If you didn't make it to the IndieCade festival in Culver City last weekend, you missed something special.
I'm not talking about the awards show, or the panels, or even the tents packed with independent developers showcasing their games to attendees seeking shelter from the broiling California sun. I'm talking about the crowd games, competitive spectacles seemingly designed for places where you can attract a crowd—in bars, at parties, during gaming festivals.
To really get into these games, you need plenty of space and people to play with—IndieCade is one of the few events in the country where you can reliably wrangle enough players to fill out a proper game of Johann Sebastian Joust, for example, which typically requires 5-10 PlayStation Move controllers and enough space for the people holding those controllers to circle one another, gladiator-style. Impractical, sure, but also fun as hell.
JeriaskaPeople playing J.S. Joust at IndieCade 2011
It's no surprise to learn that, while a wide variety of indie games won awards during IndieCade this year, the three attendee choice awards—Developers Choice, Audience Choice, and Media Choice—went to crowd games: Killer Queen Arcade, Slash Dash, and TowerFall, respectively.
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