The 10 Best Indie Developer Communities for Game Projects
If you’re an indie game developer, one of the most important things you can do is build a strong community around your work. A supportive community can provide feedback, inspiration, and practical advice when you need it most.
Fortunately, there are many great online communities for indie game developers, each with its own culture and strengths. This post highlights 10 of the best communities for indie game developers.
1.Reddit (r/IndieDev)
r/IndieDev is a friendly and active community of 137,000 members. You can post about game development topics on the subreddit, including your favorite games, images, and music from indie games. The community also welcomes indie gamers as it views them as potential indie developers.
The platform is full of screenshots, GIFs, and videos of projects game developers are working on and their questions. It also has a resources page, filled with important posts by indie developers,game coding tutorials, and resource sites for beginner game developers.
2.LinkedIn (Indie Games Developer)
Indie Games Developer is a hub to learn about upcoming events, read case studies, and discover what’s new in the gaming industry. The group has a few stringent rules guiding how indie game developers and related professionals talk about games and game development.
Solo developers and artists can showcase their work via a portfolio, showreels, or images from the projects they’ve worked on.
it’s possible to share assets from official game engine stores and promote your game from official stores like Google, Apple, and Steam. You’re also free to share gaming tutorials, recent gaming technologies, and crowdfunding projects.
However, the group clearly states the kind of content topics you can or cannot post. Not adhering to a group rule, like, not constantly promoting your game, can get you banned.
3.Stack Exchange (Game Development)
Game Development Stack Exchange is a popular forum with a large community of developers. The question-and-answer forum is dedicated to both professional and indie game developers.
You can ask the community any game development-related question, and members upvote answers so the best rise to the top. The forum has 54,000 questions today, many about Unity, C#, OpenGL, C++, and Java.
You can search for posts using tags like unity, c#, and opengl, or sort them by newest, highest score, and most frequent. You can as well filter them by users.
4.Reddit (r/gamedev)
With 869,000 members, r/gamedev is undoubtedly one of the internet’s most popular game developer communities. Members of this group include experts from all facets of game production, including programmers and designers.
r/gamedev allow you to share all topics related to game development, including free assets, music, business, and marketing. It also links in-depth articles on various topics, including game promotion andprogramming tips.
5.TIGSource (TIGSource Forums)
TIGSource Forums is another huge community dedicated to indie game development. The site’s design looks like it hasn’t changed since the ’90s, but it hosts an active and vibrant community. It has more than 1.4 million posts in over 68,000 topics contributed by 61,000 members.
Developers can post their games on the forums for feedback on design, bugs, and more. The forums feature places for developers to talk about topics like programming, art, music and sound design, game mechanics, and marketing of indie games. There’s also a job section where members can post their portfolios, offer paid work, and collaborate on unpaid jobs.
6.Slack (IndieDevs)
If you’re looking for a community with real-time chat, then IndieGameDevs might be your best bet. The Slack community is one of the best places for programmers, designers, and related professionals to hang out for quick support and feedback.
IndieGameDevs has several channels set up based on the group’s shared interests. To join the community, you’ll need to fill out a request form and wait a day or two to get a Slack invite.
7.Reddit (r/IndieGaming)
r/IndieGaming is a very active subreddit with lots of indie gaming talk. It has a community of 286,000 members discussing the aspects of indie gaming they find interesting. Many developers share game previews and teasers for feedback or to start a discussion.
8.Discord (Game Dev League)
Game Dev League (GDL) is a community built by game devs for game developers. The community lets you share game development-related art, model, trailer, picture, and other materials for praise and feedback.
Several moderators organize this Discord community of over 69,000 members. Every topic has its own channel, and members are redirected to the appropriate group if necessary.
GDL has dev channels for talks about popular game engines, includingUnreal Engine, Unity, Godot, and others. And if you need help with 3D modeling and 2D art or music and sound effects, you’re able to look through the creative arts category.
There’s also a jobs section for career advice, paid developer jobs, and those wishing to hire developers and a #faq channel that answers the frequently asked questions about GDL.
9.Facebook (Indie Game Developers)
Indie Game Developers is a community for discussing issues relating to game development and the gaming industry. The 130,000 members group was created for members to learn about game development, share their progress, ask questions about bug fixes, and share free game design resources.
10.GameDev (GameDev Forums)
The game developer forums on GameDev.net are another popular place for students, hobbyists, and professionals in the gaming industry to learn, share, and connect.
You can browse forums by boards like beginners, programming, game design, visual art, and audio. The site also includes a Game Commercial and Law board where developers discuss any business or legal issue they might run into, including contracts and copyright issues.
Join an Indie Game Developer Community
The indie game development scene has seen rapid growth in recent years. An increasing number of developers seek to create their games outside the traditional AAA pipeline. This has led to the formation of many indie developer communities, each with different strengths and weaknesses.
Online communities like r/gamedev, Game Development Stack Exchange, and Game Developers League are great sources of support and engagement for indie game developers. These groups are awesome places to find collaborators, get feedback, and learn from other developers.
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