By now you’ve undoubtedly heard the news that is shaking the independent community at its core. Our holy scripture; our veritable Indie Manifesto as it were, as writ by one of the greatest (if not the greatest) gamesmiths of our time. I speak, of course, of Daisuke Amaya (real name: Studio Pixel). His masterwork, Doukutsu Monogatari (Which when untangled from the shackles of the Nihongo tongue, translates roughly as Cave Story), is the single document that liberated our lost souls from the tyranny of consumerist culture. Cave Story is, for all intents and purposes, our Declaration of Indiependence; the inciting force behind our rejection of ’British East India Gameplay’ for statements of ‘Haughty Artistic Merit.’ Amaya, the benevolent host of our Nintendo Tea Party.

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Skip the first two minutes unless you a sucker. Lyrics and links after “the jump”.

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There is no finer art than the art of boxing. An exhibition of sheer physical strength between two noble warriors, forged in the fires of fierce regiment, honed by the brunt of a clenched fist. Thrust, parry. These words mean nothing to a boxer, a matured fighter — one does not dilly dally with playthings such as rapiers or swords. He is his own weapon. The ring is his battlefield. Two enter. Only one shall emerge victorious. Except in the case of a draw, wherein both have failed inexplicably.

But artists such as we have no time for such barbaric sport, lest we forget about the most important muscle of them all: that of the mind. Edward Bulwer-Lytton once said, and I quote: “the pen is mightier than the sword,” a phrase to which I would, well, ascribe (heh) were the pen not antequated by the Blog. But what battlefield have we? Where can artists such as we find a place to battle quite literally, our wits?

The answer, of course, are internet forums. Never has technology afforded us to speak our mind without fear of physical harm but through internet forums. Never have we been able to isolate body (fat, bearded, tiny pig eyed) from mind (absolutely brilliant) but through internet forums.

A Scene, The Making Of celebrates these intellectual engagements with a name that highlights both the grand spectacle of such an exchange as well its relevance to the Scene as a whole (note the capital S, which imparts omnipotence and credence). “Making a Scene” in every sense of the phrase.

This week’s scene comes from the Game Maker Community’s thread on Abandoned, which is, as you should now be fully aware, indie as hell.

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Lyrics after “the jump.”

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Zombies, pandas, and lists. What do these three things have in common?

Answer: Pretentious indie girls LOVE them.

With NIGJam approaching, there’s no better way to lose your v-card to a hot pretentious indie gamer girl than by pretending to be at the pulse of independent games by namedropping a bunch of the really obscure ones.

As such, memorize this list:

5. Virtual Silence by Virtanen, is a game in which one of the gameplay mechanics is, basically, to ignore your way out of impossible situations. There are three levels, each with a clever puzzle at the end that will test the limits of your ability to both think and ignore things. It never really quite achieved NIGSource status because anyone with the ability to ignore their way past the first level would’ve already ignored their way past the big, blue download link. Indie chicks dig indie guys who are naïve. Practice being that by playing this game.

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Welcome to The Pretentious Indie Gamer Scene. When I say “welcome” I really mean it in a selective sort of way. For example, have you heard of Darwinia? You have? Cool, why don’t you take a step through that door. The one labelled Exit. Do you really think Darwinia is “indie” by any stretch of the imagination? Really? Indie games being sold on Steam? Heh, If my nervous system wasn’t too busy trying to figure out whether to vomit or cry, I can assure you I’d probably be laughing at you, or at least quietly judging you in my mind.

This site isn’t about “indie” (note the quotes) games that are being sold on Steam. You can read all about Half-Life 2 and Eternity’s Child and Aquaria at TIGSource, which might as well be called NIGSource on account of anything you read there is Not an Indie Game. Yeah, hold on, let me write about a game everyone already knows about on account of it’s been advertised on XBox Live and the Playstation Network for weeks now. Hey guys, did you know Castle Crashers was out? Well, it is, why don’t you buy it so you can pretend like you care about indie games at all. Note the word “pretend.” Yeah, I went there.

The PIGScene goes beyond the mainstream. We report on real indie games that real indie artists are creating. Note the word “artist” as opposed to “developer.” I’m talking about Jenova Chen before fl0w, or Nifflas before he realized he could make a lot of money making games where you’re basically testing a platform engine.

Don’t dig it? Whatever, we don’t care.