Here is a list of resources for the participants. If you're new to creating games, there are software, assets and tutorials to help you get started. I split these into three sections for the jam, tabletop games and video games. But some of the resources can actually be used for either. So please read through them all for more options. Thanks for the contributions everyone!
FOR DEATH AND THE INTERNET JAM
If you're looking for inspiration or old-school internet aesthetics, here are a few sites:
- The Oldschool PC Font Resource has a huge font pack for oldschool PC fonts.
- Digital Space, The Old Net, One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age and GifCities are large historical archives for the Old Web. These websites let you look through old geocities pages and Y2K aestehtics.
- Make WordArt and COOLTEXT are the world's best free tools for creating wordart and font art for your submissions.
FOR TABLETOP GAMES
Layout
- Canva is the go-to layout tool for indie tabletop designers. It's free, easy to use and has its own library of stock images and icons. You can also upload your own assets into it with no limitations.
- Visme is a good alternative to Canva. The UI can be less intuitive but it has more advanced options for layout.
- GIMP is a free graphics editor tool. But it can also be used for layout. If you have the time to learn, it can be very useful.
- For paid layout software, I have heard good things about Affinity Publisher from other designers.
Writing and Editing
- Google Docs, Notepad and whatever writing software you have will do the job just fine.
- For editing, Grammarly and Writer can detect mistakes and suggest grammar solutions. As an ESL creator, I prefer using Writer.
Assets, Photos and Art
- Pixabay, Pexels and Unsplash have large libraries of stock photos to put into your game. Pexel and Unsplash are more curated with photo-like images and textures. Pixabay is less curated and includes transparent icons and illustrations.
- Open Access sections in museums and galleries offer lots of copyright-free art like the Met, National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian. The MoMa and Public Domain Review curate their own lists for dozens of open access galleries online.
- The Heritage Library has high-resolution vintage illustration packs. If you're looking for old painted or drawn illustrations of animals and plants for your game, this is a good place to start.
- Flaticon and Noun Project host millions of transparent icons. These usually come with an attribution requirement so make sure to give credit where it's due.
- DaFont and Google Fonts have free fonts. If you are using DaFont, make sure the font you download allows free commercial use.
- Itchio hosts its own tabletop game assets section. But not all of them are labelled that way by the creator so try looking outside of the tag. For example, here are some great hexkits for hexcrawl games.
Templates, Toolkits and Tutorials
- The TTRPG Resource Jam has 55 entries including templates, guides and toolkits. It's a great place to start learning about tabletop games.
- Itch Game Page Image Guide and Templates gives all the dimensions for each asset on your itch page and teaches you how to make it look good. TTRPG Social Media Templates does the same with a wider net including templates for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other websites.
- RPG Design Zine is a good primer for making your first tabletop RPG.
Safety
- The TTRPG Safety Toolkit is a large collection of safety tools to insert into your game. If your game touches on sensitive, harmful or emotional topics, these can be very helpful.
- TheGiftofGabes has also curated a list of safety tools with links.
Ideas and Moodboards
- Pinterest, Pixiv, Behance, Tumblr, DeviantArt, Artstation and Dribbble are a few of the go-to sites to collect inspiration. Behance, ArtStation and Dribbble have more 'professional' collections.
More Reading
- Marcia B. runs a TRPG blog called Traverse Fantasy. It has popular posts explaining lyric games, OSR and other RPG topics.
- The Manifesto Jams from 2018 and 2022 have 150+ written manifestos about making games. These manifestos are great sources of inspiration and lessons.
SRDs (System Reference Documents)
SRDs are like open-sourced rulesets for you to hack or modify to create your own games. Itchio hosts 60+ tagged SRDs at this moment. Here are a few suggestions:
- LUMEN lets you build games about fast action-packed power fantasies.
- 24XX lets you make games where character details and fiction matter most.
- Wretched & Alone lets you make solo journaling games about struggling against the impossible to survive or achieve something important.
- Caltrop Core lets you make games with only four-sided dice (D4s). It's an absurdly simple system with a great step-by-step creation guide.
- Breathless lets you make games about characters whose skills degrade the more they use them. It's great for writing games where you need to push your characters to succeed against the odds, take breathers and scavenge to survive.
- If you're trying to experiment and these rulesets don't fit what you're trying to achieve, I recommend reading lyric games and solo games.
Copyright
Most tabletop games on Itchio use Creative Commons licenses. Especially CC BY or CC BY-SA. Please read through these licenses before you apply them. Creative Commons licenses cannot be revoked once they are re-attributed by another creator.
The Anti-Capitalist Attribution Cooperative License is another copyright license which allows you to exclude capitalist interests from future attributions of your game.
FOR VIDEO GAMES
Sound and Music
- Freesound.org offers a massive collection of sound effects and music. Licensing applies but most effects fall under creative commons or public domain.
- Nosoapradio_us has a collection of 500+ royalty-free soundtracks by the artist Deceased Superior Technician. The link leads to a Facebook page so you'll need to scroll a little to get what you want.
- DOVA-SYNDROME has 8400+ BGMs and 1000+ sound effects which can be downloaded and used for free as background music. Their license for use page includes commercials and paid or free products or works.
Assets and Textures
- Sketchfab, Free3D, Unity Asset Store, ArtStation and OpenGameArt.Org have large libraries and marketplaces of 2D/3D assets to put into your game. Not all of them are free to use so be sure to check out the terms before you use them.
- Itchio has its own library of 18,000+ free assets you can filter out with specific tags.
Tools, Engines and Tutorials
This section works a little differently. There are dozens of game engines out there and I can't list them all. I also don't have the experience to fully explain them. Instead, here are some of the most popular examples with links to good tutorials for them. I recommend reading up more on each engine before you use them.
- Twine and Ren'Py are two good platforms to start making novel-based games. They require less coding knowledge and rely more on text-based storytelling. For Twine, I recommend reading the reference document which explains its features simply and quickly. For Ren'Py, Zeli Learnings has a great 8-minute tutorial to get you started.
- Unity is a well-known platform for 3D (and 2D) game development. Brackeys is the most popular resource for Unity beginners with years of tutorials, live game development videos and game jams.
- Godot is also a great engine for 3D and 2D games. It's free, open-source and much easier to use (in my opinion). GDQuest does a good job with explaining the engine's features and has some good tutorials to start out.
- Pico-8 lets you make low-resolution 2D games. If you've been on Itchio long enough, you should be familiar with what these games look like and might even own a copy of the engine from the many bundles offered here. I recommend watching Miziziziz's video about learning Pico-8 the first time and work through other recommended tutorials he used from there.
Because I have only made tabletop games, the video game section might be a little lacking.
If you have any suggestions for either sections, please share them here and I'll add it to the list.
If you have questions about the game jam, please post them in your own topic. I'll answer them best as I can.