You make games you like to play.
You lead from the front
You know why you make games: because there are games that you want to exist.You've made weekend jams or student games, attempted long-term projects solo until they fizzled out, or came out so rough that you don't feel proud promoting them.You're not giving up on the goal, but you can see that you're not going to get there alone.There's too much to do, using too many skills, to do it solo—especially when you have just an evening or two in a typical week to work on games. You're keeping the day job, because you're not sure if this is for art, fun, or business. But you're going to build your original games.It's hard to find local teammates with skills, or strangers online who follow through. Maybe you tried working with people who needed so much of your help that they slowed you down more than they sped up the project. If only someone else could train recruits, so you didn't have to.
10 reasons why our professionally-supported, remote game development community is the best way to build your original games:
Our model fits your busy life. We're asynchronous. Team updates are recorded video. We collaborate on Slack/Discord, Trello, and Github.
You can test the waters first through getting to know people by picking up any tasks you'd like on any of the current community projects.
You can spend more of your time on building instead of searching for people, because we bring collaborators in from around the globe.
We train new people in the basics and how to be better teammates. This increases how many people you can collaborate with easily.
When you're ready, you'll prototype and pitch the game you want to make. People have pitched within weeks of joining, but no rush.
There's a best process to do this, now used by hundreds of teams. You'll learn it directly from a guy who has been teaching it for 20 years.
If you're leading when a surprise prevents you from recording a weekly update, our support team will cover it to keep your game on track.
Our games are free, but you keep rights to your work. Reuse or sell parts you made. (Just not parts other people made. That's up to them.)
Even if you're having a slow or difficult week, you'll still find your game better the next time you come back to it, from friends chipping in.
Get help making proof-of-concept games to find what works, and at the same time you can test out working with potential future partners.
Bonus reason: If you have an unfinished prototype, a game jam you feel has potential, or solo project that fizzled before it finished, we've helped people adapt those into team projects in our community that we finished together and released only 3-6 months later.
Some people we helped make their original games
Everyone's path in HomeTeam is unique - no two projects are the same. People use the service like a digital gym to pick their projects, tasks, and included help to improve at what matters to them, at the pace they're comfortable.
"Coming from... game jams... I can't recommend it enough!"
"I've only been here a month, but I already love it! Coming from a background in game jams, working on projects at HomeTeam lets me take tasks that are outside of my comfort zone since there isn't as much time pressure. It's allowed me time to learn JavaScript and Godot while having a real project in front of me, and there are resources to help me if I do get stuck. I can't recommend it enough!"-Patrick Moffett
Project Lead for Cleansing Roots in HomeTeam Lighthouse, more recently led Alpine Asphalt (Unreal 5)
"stuck in tutorial hell for 5 years... with nothing to show"
"I am an aspiring game developer and I have been stuck in tutorial hell for 5 years. I have attempted projects on countless languages, engines and frameworks, but after initial excitement I would give up with nothing to show for my efforts... HomeTeam and the meetings with Chris have helped me develop the skills to tackle any project I want!"-Alex Joiner
Project Lead on GateKeeper, Game Changer in HomeTeam
"I had an idea for a game... it was intimidating to do myself"
"Everyone is nice and welcoming and helpful, and I never feel pressured to contribute if I'm busy with other life stuff. I had an idea for a game I wanted to make called Operation Sheep Herder before joining HomeTeam, but it was intimidating to do myself when I didn't have much time, and I hadn't worked on it for months due to feeling like I wouldn't be able to make much progress on it alone. After joining HomeTeam, I pitched OSH right away and am loving the experience of being a lead- it's so rewarding to see what others contribute! Seeing other people working on it also somehow helps me make time for it each week myself, and it's wonderful to see it moving forward again instead of being forgotten. My nephew is Operation Sheep Herder's biggest fan, and he couldn't be happier that we're working on it!"-Kelly Mark
Project Lead on Operation Sheep Herder in HomeTeam
(Kelly has since also joined HomeTeam's Support Team)
"I wish someone should make this... we've actually made it"
"This is a game that I've had in the back of my mind since I was a kid, thinking man, I wish someone would make this hockey game. Now we've actually made it. I really can't thank you all enough, everybody who participated in it and helped build it out week by week. We started with that really basic [prototype], turning it into this awesome piece that it is now that I'm so proud of... it's been a joy making the game."-Patrick J Thompson
Project lead for Bush League Hockey, Uppercut City, major contributor on Triune Legacy
"start working with groups... My learning has accelerated so much"
"I really love the idea of making games, and I'd made a few false attempts at it. The advice that I always got was you need to start working with groups, working with other people, collaborating on projects. I said that's great, but I don't know anybody who's doing anything like that. A couple months ago I heard about this, my learning has accelerated so much since then. I feel like I'm growing, I'm sharing, I'm a part of something bigger than myself."-Christopher McLaughlin
Project Lead on Blockological Society, contributor on 4 other games in HomeTeam
"larger scale projects I could never dream of doing on my own"
"I came from a background of developing solo projects. The games I am making in HomeTeam push me to make larger scale projects I could never dream of doing on my own. I no longer have to do everything alone. After being in the group for over a year and a half, I have been involved with 11 projects doing a variety of skills (some of which I am terrible at, but I wanted to practice). Whatever role you want to practice on a project, you can."-Cass Noble
Project Lead on 4 released games in HomeTeam
"gave me the skills and mental framework to work with a team"
