Lynn Hughes, Bart Simon and Mia Consalvo, together with other active game studies scholars at other universities all have research projects funded through GRAND-nce. For students at TAG that work is primarily focussed on the INDIEGAME project. If you aren’t already doing research via this project, these are some of the themes and sub-projects included in INDIEGAME:
CULT-INDIE: Independent game development has a cultural form predicated on a variety of social structural and social historical factors.This theme looks at fundamental questions in defining and identifying the independent game sector; the cultural, social and economic conditions of its existence and development; and its dynamic composition as a field of diverse actors.
ART-INDIE: University incubators, game jams, workshops and other programs all enhance community capacity for innovation in game development, and also facilitate cross-fertilization of otherwise market-divided developers working in games, media arts, film and music, maker spaces, mobile applications, and so on. Our plan is to not only report on the potential of these community collaborations but also continue to create them with the support of GRAND, our universities and our partners.
INCLUSION-INDIE: Positioned as outsiders and oppositional to the mainstream game industry, indies may represent an important vanguard for challenging the prevailing conditions of production in the industry. Does the indie sector open up new career trajectories for women and minorities in game development? How is the diversity of social and cultural experience represented in indie games vs AAA games, and how can we understand the impact of the one on the other? How can knowledge about indie games be better circulated in a culture dominated by AAA focused journalism and marketing?
The most recent GRAND-nce annual report mentions several projects and people involved with TAG. It would be great if you could leverage this support to further your research. And if you have any questions about becoming a GRAND HQP, or what that even means, get in touch with me.
-Adam
http://grand-nce.ca/newsandmedia/annual-reports