Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity by Jesper Juul (review)

Jesper Juul begins the preface of this book claiming that "independent games give me the refreshing feeling of starting over, of once again not knowing what video games are [emphasis in original] and having to discover them from the beginning" (p. ix). While this comment encourages a look backward at the video game medium, the extent to which this is nostalgic varies and serves as a tool to help understand the wider quest for authenticity.

Juul is clear from the beginning that this is a book about examining how independent video games became a movement within the industry, resulting in a particular form. Authenticity is therefore seen as not just something that can be used to describe these video games but also something that the developers often strive to achieve. It is also notable that, as stated in the subtitle, the focus is on independent video games, with only occasional references to the mainstream video games that continue to dominate the medium. This distinction further highlights the otherness found with independent video games that contribute to their perceived uniqueness. Juul has also stuck with the term "independent" to refer to these video games and their developers rather than the term "indie." It can be argued that the terms are interchangeable; Juul does add that there still is no clear distinction between them, and that, if anything, they are labels with no formally agreed-upon definitions. It is perhaps because of this that Juul has gone with the less-common label to refer to video games outside of the mainstream, while also not wanting to get involved with the semantics behind it. Rather, he identifies the evolution of what has been considered distinct enough from the mainstream and the different ways in which this has been achieved.

Independent games (he also drops the video) come across as a response to the continued existence and trajectory of mainstream video games. Juul in part compares this to a sense of antimodernism (not in reference to modern art) in that there is a feeling that something has gone wrong, been lost, and that some things have gone too far. To try and rectify this is to look back and locate authentic elements to utilize once again. To be clear however—and this is where the role of nostalgia becomes a bit clearer—this is not (for the most part) about replicating the past as was. Rather, it is to help contribute to creating something different, even if it is not truly new or original, just as long as it is distinct enough from the contemporary norm. This has already begun to have an effect, as there is no longer a universal form that could be commonly considered and accepted as a video game representative of the whole medium. Juul argues that "there was a period from roughly 1980 to 2005 when we knew what video games were [emphasis in original]" (p. 10); when they were sold in physical boxes, targeted to males aged 10–35 and promoted based on technically better graphics. This links back to Juul delighting in no longer knowing what a video game is; seemingly he does not want there to be a typical video game form, which likely explains his criticisms of mainstream video games and the conservative/risk-averse approach.

One of the most interesting concepts to emerge from this book (although it had been previously introduced in an earlier paper) is what Juul has termed "independent style." This coinage is used to highlight the visual styles as well as the creative process behind them. This approach begins to help explain why many independent games began to adopt similar visual styles, which also utilized similar visual aesthetics as video games from the 1980s and later the 1990s. In part this was the result of how these video games were being created, matching the smaller development teams, or individuals, that were creating video games during...