Indie Game: The Movie released on Steam | Hacker News Reader

Indie Game: The Movie released on Steam

store.steampowered.com

115 pointsjoshuacc44 comments

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IG:TM is worth watching. It's great.

But I think the real story here is that Steam just launched a movie on their platform...

you can also download the movie directly from the movie website, DRM free, so it's not tied to Steam.

http://buy.indiegamethemovie.com/

Can someone verify that the Steam version is DRM'd?

Does it play inside a Steam window and is the UI any good?

The FAQ seems [1] to answer this, though I don't know if the UI is any good. Personally, I want to watch it on my large screen TV through WD TV Live, not on my tiny laptop screen, which seems to imply that the direct non-DRM download (mp4) is the way to go.

Steam

- The film is on Steam for pre-order here.

- In order to work on the Steam platform, the film will be delivered through a self-contained application (emphasis mine) from which you can watch the film in 1080P HD.

- You will download the film application like any other game on Steam.

- You can watch it on your computer or connect it from your computer to a television.

- The Indie Game: The Movie application may have some interactive extras, subtitles and achievements (to be confirmed as we're working on that functionality).

- Like other game applications on Steam, it will have DRM.

[1] http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/faq/

It comes as an Adobe Air app which launches full screen from Steam & plays the movie. UI is "meh", but not unpleasant.

But you also get a DRM free Mp4 in the "%Steam%/Common/Indie Game the Movie" folder :)

Thanks very much, I will buy it then. I have no interest in anything DRMd, it has been nothing but trouble. MP4 is the way to go for paying customers, since that's what the non-paying customers get after all.

Since both the Steam version and the DRM free version are $9.99, I'm a little confused on why one would buy the Steam version. I understand the rationale for things like games, where you have friends on Steam or you want your games to automatically update when a patch is released, but I don't understand what would make Steam a viable movie platform in this particular instance.

Anyone care to provide some insight on this? What is an argument in this case for why the Steam version would be advantageous over the non-DRM version? I'm not seeing it.

I assume Steam will let you view it on any computer where Steam is installed and you are logged in.

no drm , you can do that anyway.

Steam makes it so you don't have to plan ahead and make backups.

But you'd still have to wait for it to download, just like with games.

Sure, you can (presumably) download it from both places any time after purchase. With steam, all you have to remember is your steam ID and password.

Now where did I put my humble bundle key again?

(of course humble bundle gives you website and steam keys, so it's an unfair comparison. My point is that if buying one copy of this film doesn't give you the ability to download it on the other service, there is something to be said for the ease of finding the download URL)

I give all of those confirmation emails a special label in GMail.

Your friends can see you are watching it, plus it's easy to gift to your friends/add to your own wishlist. Same reasons I add my Humble Bundle games to steam, really.

I add all my games to Steam. The Steam overlay works well with most modern non-steam games, so I can still chat with my friends on Steam.

People use Steam and will hear about the movie that way. This is a way of selling the movie more, not providing a technically different or better option.

Maybe so that you can delete it locally and download it again through Steam (though I could be wrong). In the era of smaller SSDs, I find this very helpful.

Does the steam version have DRM or are they both DRM free? Steam doesn't imply DRM, just DRM friendly.

They are both DRM free. You can find the mp4 in your Steam directory.

The most important aspect to me is that I don't have to care about where I put the serial, the files or what sites I should download from if I want to reinstall in the future. Also Steam handles "directx and the like dependencies". Movies would be great too because I could just re-download it on another computer, at a friend's home if I want to watch it with him/her, etc. No more storage devices to walk around with.

Edit: forget about all I wrote before, I do it for the hats.

Is it now? http://store.steampowered.com/video/900

Yes, it is.

Your link is a video on Steam; a trailer for a movie available elsewhere. You can't actually buy Zombie Movie on Steam. Maybe you could, at some point? I haven't heard of it.

Indie Game: The Movie is the first movie available for purchase on Steam (as far as I know)! Steam has 40+ million users, so this is a pretty big precedent.

Zombie Movie is fully available through Steam (it's a short that some Valve employees made). Your point stands, though; It's the first instance of a movie available for purchase through Steam, the games I bought for the cutscenes nonwithstanding.

This movie is incredible. It's amazing how everyone making a game in this movie explicitly states that they feel like they are going to die or kill themselves.

  Interviewer (paraphrased): What if you don't finish your game?
  Phil Fish: I will kill myself, That's my incentive to finish it.

