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Guides for indie devs
Templates, how-tos and stories from our classes and community. Start with the most-read one: the free game design document template.
Mar 2, 2026 3rd annual Indie Game Academy Meetup @ GDC Uplifting Indies? Heck yeah! Chill & hang out with the magical Indie Game Academy Community during the upcoming Game Developers Conference 2026, on Thursday, 12
May 15, 2025 How to Make a Smooth Movement System for a 2D Platformer in Godot Mastering 2D Movement in Godot: From Basics to Professional Platformers If you've ever lost track of time while leaping between platforms, dodging obstacles, or
Apr 29, 2025 Free Game Design Document Template & How-To Guide How to GDD: Guide to Game Design Documents Only need the templates? Grab them here! Have you ever wondered how do you turn that spark that came to you one day a
Nov 30, 2023 From Player to Creator: Balancing the Challenge and Joy in Game Development By: Ulises Rubino Hello there! A lot of us who have played games for most of our lives have had a moment such as this: You're sitting on your couch, controller
Nov 18, 2023 Three Tips to help you Break Into the Game Industry How do you break into the video game industry? Greetings! If you're reading this article, you are surely wondering how to make your way into the wonderful indus
Nov 10, 2023 Unveiling the Power of Game Design One Pagers: A Comprehensive Guide Hey there, future gamedev superstar! You're about to level up your game development skills with some seriously awesome knowledge. Today, we're diving into the u
Oct 23, 2023 Embracing Evolution: A Deep Dive into the Latest Trends in Indie Game Development Indie game development has always been a realm of innovation, where creative minds push the boundaries of what gaming can offer. As we venture further into the
Sep 25, 2023 Cultivating a Creative Environment for Your Indie Game Development Studio In the fast-paced world of indie game development, where innovation and creativity are the lifeblood of success, creating a nurturing and inspiring environment
Sep 18, 2023 Developing for Next-Gen Platforms: Unleashing the Potential The gaming industry is amid an exciting transformation with the advent of next-generation platforms like the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and gaming PCs equipp
Sep 5, 2023 The Mobile Gaming Revolution: 10 Reasons to Dive into Mobile Game Development In the fast-paced world of game development, mobile gaming has emerged as a dominant force. With the ever-increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets, the
Aug 21, 2023 How to Design an RPG Progression System that Keeps Players Engaged Creating a captivating RPG (Role-Playing Game) experience goes beyond stunning graphics and a gripping storyline. A crucial element that keeps players invested
Aug 3, 2023 Embracing Evolution: Navigating the Ever-Changing Landscape of Indie Game Design Trends In the ever-evolving realm of indie game development, staying ahead of the curve is essential to capture players' hearts and stand out in a sea of creative offe
Jul 25, 2023 Releasing Your First Indie Game: A Comprehensive Guide to Success As an aspiring indie game developer, bringing your creation to the gaming world is an exhilarating journey. However, launching an indie game successfully requir
Jul 4, 2023 Brainstorming? Filter Lists: how to use them + template! One of the simplest yet most effective #gamedesign tools I've ever created in my 10-year career is the humble *Filter List.* Filter Lists are a fast and furious
Jun 29, 2023 The Introduction to Unity Muse and Unity Sentis: AI impact. Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly transformed many industries, and the gaming industry is no exception. AI has had a significant impact on game developme
Jun 26, 2023 Writing a Compelling Game Narrative that Hooks Players A well-written narrative can keep players engaged, excited, and invested in the game world. In this article, we will share some tips and tricks for writing a na
Jun 14, 2023 Importance of Inclusive Character Design and Accessibility Inclusive character design is essential because it allows players from all walks of life to identify with the characters they are playing. When games feature di
May 29, 2023 Building Your Own Indie Game Studio Indie game development has become a popular and profitable industry in recent years. With the rise of digital distribution platforms and a growing interest in u
May 15, 2023 Marketing Strategies for your Indie Game Maybe you’re building your very first game all by yourself, or maybe you already finished it and you are ready to show it to the world. Congrats! Now to the big
Apr 27, 2023 How Roblox is Revolutionizing Indie Game Development Roblox is more than just a game – it's a game creation platform that enables users to create their own games and share them with millions of other players world
Apr 21, 2023 How People are Sharing Free Tools to Help Newcomers into the Game Industry Breaking into the gaming industry can be tough, particularly for those without any prior experience or contacts. Thankfully, many game development experts are c
Apr 6, 2023 Overcoming Obstacles in Career Switch to Game Development Thinking of Switching to Game Development as a Career? If you've been working in a stable job for years and are now considering a career change to game developm
Mar 31, 2023 Are up-and-coming game devs being excluded from GDC? As the gaming industry continues to grow and evolve, the Game Developers Conference (GDC) has become an exciting event for developers, publishers, and gamers al
Feb 7, 2023 Diary of a Game Developer: Reflections of a Jammer Newb By:Mary-Ellen Fimbel For the last ten years my brother and a group of our college friends have been participating in our local 48 hour film festival. Which mean
Nov 16, 2022 Game Devs: You Don’t Need Twitter for News, Marketing, or Networking Before Twitter, people used to get their news just fine. Gamedev podcasts, videos, and blogs are more than enough to keep getting your industry news
Oct 25, 2022 Top 3 tips to get into the game industry By Willem Delventhal. The top 3 tips to help you break into the video game industry, developed with hundreds of graduates from the Indie Game Academy. — # 3: Ap
Oct 18, 2022 What Google Stadia’s Demise Means for Indie Developers By: Jay Rooney Google’s shocking-but-not-really-that-shocking decision to pull the plug on Google Stadia is like bankruptcy, or societal collapse, in that it ha
Sep 15, 2022 How To Motivate Your Remote Team A few weeks ago I wrote a post about managing remote teams in which I mentioned "Celebration" as one of my top three tips. Today one of our community members as
Sep 11, 2022 How Do I Run a Remote Team? A new age question I hear a lot is "How do I run a remote team?" Well! It's a tricky one. But I am pleased to say that I have run a heck of a lot of teams entir
Aug 24, 2022 Six Easy Hacks to Create a Compelling Story for Your Game (Even if You’re a Terrible Writer) By Jay Rooney So you’ve decided to build a game. You have your genre, gameplay loop, visual theme, and monetization strategy down pat. All you need to do now is
Jul 27, 2022 How to Prototype a Game Using Only Your Voice A Word Prototype is one of the simplest prototyping techniques out there, and it involves pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Rather than coding an actual
Jul 12, 2022 How I Built a Full Game Prototype Without Writing a Line of Code For most of my life, the word “developer” was synonymous with “coder” in my mind. It was only very recently that I realized that term was so much broader.
Jun 29, 2022 Interview with: Tony Sharma By: Jay Rooney Indie Game Academy’s professors offer priceless insights into the games industry more broadly, as well as what goes into making an individual gam
Jun 21, 2022 Level 3 Cohort 4 has begun! With the first post of our blog, we're happy to announce that our 4th Cohort of Level 3 has officially begun! If you are new to Indie Game Academy and what we d