An investigation of independent video games—creative, personal, strange, and experimental—and their claims to handcrafted authenticity in a purely digital medium.
Video games are often dismissed as mere entertainment products created by faceless corporations. The last twenty years, however, have seen the rise of independent, or “indie,” video games: a wave of small, cheaply developed, experimental, and personal video games that react against mainstream video game development and culture. In Handmade Pixels, Jesper Juul examine the paradoxical claims of developers, players, and festivals that portray independent games as unique and hand-crafted objects in a globally distributed digital medium.
Juul explains that independent video games are presented not as mass market products, but as cultural works created by people, and are promoted as authentic alternatives to mainstream games. Writing as a game player, scholar, developer, and educator, Juul tells the story of how independent games—creative, personal, strange, and experimental—became a historical movement that borrowed the term “independent” from film and music while finding its own kind of independence.
Juul describes how the visual style of independent games signals their authenticity—often by referring to older video games or analog visual styles. He shows how developers use strategies for creating games with financial, aesthetic, and cultural independence; discusses the aesthetic innovations of “walking simulator” games; and explains the controversies over what is and what isn’t a game. Juul offers examples from independent games ranging from Dys4ia to Firewatch; the text is richly illustrated with many color images.
新世纪以来，电子游戏市场飞速膨胀，从电脑、主机到手机，电子游戏逐渐成为主流大众的娱乐消费品，伴随着商品化和资本化浸润，主流电子游戏的开发与创作，也走向了同质化和标准化。在此背景下，独立电子游戏于近二十年内的逐渐崛起，并开启了一场游戏行业内的“历史运动”——独立游戏开发成本较低，却能拥有更强的实验性、创意性和先锋性，与主流电子游戏构成了鲜明的反差。
本书以独立游戏的创作及其创作目标为主题，因大部分独立游戏都是以像素风格呈现的，书名便名之以“手作像素”（Handmade Pixels）。作者通过采访包括乔纳森·布洛（Jonathan Blow）在内的多位知名独立游戏开发者，展现并分析诸如《看火人》（Firewatch）、《时空幻境》（Braid）、《焦虑》（Dys4ia）等独立游戏的创作历程与美学风格，由此来挖掘独立游戏的特性：独立游戏不是大众市场的消费品，而是人民创造的文化作品，作为文化产品而言，独立游戏或与独立电影/音乐一样，高举反现代主义的旗帜，来实现它们所追求的纯正风格；尽管独立游戏诞生于数字时代，但它却又确确实实是独一无二的“手工制品”。
- 什么是独立游戏？相比独立电影/音乐，独立游戏的“独立”之处是什么？
- 一款游戏为什么会被当作独立游戏？独立游戏与商业的距离有多远？
- 独立游戏开发者手工艺人或工匠的感觉一样？
- 本书围绕各种奇怪又新颖的创意独立游戏展开，讨论这些奇怪游戏背后的新奇点子，以及其所追求的纯粹与真实。
作者 Author
杰斯珀·尤尔系身兼游戏玩家、游戏学者、游戏开发者、游戏评论家和教育家的多重身份，出版过多本游戏研究向作品，还在MIT Press主编了游戏向丛书Playful Thinking，在游戏史和独立游戏的开发与研究上，有丰富的积累。
本书简体中文版由恒先文化引进出版，预计于 2025 年初上市，敬请期待！
评价 Praise
“Juul’s fascinating and provocative argument about the recent history and culture of independent games is grounded in his deep knowledge and personal experience of the indie game world. With a nuanced view of the network of cultural factors around independent games, this book is an essential addition to the library of everyone interested in the history and aesthetics of digital games.”
– Richard Lemarchand, Associate Professor, USC Games; former lead game designer for Uncharted本书在作者对独立游戏世界的深刻了解和亲身经历的基础之上，针对独立游戏的历史和文化进行了引人入胜、富有启发性的论证。对围绕独立游戏的文化因素网络有着细致入微的看法，是对电子游戏历史和美学感兴趣的每个人必备之书。
——理查德·莱马钱德（Richard Lemarchand）
南加州大学游戏学院副教授；《神秘海域》前首席设计师
“Handmade Pixels traces the history and cultural topography of independent games. By framing the medium as a cultural crusade for authenticity, it achieves the near-impossible: a single theory to unify myriad contested histories written by a diverse and competing array of artist and entrepreneurs. It is a fascinating read.”
–Bennett Foddy, Associate Arts Professor at the NYU Game Center; designer of QWOP and Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy《手作像素》追溯了独立游戏的历史和文化拓扑。该书将独立游戏作为一种追求纯正的文化运动，从而实现了几乎不可能实现的目标：用一种单一的理论来统一由不同的、相互竞争的艺术家和企业家撰写的无数有争议的历史。这是一本引人入胜的读物。
——贝内特·福迪（Bennett Foddy）
纽约大学游戏中心艺术副教授，QWOP和Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy设计师
“Jesper Juul provides us a thoughtful discussion of all of ‘our’ games, and a fresh portrait of the context in which they have come to exist and thrive. Juul’s thoughtful interviews and focus on a broad range of independent festival winners creates a specific narrative understanding of an independent game movement that breaks the rules, follows the path, builds new precedents, hearkens back to its roots, and forms the most important and creative elements of the industry. Handmade Pixels is a unique look at the independent games that represent important cultural markers and provide the creative firepower that moves the industry forward.”
–Stephanie Barish, IndieCade Founder & CEO杰斯珀·尤尔为所有“我们的”游戏提供了深思熟虑的讨论，并描绘了它们赖以生存和发展的环境。通过对众多独立游戏节获奖者的深入采访和关注，形成了独立有关游戏运动具体的叙事理解。这场运动打破常规却又尊重传统，开创先河而又追根溯源，并形成了该行业最重要、最具创造性的元素。《手作像素》以独特的视角审视了独立游戏，它们代表着重要的文化标志，并提供了推动行业发展的创意火力。
——斯蒂芬妮·巴里什（Stephanie Barish），IndieCade创始人兼首席执行官