The video game industry has a reputation for long hours and toxic environments. But now, a small studio is hoping to chart a different path as the first unionized video game company in North America.

Small independent video game studios are growing in number and influence at PAX East, the annual videogaming show that's drawing tens of thousands of gamers to Boston's Seaport District. The Indie Megabooth at PAX East, which runs through today at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, features 84 studios this year, up from 16 indie developers with booth space just a few years ago. Indie games are attracting more veterans from large gaming companies, who want to follow their own vision, and the rudimentary graphics and sound often seen in the first indie wave is giving way to titles with striking artwork, music, and top-notch game play. Scott Sinclair, co-founder of Cambridge-based Molasses Flood LLC, was the art director for big game titles "BioShock" and "BioShock Infinite" at Quincy's Irrational Games before launching his own company several years ago. He and five other co-founders raised 251,647 on Kickstarter to fund "The Flame in the Flood," a post-apocalyptic survival game that follows a woman and her dog navigating a flood-swollen river on a raft.