Build & launch a playable game
with a real team in 1-3 hrs/week

Nope! Some familiarity with a game engine helps, but it's not required. Experienced members will walk you through anything you get stuck on, and our included quick-start video course shows you exactly how to jump in and start contributing right away.

And you don't have to be a programmer — Pods need artists, musicians, writers, and designers too.

There's no minimum, but we'd suggest 1-3 hours a week.

Teams work asynchronously across time zones, so the game keeps moving forward whether you're typing away at your keyboard or taking a week off. Jump in when you can.

You get access right away. Our quick-start video course walks you through everything: Discord, GitHub, picking your first game - all of it step-by-step. Then, if you have any questions or roadblocks, you can schedule a 1-on-1 call with our team to walk you through how to get involved on a game team and ship a game.

Most members are contributing to a real game within their first week.

Everything really - Arcade, action, platformers, RPGs, puzzle, all in 2D or 3D. Every game is vetted, scoped, and run by a committed team lead (member). You can jump into games already in progress, or pitch your own and lead it yourself.

We make games in Godot, Unity, and Unreal! Teams stay organized with Trello, chat on Discord, and share files through GitHub - all free tools.

Some members find our workflow so effective that they use it on their own projects outside the Pods too.

No. 100% on-time ship rate across 230+ games and 10+ years. But if you participate and your game still doesn't ship, you get a full refund. You keep every bonus, template, and resource no matter what.

In Dev Pods, we only ship freeware games - and that's what makes the whole thing work. No financial pressure means no one gets cut, teams stay healthy, and every game actually finishes.

What you walk away with is bigger than game sales: a game you're proud of, a shipped portfolio piece with detailed credits, and relationships with teammates that last way beyond a game's lifecycle.

Many members go on to launch commercial games with people they met here. Some have used their credits to land AAA jobs at studios like Blizzard and Sony. And some stick around for years, shipping game after game because they finally found a place where they can actually finish them.

Yes - in two places:

• In-game when the project ships
• Publicly on our itch.io collection

And we don't just list credits like "programmer" or "artist." We break down the specific systems you built, the assets you created, and the roles you played. Google your name and you'll find them.

Yes - you always own the work you create. Models, code, music, art - no IP clauses, no strings. Your individual contributions are yours to use in your portfolio, your commercial projects, wherever you want.

No one can use your work commercially, or outside the scope of the game we make, without your permission.

Your ideas are always yours, and you keep full ownership of your IP. The collaborative Pod games are community projects released for free - no single person owns those, and that's by design.

Either way, no one can use your individual work commercially without your permission. Your code, art, music, and assets belong to you.

You could build a game by yourself. You've probably tried. Multiple times. What you're paying for isn't the game, it's the thing that was always missing:

• 1-on-1 calls with experts to make sure you never get stuck
• A 90-day game-shipping roadmap to guide you through a proven process
• Resources & videos that helped ship 230+ games
• An experienced team that's excited to build with you
• Real deadlines that keep everyone moving forward
• And momentum so strong you'll actually want to show up

Games are shipping with or without you - and once you see your team celebrating a launch with your name in the credits, you'll never want to go back to building alone. That's why people like you have shipped 230+ games here since 2015.

Yes, and you're covered two ways:

• Not the right fit within 30 days? Full refund, no questions asked.
• Join a game within 90 days, if it doesn't ship? Full refund through our Ship-a-Game Guarantee.

Either way, you keep every bonus, template, and resource.

You keep everything - bonuses, templates, resources, credits, all yours forever. Your shipped games stay on itch.io publicly, and can stay in your portfolio for as long as you'd like.

If you're having a great time and want to keep building and launching with teams, there's an optional ongoing membership. No pressure - but a lot of members stick around for years.

Games are running right now - pick which ones you want to work on when you join. We cap spots per enrollment period to keep teams small and the culture strong. If spots are open, jump in. They fill up fast.