TIGSource

{{Short description|Indie game blog and online community}}

{{Infobox website

| logo = File:TIGSource_logo.png

| name = TIGSource

| url = {{URL|tigsource.com}}

| commercial = no

| type = Blog/online community

| founded = 2005

| author = Jordan Magnuson

| language = English

}}

TIGSource, short for The Independent Games Source, is a news blog and Internet community centered around the creation of independent video games, founded in 2005 by Jordan Magnuson but soon taken over by Derek Yu, both independent game developers.{{cite book |last1=Sharp |first1=John |title=Debugging Game History: A Critical Lexicon |pages=259–260}}

The site has been described as having been an important "cultural nexus" for the creation of indie games development in the 2000s and early 2010s, and a key player in changing the perception of independent video games as merely casual games to that of an art form.{{cite web |last1=Robert |first1=Yang |title=Theorizing local games cultures in a post-TIGSource era |url=https://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2017/03/local-games-cultures-in-post-tigsource.html|work=Radiator Design Blog}}{{cite book |last1=Juul |first1=Jesper |title=Handmade Pixels – Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity |date=2019 |page=86}}{{Cite book |title=Game production studies |chapter=4. Intermediating the Everyday: Indie Game Development and the Labour of Co-Working Spaces |pages=83–100 |date=2021 |last1=Brown |first1=Pierson |last2=Schram |first2=Brian R. |editor-last1=Sotoma |editor-first1=Olli |editor-last2=Švelch |editor-first2=Jan |isbn=978-90-485-5173-6 |location=Amsterdam |oclc=1242871951}}{{cite book |last1=Hill-Whittall |first1=Richard |title=The Indie Game Developer Handbook |date=2015 |page=152}} Its forums were the launchpad for several award-winning games, including the best-selling video game of all time, Minecraft, BAFTA-winning dystopian immigration officer simulation Papers, Please, viral phenomenon QWOP, puzzle-platform game Fez, and Yu's own Spelunky.{{cite magazine | url = http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-making-of-papers-please/ | title = The Making Of: Papers, Please | author = Edge Staff | date = January 20, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140122052214/http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-making-of-papers-please/ | archive-date = January 22, 2014 | magazine = Edge}}{{cite news |last1=Purdom |first1=Clayton |title=QWOP turned failure into comedy and found viral immortality |url=https://www.avclub.com/qwop-turned-failure-into-comedy-and-found-viral-immorta-1826394272 |work=The A.V. Club |language=en-us}}{{cite web | url = https://www.vg247.com/2014/03/05/lucas-pope-im-kind-of-sick-to-death-of-papers-please/ | title = Lucas Pope: "I'm kind of sick to death of Papers, Please" | first = Johnny | last = Cullen | date = March 5, 2014 | access-date = November 14, 2016 | work = VG247 }} {{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/11/minecraft-book/ |title=The Amazingly Unlikely Story of How Minecraft Was Born |magazine=Wired |date=November 5, 2013 |access-date=July 16, 2021}}{{cite book |last1=Hansen |first1=Dustin |title=Game On!: Video Game History from Pong and Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More |date=22 November 2016 |publisher=Feiwel & Friends |isbn=978-1-250-08096-7 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=62fZDAAAQBAJ |language=en}}{{cite book |title=The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge}}{{cite journal |last1=Guevara Villalobos |first1=Orlando |last2=Villalobos |first2=Orlando Guevara |title=Cultural production and politics of the digital games industry: the case of independent game production |date=27 November 2013 |url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/8874|journal=Edinburgh Research Archive |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Polinsky |first1=Paige V. |title=Minecraft |date=2019 |page=28}}{{cite book |last1=Kremers |first1=Rudolf |title=Level Design: Concept, Theory, and Practice |date=21 October 2009 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4398-7695-4 |page=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASisCQAAQBAJ |language=en}} The site was in 2009 referred to as "one of the primary sources of information about the indie scene on the web and host to one of indie's best forums, bringing creators and fans together to share novel new ideas and the greatest new games."{{cite web |last1=Cameron |first1=Phill |title=Interview: Aquaria 's Derek Yu On Indie, The Pit of Death |url=https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/115081/Interview_Aquarias_Derek_Yu_On_Indie_The_Pit_of_Death.php |website=Gamasutra |language=en}} In 2008, it was chosen as one of "100 top sites for the year ahead" by The Guardian.{{cite news |title=100 top sites for the year ahead: our latest selection finds that location-based services, work-anywhere collaboration and video are prominent |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/dec/18/internet-websites |work=the Guardian |date=18 December 2008 |language=en}}