 Fish began to work with Toronto-based indie developer Shawn McGrath on McGrath's idea for a puzzle game that showed 2D views of a 3D space. Fish provided the project's art until the partnership crumbled due to creative differences: Fish wanted their product to be more of a platform game. Fish continued to work on the game in his spare time, and incorporated the idea of voxels (3D pixels), where a 2D pixel could be seen from four sides. The game would become Fez and the game's design, lore, and art derived from this game mechanic. Fish searched for a programmer on DeviantArt and Renaud Bédard, the first person to apply, became the game's programmer. Fez was first announced in July 2007 and was nominated for two awards at the 2008 Game Developers Conference Independent Games Festival. Fish's employer, Artificial Mind and Movement, would not let him take leave from work to attend, so Fish quit. He marked this January 2008 moment as "when I became indie". The game received widespread attention upon its showing at the festival, leading Fish to open Polytron Corporation as a startup company with a government loan.