"While I come from a technical background, HomeTeam GameDev gave me the skills and mental framework to work with a team in a collaborative, positive way. In particular, I came away with the ability to break a project down into features, split that work in a cooperative fashion, and not obsess about people working in 'my' code. This was essential in working with a partner with overlapping skills and set us up for a smooth, productive partnership.I recently finished a mid-size game project with a friend - Hot Hot Robot Hearts. We made the game in Unity as a project to expand our skills in programming, art, music, and design. We achieved those goals and even better... I think it's pretty fun! The reason we were able to take on a project of this scale is because of our time in HomeTeam GameDev."-Mike LeSauvage
Developer on Little Racers in HomeTeam Apollo group
"pitch and lead a game as soon as possible"
"I joined HomeTeam thinking it would be organized as a sort of indie studio with everyone being assigned tasks on projects proposed by more senior members. It's not at all how it works! The purpose is to work as a team to help each other finish games.I would actually recommend anyone joining to pitch and lead a game as soon as possible. You don't need much experience to do so and finishing the tutorial proposed by Chris will give you all the knowledge you need to get started.Leading a game in HomeTeam feels like taking a fast lane on your learning journey! You learn the most important skill of all: how to turn an idea into a finished game! Chris will help you along the way with planning, prioritizing and problem solving while other teammates help you realize your vision or enrich it with unexpected assets or features.The game will probably end up different from what you had imagined, but it will be better: it will be finished and released! The experience you will gain out of it is invaluable, and I cannot recommend it enough!"-Ian Cherabier
2X Project Lead, 12X quarterly consistent contributor (Game Changer)
Teammate on over a dozen released HomeTeam games
"Joining this community changed things drastically for me"
"I have been working at making games alone for several years. It always comes with issues: few games finished, focus on code but not practicing other skills much, not having enough time or mental energy to dare experiment with non-trivial ideas, low morale, difficulty setting deadlines and taking them seriously - always pushing them, because why notJoining this community changed things drastically for me: I worked on released games! You can play them! In less than a year I participated on 10 games. One is my design, and it's released! Working with positive, helpful and motivated people keeps me afloat on the morale side.The game I led was inspired by an old prototype, which I never had the energy to make something bigger from before. I'm not sure I would ever have made it."-Klaim (A. Joël Lamotte)
Project Lead for Hard Glitch and Radiant Laser Cross
"balance of artistic freedom and structure... inspires its members"
"[HomeTeam (at the time under an older name)] is a rare find that I feel lucky to be a part of... seamlessly manages to foster growth and creativity through making games without the pressures of a game jam or the impersonal nature of a casual dev meetup. There’s a balance of artistic freedom and structure that not only works, but inspires its members to go above and beyond... I gained an invaluable experience."-Leiah Fournier
Project Lead for Legends of the Outlands, Narrative Design for 2 other games
"before I knew it I was pitching and leading... I shipped a game!"
"I joined, contributed to a few projects, and before I knew it I was pitching and leading my own. I learned about the process of managing development from end to end, programming techniques to write readable code, and the inner workings of the Unity Engine. Thanks to HomeTeam, I can go around telling people that I shipped a game!"-Bjorn Talbot
Project Lead for Kensei in HomeTeam Apollo
"I can... take those skills back to personal projects"
"I made that classic mistake of doing a largish project on my own to begin. Even after scoping it down a ton it still took me years to complete a single level of a basic action platformer. After joining HomeTeam I have been able to be a part of completed projects of much higher complexity with much shorter development cycles (3-6 months on average). After spending a year working in teams I can much more easily take those skills back to personal projects and prototypes. That game that took me years I could easily remake in a week.Prior to HomeTeam I thought that I would be missing something by working with others. Perhaps some part of me thought it was lazy or that I would lose something by not having total control of a project. Working with diverse teams changed that thought process quickly. It was amazing to see how much could be done in such a short time with proper communication, organization and leadership.After about a year at HomeTeam I didn’t care to work alone much any more. All of my independent projects have been part of small teams. It sounds silly to say now but as long as you have the skills to work well with others you can create so much more.I feel ready to jump in with any group of people and be able to contribute to a project.If I had to do my game dev training all over again I would have started with HomeTeam and nothing else. The training and the context of doing everything via deliverable projects is so powerful that nothing has compared. I have nothing against all of the game development tutorials out there... What they cannot offer is customized training that can help you avoid months (or years) of moving in a direction that isn’t right for your goals."-Brian Nielsen
Project Lead for Operation Lifeline in HomeTeam Apollo group, 7 quarter contributor on a dozen games
Now the Lead Developer at Adroit Studios
"Helped me understand how things work in real life"
"As a solo learner and developer, the experience with HomeTeam GameDev has really been very helpful for me, especially in terms of learning how to collaborate with members & team leads and learning from them along the way. I especially like the office hours sessions that involves getting advice and guidance from experts from our group. Also, having the opportunity to lead a project and learn along the way really helped me get involved and learn through experience.During my college years we were only taught concepts, but we were not guided to build projects. The teaching approach of building projects helped me understand how things work in real life.Making mistakes is part of the journey. One of the things that Chris said is, 'You will not get better at a skill that you are not trying to use.'"-Rodrigo Bonzerr Lopez
3x Project Lead in HomeTeam Lighthouse group, consistent contributor for 9 quarters
Character illustration by Gabriel 'Adamastor' Da Mota. All other site content is © 2013-2024 Chris DeLeon for Brave Lighthouse LLC (previously Gamkedo LLC). Contact the founder Chris DeLeon via chris@HomeTeamGameDev.com Privacy Policy. All rights reserved.