Awesome Game Jam

This is a curated list that contains helpful links and resources for game jams and game development.

Contents

• Development
  • Engine
  • Framework
  • Online Services
  • Tools
• Audio
  • DAW
  • Music
  • Sound
• Graphics
  • 3D Modelling
  • Image Editor
  • Pixel Editor
  • Vector Editor
  • Color
  • Misc
• Management
  • Tasks
  • Design
  • Time

Development

Engine

• Unity - Robust and beginner-friendly.
• Unreal - Powerful engine with a steep learning curve.
• Godot - Completely free and open-source.
• PICO-8 - Encourages small, but expressive designs.
• Heaps - Mature cross platform graphics engine designed for high performance games.
• Game Maker Studio - GameMaker Studio 2 is the latest and greatest incarnation of GameMaker.
• Pixelbox.js - Lightweight Javascript engine for browser games.
• Clickteam Fusion - Easy to use game engine for beginners.
• Construct 3D - Powerful Javascript based engine with visual coding editor and more!
• olcPixelGameEngine - A open source single-file prototyping and game-engine framework created in C++.
• gbdk-2020 - A C compiler, assembler, linker and set of libraries for the Z80 like Nintendo Gameboy.

Framework

• Phaser - Fast, free and open-source framework for Canvas and WebGL powered browser games.
• CraftyJS - Free and lightweight JavaScript framework for 2D games.
• PyGame - Free set of python modules designed for writing video games.
• libGDX - Cross-platform Java game development framework based on OpenGL.
• LÖVE - Open-source framework to make 2D games in Lua.

Online Services

• Dreamlo - Add leaderboards and promocodes to your game.
• YogurtTheHorse Leaderboards - Free to use leaderboards with open-source server side.

Tools

• Visual Studio Code - Free code editor. Built on open source. Runs everywhere.
• git-tresor - Encrypt dev-secrets to store them securely next to your source code.

Map & World Editor

• Tiled - Free, easy to use and flexible level editor.
• LDtk - A fast, free, open source 2D level editor from the director of Dead Cells.

Audio

DAW

• Audacity - Free, open source, cross-platform audio software.
• LMMS - Free cross-platform alternative to commercial programs like FL Studio
• Tracktion Waveform Free - Free, cross-platform and intuitive audio workstation

Music

• Bosca Ceoil - Free, easy to use tool for creating music.
• Famistudio - Very simple music editor for the SNES.
• Tonnoform - Easy to use open-source 8 bit music making tool.
• cgMusic - Generate music with a certain level of quality.
• MuseScore - Create, play and print beautiful sheet music.
• BeepBox - Online tool for sketching and sharing instrumental melodies.

Sound

• bfxr - Flash + AIR sound effects generator.
• sfxr - Dead easy game sound effects generator.
• ZzFX - Sound effect generator similar to to BFXR/SFXR but reworked from the ground up.

Graphics

3D-Modelling

• Blender - Open source 3D creation. Free to use for any purpose, forever.
• Magicavoxel - A free lightweight 8-bit voxel editor and interactive path tracing renderer.
• ZBrush - Industry standard for digital sculpting and painting.

Image Editor

• GIMP - Free and Open Source Image Editor
• Paint.NET - Free image and photo editing software
• Krita - Krita is a professional free and open source painting program.
• FireAlpaca - Free digital painting software, on Mac and Windows.

Pixel Editor

• Pyxel Edit - Pixel art drawing application especially designed for working with tiles.
• Pixelorama - Pixelorama is a free and open source pixel art editor created with the Godot-Engine.
• Lospec Pixel Editor - Free pixel art program that you can use right here in your web browser.
• Aseprite - Animated sprite editor and pixel art tool
• PiskelApp - Free online editor for animated sprites & pixel art

Vector Editor

• Inkscape - Free and open source vector graphics editor.
• Figma - (Free) vector graphics editor that supports collaborative editing.

Color

• Lospec Color Palette - Searchable collection of palettes for pixel art.
• Flat UI Colors 2 - 280 handpicked colors split into 13 palettes.

Misc

• Autodraw - Online tool to predict the placeholder images you need.
• Smart upscaler - Enlarge and enhance images automatically using AI.
• ZzSprite - Procedurally generate tiny pixel art sprites with options for mutation and animation frames.
• ZzArt - Evolve HD textures for use in your games.
• Removebg - Free Online Site Which Remove backgrounds 100% automatically in 5 seconds with zero clicks.
• Easy Releasy - A downloadable template pack to create itch.io pages.
• BitFontMaker2 - Free online pixel font editor with gallery of fonts from other users.

Management

Tasks

• Trello - Kanban Boards, lists, and cards to enable teams to organize and prioritize project.
• Kanban.org - Free, self-hosted Kanban project managment software
• MeisterTask - (Free) online task management tool for teams.
• Google Docs - Share text files and spreadsheets with your team.

Design

• Machinations - (Free) online tool to prototype the internal economy of your game using Machinations language.
• Miro - (Free) online tool with infinite canvas to sketch and design prototypes.
• Lunacy - Free design alternative to Figma
• PureRef - A free stand-alone program for Windows, Mac and Linux that keeps track of your reference images.

Time

• TomatoTimer - A pomodoro timer that is dead easy to use.
• Pomofocus - Combines tasks with a pomodoro timer to estimate when you should be done and to track progress.
• Toggl Track - (Free) time tracking for any workflow. Online, offline, or on-the-go.

Release

Hosting

• itch.io - Simple way share indie games online for free.
• Dropbox - 2 GB of storage to share photos, documents, and other files from any device.
• Google Drive - 15 GB of storage to share photos, documents, and other files from any device.

Marketing

• Screen2Gif - Screen, webcam and sketchboard recorder with an integrated editor that exports to gif.
• Chronolapse - Easily create your own timelapse videos.
• All image editors - Improve your marketing material by modifying it with image editors