (New York City, USA). A strategic capture-the-flag game in which two opposing pairs of players dual as ninjas, Slash Dash is part of the recent popular rebirth of local multiplayer games.

Spaceteam*. 2012, iOS. Developer: Henry Smith (Montreal, Canada). Focusing on shared physical space rather than virtual space, players work together as a team of spaceship personnel, shouting nonsensical instructions to each other as they race to keep their ship from falling apart.

Spelunky. 2009, PC. Developer: Derek Yu (San Francisco, USA). A 2-D puzzle platformer set deep underground, Spelunky is notable for its randomly generated levels that make no two playthroughs the same.

Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party*. 2013, WiiU. Developer: KnapNok Games & Redgrim (Copenhagen, Denmark). A party game for two to eight players, Spin the Bottle's creative use of the Wii platform and its controllers show how independent developers are creating innovative play experiences for gaming consoles.

Today I Die. 2009, PC. Developer: Daniel Benmergui (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Today I Die is an interactive poem in which the player must manipulate words, objects, and characters to save a drowning girl.

Towerfall*. 2013, PC. Developer: Matt Thorsen (British Columbia, Canada). An archery combat platformer, Towerfall features easy-to-learn rules and high-energy action, where up-to-four players battle with bows and arrows.

World of Goo. 2008, iOS. Developer: 2D Boy / Kyle Gabler, Ron Carmel (San Francisco, USA). World of Goo, an engaging physics-driven puzzle game where players manipulate squirming globs of goo, achieved widespread success on mobile devices because of its natural user interface.

In addition, the exhibition includes a tabletop game which won the 2013 IndieCade Impact Award:
Dog Eat Dog*. 2013. Developer: Liwanag Press (San Francisco, USA). In this roleplaying game about colonialism and its consequences, players explore systems of power and complicity as they dive into themes of occupation, resistance, and assimilation.

"The designers and developers of the games presented in Indie Essentials take daring creative risks to explore new forms and methods of play," said Jason Eppink, Museum of the Moving Image curator. "Independent games are a fountain of innovation and experimentation, advancing games as one of today's most dynamic and important cultural forms."

"The past decade of independent game development has enriched, grown, and deeply changed video games as culture and media," said Sam Roberts, IndieCade Festival Director. "In putting together this exhibition, we worked hard to identify games that influenced other developers-that lead to new developments in genre, mechanics, audience, and perception, and were integral to changing the landscape of play."

Access to Indie Essentials: 25 Must-Play Video Games is included with Museum admission (and free for Museum members). All games in the exhibition are free play.

Toward the end of the exhibition's run, the second annual IndieCade East will take place at the Museum on Feb. 14-16, 2014. This non-competitive East Coast event offers a lively weekend of games, talks, panels, and workshops celebrating independent games and the people who make and play them. The popular evening of freewheeling interactive game play for hundreds will also return. Ticket information and advance purchase options will be announced soon.

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