Indie Game Dev Collective

A collective for indie game devs: engine channels, jams, playtest requests, devlogs and art, audio and code help.

8 categories
36 channels
16 roles
Medium

Choose a server, review what will be created or reused, then confirm. Merge keeps what you have; replace rebuilds the server. Vetox takes a safety backup first either way.

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Server structure

Channels

LOBBY

guidelines
Credit your collaborators, no asset piracy, playtest others if you want playtests.
introduce-your-studio
Who you are, what you are making, which engine, and a screenshot if you have one.
pick-your-engine
Unity, Unreal, Godot, your discipline, and the Jam and Playtest ping roles.
collective-news
Jams the collective is entering, showcases and talks.

ENGINES

unity
Unity questions, packages and editor tricks.
unreal
Unreal, Blueprints, C++ and the editor.
godot
Godot, GDScript, C# and scenes.
gamemaker
GameMaker and the other 2D-first tools.
custom-engine
Rolling your own. Frameworks, renderers and regret.

CRAFT HELP

code-help
One thread per problem. Include the engine, the code and what you expected.
art-help
Post the piece, say what feels wrong, tag the discipline.
audio-help
Sound design, music and getting it into the engine.
design-help
Mechanics, levels, narrative and balance. Describe the problem the player has.
tools-and-pipelines
Version control, build pipelines, asset tools and localisation.

GAME JAMS

upcoming-jams
Dates, themes and links for the jams we are entering. Mentions Jam Pings.
jam-team-finder
One thread per team. Tag the role you still need and mark it full when you are.
jam-chat
The 48 hours. Progress, panic, snacks.
jam-entries
Your entry page once it is submitted. One post per entry.

PLAYTESTING

playtest-requests
Build link, what to test, how long it takes, platform. Testers reply in the thread.
feedback-guidelines
How to give feedback a developer can use: what you did, what you felt, what confused you.

SHOWCASE

devlogs
One thread per project for its whole life. Post progress, tag the kind of update.
screenshot-saturday
One screenshot or clip a week. Saturday is a suggestion.
launch-day60s slowmode
Your game is out. Store link, trailer, price. Once per launch.
marketing-and-wishlists
Store pages, trailers, press and what actually moved a wishlist count.
collective-picks
Vetox posts the screenshots and devlogs the collective starred most.

VOICE

Dev Lounge
Co-working
Playtest Room 1
Playtest Room 2
Jam Crunch
Dev Talks
AFK

MODERATION

mod-lounge
Reports, Verified Dev grants and who is handling what.
report-queue
One message per report: link, what happened, outcome.
collective-logsHidden from @everyone
Vetox posts moderation and join logs here.
Moderator Voice

Roles

Collective LeadAdministrator
AdminAdministrator
ModeratorModerator
Jam HostModerator
Verified Dev
Developer
Artist
Composer
Designer
Unity
Unreal
Godot
Jam Pings
Playtest Pings
Muted

Overview

A server for solo developers and tiny studios making games on evenings, weekends and the occasional grant. It is organised around the four things that fill an indie's week. Engines gives Unity, Unreal, Godot, GameMaker and custom-engine users a channel each, so a shader question lands among people using the same tools. Craft Help is four forums - #code-help, #art-help, #audio-help and #design-help - each tagged by sub-discipline, because a netcode problem and a pixel-art palette problem need different readers. Game Jams has #upcoming-jams, a #jam-team-finder forum tagged by the role a team still needs, #jam-chat for the 48 hours themselves and #jam-entries afterwards. Playtesting is a forum where a developer posts a build tagged Prototype, Alpha, Beta or Web build and testers reply in the thread, with two Playtest Room voice channels for live sessions. Showcase keeps #devlogs as a forum so a project's progress is one thread rather than scattered posts, plus #screenshot-saturday, #launch-day and #marketing-and-wishlists. Voice adds a Co-working room, a Jam Crunch room and a Dev Talks stage; moderation is hidden.

When to use it

You run a game dev community where a Godot question gets answered by someone thinking of Unity, jam teams form in DMs and fall apart, and 'please playtest my game' posts get two likes and no feedback. This layout gives each engine its own room, gives every playtest request a thread that testers actually reply in, turns team-finding into a tagged forum, and keeps devlogs as one thread per project so progress is visible over months.

What makes it different

Engines gives Unity, Unreal, Godot, GameMaker and custom-engine developers a channel each.
Craft Help is four forums - code, art, audio, design - each tagged by sub-discipline.
#playtest-requests is a forum tagged Prototype, Alpha, Beta or Web build, with two voice rooms for live sessions.
#jam-team-finder is tagged by the role a team still needs, so a composer can find the team missing one.
#devlogs keeps each project's progress as one thread instead of posts scattered across months.

Recommended Vetox setup

Self-Roles
Post Self-Roles in #pick-your-engine for Unity, Unreal and Godot plus Jam Pings and Playtest Pings, so a new build reaches the testers who asked for it.
Reminders
Set a Reminder in #upcoming-jams a week before each jam and another in #jam-chat at the theme reveal, so nobody misses the start.
Starboard
Point Starboard at #screenshot-saturday with #collective-picks as the board, so the week's best shots are collected without a vote.
Streaks
Enable Streaks for #devlogs so a developer who posts progress every week sees the count; a visible streak is what keeps a two-year project moving.
Temp Voice
Point Temp Voice at the Co-working room so a jam team gets its own voice channel for the weekend without a permanent one.

Questions

Do I need a channel per engine if most members use one?

Keep the one or two your members use and delete the rest; the Craft Help forums do not care which engine a question comes from. Add an engine channel back when a handful of people using it start colliding in #code-help.

How do playtests actually get feedback?

The request is a forum thread with the build link, what to test and how long it takes. Testers reply in that thread, so feedback is attached to the build it is about, and Playtest Pings is mentioned so the people who volunteered to test are the ones who see it.

What is Verified Dev?

A role for members who have shipped something playable - a jam entry counts. Moderators grant it from #jam-entries or a store page. It carries no extra permissions; it is a marker that helps newcomers know whose advice comes from experience.

Common mistakes

Mixing engine questions in one help channel, where the Unity answer to a Godot question is confidently wrong.
Letting playtest requests sit in a text channel, where they scroll away before anyone downloads the build.

Consider instead

Open-Source Project Hub The server is for one open-source game or engine with contributors, rather than many developers with their own projects.

Do you have any doubts?

Our team is there for you

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