I’m (Not) Sorry: Thanks, Indie Game Magazine

I’m Sorry: The Rise And Fall Of The Indie Game Magazine is written by Mike Gnade, the founder, former owner and former E-I-C of Indie Game Mag,  and posted by Chris Priestman, another IGM alum, over at Indie Statik.

This article is written by Mike Gnade, founder and former owner of The Indie Game Magazine (IGM) and founder of IndieGameStand (IGS). He was upset with what happened with IGM after he let it go and wanted to have a final say on what IGM meant to him and others.

Actually, I want to quote the entire article here, because basically every line of Mike’ experiences trying to balance IGM, other game work, a regular 9-to-5 and having a personal life sounded familiar to me. But I must quote at least this part:

These indie game developers that I had discovered were really nice and were sending me free games to write about on my stupid little Blogger account. I needed this outlet from my regular day job, and I found myself rushing home to these experimental and creative games, playing them for hours, and then writing up a review

That was also my experience coming into indie games and game reviewing, only I was also lucky enough to stumble onto an encouraging editor like Mike, and then meet other amazing people at IGM, and then go to shows and conferences for IGM.

I wrote on Mike’s article:

When I wrote my first piece for IGM’s issue #3, I was so happy to be writing about games for a real, live magazine, and so happy to be part of this community of creative and thoughtful gamers! IGM has been a a great community and led to many other opportunities, I think for us all.

I wrote for IGM for 4 years, which has outlasted relationships, jobs, and home cities for me. Writing for IGM has helped me launch my career in games, by letting me attend shows as press, building my clips, and most importantly giving me that feeling of being a working journalist in a community of dedicated indies.

I wonder, too, if there are times I could have done more for IGM. I work in game development, which means insane crunch hours, punctuated by unemployment (see previous re: relationships, jobs, cities, etc.), so when I had heavy workloads, I’d post now and then about indie games I happened to find interesting and exciting. In retrospect, I could probably have done more to promote the magazine.

Sure, IGM never paid all that much (for totally understandable reasons, not because writers weren’t valued!), and yeah, I wish more of the amazing conversations about individual games and the indie industry were at the bar instead of via email. But I was very lucky to be part of Indie Game Magazine.

IGM gave me four good years with a great magazine. Thank you.

Via I’m Sorry: The Rise And Fall Of The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Statik.