This article was originally published in Issue 9 of the ICG Zine, November 2024. It was reformatted in January 2026, but has not been edited further.

On November 2nd, indie game designers and players alike gathered in the art gallery Vault in Pilsen, filling it to bursting, all for the privilege of participating in the Chicago Indie Game Showcase. The showcase, called C.I.G.S. for short, was a celebration of the Chicago indie game scene, featuring twenty-four games from local designers, with open play available to all attendees.

The energy in the Vault Gallerie was electric. Designers and players alike chatted about their work and favorite games, exchanged information, and talked game design. It was a terrific, welcoming environment for networking and making friends.

Indie City Games also had a merch booth loaded with T shirts, pins, posters, physical copies of every Indie City Games zine released so far, and even 3D printed statues of Indie City James, their sewer rat mascot.

Purchasers of VIP tickets were also treated to two talks from local game designers. One was a panel of creatives from the alt.ctrl community, who design games with bizarre control schemes. The other was a talk by Madison Karrh, creator of successful indie game Birth, about how she made indie game development her full-time career. Both were deeply insightful events that were well worth the price of admission.

Alt.Ctrl. Replete

In C.I.G.S.’ first panel, designers Emily Koonce, Miki Straus, Bobby Lockhart, and David Antognoli shared how to break the mold through alt. ctrl games: games designed with bizarre, one-of-a-kind controllers. They referenced many of their own works, including Chair Devil, the wheelchair-controlled racing game; Rude Dew, the arcade juicing game played by squeezing a sponge; and Bloodrage Fight Club, in which players win by hitting a punching bag faster than their opponent. All of these games were featured in this year’s Bit Bash Xtreme, which was covered in Indie City Games Issue 007.

Some alt.ctrl games push the boundaries of what a “game” or “controller” even is. Emily shared one anecdote about dancing with a partner on stage for an hour straight, while the audience collaboratively “controlled” them by manipulating both the music and tempo. Another memorable anecdote regarded “pancake games,” a series of pop-up games played with pancakes at the Game Developers Conference.

The panelists were enthusiastic about the freedom that games like these give to designers. Alt. ctrl games, being so unique, are almost impossible to replicate for commercial release, which relieves designers of the pressures of financial gain and allows them to really challenge their creativity and explore video games as an art form.

During questions and answers, the panelists were asked how to easily get into alt.ctrl design and enthusiastically endorsed a product called Makey Makey. This solder-less and programming-free circuit board allows one to turn any conductive material into an input device, including water, bananas, aluminum foil, or even other people!

The panel was an inspirational look into a world of design that I had never known existed before. Hopefully we will see more alternate controllers in the future, not least because more than a few people now have Makey Makeys at home (this author included).

Madison Karrh Says Quit Your Job, Make Indie Games (Not Really…)

Following the panel came a talk from Madison Karrh, Chicago designer and creator of indie darling Birth, lauded by outlets such as Rock, Paper, Shotgun, The Guardian, Edge Magazine, and Eurogamer, where it landed on several “Best of 2023” lists.

In her talk, titled “Things That Worked For Me That May Not Work For You But Also Maybe They Will,” Madison shared her journey from making games as a hobby to working full time as a solo developer.

Madison spoke about the first few games she made in her free time which did not get much attention. She then spoke about how living in an unfamiliar city during the pandemic inspired her to create a game about building a companion from scratch, which led to the creation of Birth. The game was so successful that Madison was able to quit her day job and start making games full-time using the game engine she developed during production.

Notable to her success was publisher Wings Interactive, a company that invests in women-made games. Wings gave Madison the financial security she needed to make her game, and it was clear that Wings is an excellent resource for female developers.

Madison’s story was full of tips for aspiring designers, including lessons she learned along the way. For example, despite not using social media herself, Madison claims that her game gained a lot of attention from its appearances in viral TikToks, where the game’s unique art style was a benefit. Likewise, while her initial launch was profitable, it has been Steam sales that over time have accounted for the biggest boosts in sales numbers since its release.

Madison’s story was a beacon of hope in an unstable industry plagued by over saturated markets and mass layoffs. It was a sign to indie developers that with a little patience, talent, and luck, it is possible to find success as a solo developer.

But What About the Games!?

The talks were only available to VIP ticket holders, but the main showcase was open to all ticket holders. A whopping twenty-four games were available for demo, filling the gallery space with wall-to wall gaming.

It would take the rest of this zine to cover ALL the games showcased, so here’s a rundown of everything I played. There was the rampaging CTA kaiju train arcade game, Chi-Kaiju!!; the self-explanatory visual novel In an Effort to Get My Two Friends to Date I Created a Magical Girl Dungeons N Dragons Campaign; Sashimi Slammers, an arcade fighting game in which you play fish out of water, complete with its own dedicated arcade cabinet with plastic fish controllers (an excellent example of alt.ctrl); Traintracks Combat, a fighting game set on the Chicago “L;” Dock King, a cute 2D adventure about building a fishing business on a bustling dock; Slaughter Void, a dark fantasy action game harkening back to Hotline Miami; Tall Trails, a Breath-of the-Wild-like with a fantastic and addicting movement system; Detect-Dev, the enthusiastic and lighthearted cyberpunk detective game; Apocalypse Train, the multiplayer twin-stick survival game where you must defend your train car from hordes of undead; and Kaiju Dreams, in which you use a Wii balance board to control a Kaiju stomping across the city while trying to avoid crushing pedestrians.

~deep breath~

And I would tell you more, except that at one point I stood up and discovered that the gallery was crammed wall-to-wall with people jostling to try out the new games. I couldn’t play anything else without fighting through crowds and waiting in lines. Plus, I had already been there for eight hours, experiencing everything C.I.G.S. had to offer, and I was tired.

So I did not get to play PS2-era Armored Core-like Drift Shell, or beautifully pixelated adventure game Party on Hallow Grove, nor card battling RPG Battle Suit Aces, nor typing bullet hell HyperTyper2000, nor strategy RPG Together in Battle, nor experimental visual novel Flies Flies Flies, nor slice-of life vignette Crockpot, nor cozy forestry game Grove, nor Coraroc, nor Eye 05, nor Space Scavengers, nor Dither Dream, nor Tilling Spree, nor Star Wired.

Nope, I’m just going to have to wishlist these games on Steam, or find them on itch.io, or wait until the next showcase.

C.I.G.S. Lit Up the Chicago Scene

If there is a takeaway from C.I.G.S., it is that the game design community in Chicago is thriving. Between the opportunities for networking, learning from fellow designers, and the rich experiences that can only be had in person, showcases like this are invaluable, and there is clearly a demand for more.

Events like these remove games from the noise of itch. io and Steam pages and place them where they belong: in a gallery where art is to be appreciated. I would like to thank the organizers of C.I.G.S. for putting on a great event, speakers Madison Karrh, Emily Koonce, Miki, Bobby Lockhart, and David Antognoli for sharing their time and expertise, and for the game makers for sharing their creative, wild, and engaging works with us.

Here’s to the future.