Ah, interesting! I haven't seen this yet (really want to), but figured it was the opposite:

>The pic's most compelling story by far is that of four-eyed Fez designer Phil Fish, whose love of the game is so deep he can't finish it.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946963?refcatid=31&p...

Fish spent 5 years on the game and it definitely shows in the details.

Even if you're not that much into videogames, I recommend you give it a watch, especially if you're striving to build something by yourself at the moment (eg. a startup).

The movie goes through the process of starting something from scratch, with its (high) ups and (extremely low) downs, and most people on HN will likely relate in one form or another.

My girlfriend is not much into video games at all, but she loved the movie. She was able to relate to the devs as she felt her experience getting her PhD was very similar.

Hehe, same here. I brought my girlfriend to a screening in SF, and she loved it despite never having even played a video game in her life before meeting me. She related to the creative process, as she is an artist (illustrator) confronted to that process on a daily basis.

I think that's both the biggest virtue, but at the same time what disappointed me the most. It's great because it can reach a broad audience. On the other hand I guess I was expecting a more gamedev thing.

All in all I think it is a great movie :)

As an weekend indie game dev, I feel the same. The collector edition will have the 300+ hours of footage from a bunch of other devs and should be more satisfying in that respect.

If you are from Europe (or Australia) you probably want to buy it from their website directly since it's $9.99 there.

I'm from Europe and the price on steam is 9.99€. Never really understood why they never lower the price when it's in euros.

For me (from Germany), the price on Steam is 7,99€.

I'm still probably buying it from the official website because I want to be able to use any custom video player (and as far as I understand, I can't do that with the Steam version).

We don't pay sales tax on steam purchases. I assume the Euro price has the 20% or-thereabouts VAT factored in?

If you want to rent rather than buy, you can rent on iTunes for $4-$5 (depending on whether you want HD): http://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/indie-game-the-movie/id5224...

I'm sure it's on other platforms as well.

I have to make a confession. Initially, I was quite tempted to pirate this film through Pirate Bay. But then I noticed the following comment by the co-director himself. I was incredibly impressed with the tone of the comment, and decided to go ahead and purchase the movie through Amazon, despite the fact that I will probably not have time to watch it in the near future.

Notice that he doesn't chastise, berate, or threaten the individuals who are downloading it through Pirate Bay. In fact, like many scene release .nfo files from piracy groups, he even states, "If you like the movie, consider purchasing it". This is the __right__ way to tackle piracy, in my opinion, and should be commended.

Here is the comment:

Hi Guys,

My name is James Swirsky - I’m one of the two people who made Indie Game: The Movie. Myself and Lisanne Pajot spent our last two years working on this film. We kept a pretty active blog about the production of the film on our site (www.indiegamethemovie.com).

We are a two person team, making the film completely independently. And we want to keep on making films for your enjoyment.

If you like the movie, consider purchasing it over on iTunes, Steam or DRM-Free (in a variety of encodes) directly from us over at www.IndieGameTheMovie.com. You can also get a copy to share with a friend if you’d like to.

Thanks for taking an interest in our film.

-James Swirsky Co-director/Maker of Indie Game: The Movie

It's also available on Blu-ray: http://shop.indiegamethemovie.com/collections/buy-the-movie/...

And available in iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/indie-game-the-movie/id5224...

I'm tossing between the iTunes and direct download honestly. I like how Apple has it tied to my account and it will be always available (at least I'm assuming at this point). I can then stream it directly to my Apple TV without downloading into iTunes directly.

However, it's only 720p where as the direct download is available DRM free and in 1080p. I just have to wonder, what is VHX? Do we have to worry about them going out of business and I can not longer download the movie? I know, make a backup, but the convenience of these iTunes digital copies that come with the Blu-ray's have spoiled me.

The HD version on iTunes includes both 720p and 1080p. Look down below the purchase buttons at the "HD:" section.

I just bought and watched this. I have to say it is a MUST see. This is one of those films that will make you appreciate true passion and what goes in to indie game development. I would have gladly paid $20 for the experience I just had. Pure awesomeness.

You could buy it twice if you'd like to give the creators a bit of a tip! :)

I saw this in Seattle around the end of March. Definitely worth watching and then playing the games.

This. This is why I love games. There's so much passion and humanity in every little pixel.

Have been waiting for the release today.

Loved it. Highly recommended.

Take a look at the minimum amount of RAM a mac needs to play that.

What does he say in the end?

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