Indie game documentaries
A collection of documentaries covering the development process of break-out games by small independent developers and studios.
As I continue on my quest to build my very first video game, I'm always looking for inspiration and motivation. YouTube has a bunch of amazing Game development documentaries following the creation of some amazing games. The ones that resonate with me the most are the small teams, sometimes even solo developers, that put their heart and soul into building their own worlds.
Here are some of my favourites, which I will continue to update over time as I find and enjoy more.
Indie Game: The Movie
The precursor for a lot of modern video game documentaries, Indie Game the movie looks at the creation of 3 iconic indie games:
It's a fascinating look behind the curtain of what it takes to develop a game. Below is a link to the Trailer on YouTube, and the full film can be purchased on Steam.
The Making of Animal Well
It took one man, Billy Basso 7 years to build this spooky, beautiful, brilliant game. Not content with modern offerings, Basso built the game engine from the ground up giving him complete freedom. This results in unique visuals that feel both familiar and alien and it also results in a staggering install size of just 33MB(!) so it can live forever on my Steam Deck without worrying about space.
The Making of Outer Wilds
The Outer wilds is the poster child for a relatively new genre of games dubbed Metroidbranias. This documentary highlights how a school project evolved into one of the most coveted indie games of all time.
What really stands out for me is the real-time simulated universe they have created, it is truly mesmerising to watch.
The Design Evolution of Tunic
What looks on the surface like a Zelda clone is actually a puzzle adventure with Souls-like combat. I thoroughly enjoyed Tunic and it has one of the best game mechanics I have ever seen in the form of its Instruction Manual; You find pages as you explore the world which reveal new maps, puzzles and secrets in the form of ways you can interact with the world.