How to find game programming and game design work
If you code or design games, indie work gets posted in a handful of places: the job and collaboration sections of the official Unity and Unreal Engine forums, the GameMaker Community's Collaboration board, r/gameDevClassifieds for paid gigs, r/INAT for rev share and hobby teams, Work With Indies for indie studio jobs, itch.io game jams, and IndieGuild. Which one fits depends on your engine and on whether you want paid work, a team or your first credit.
I founded IndieGuild, so keep that in mind when I talk about it. This page is just for programmers and game designers. If you want the version that covers every craft, my guide to finding work as an indie game developer is the overview.
- Work in Unity, Unreal or GameMaker? Start with your engine's official forum, where every post is already in your engine.
- Want paid gigs? Watch the PAID posts on r/gameDevClassifieds and the Programming and Design categories on Work With Indies.
- Happy with rev share or hobby? r/INAT and itch.io jam team boards are where those teams form.
- Lead with something playable. A build that runs in a browser beats a résumé, for programmers and designers alike.
- Let devs come to you. Make a free IndieGuild profile with your builds and code, and roles that fit you land in your inbox.
| Where | Better pick when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| IndieGuild | You want indie devs to find you by role, engine and genre, and roles that fit you sent to your inbox, for free. | It's new, so there are fewer roles than on the big boards. |
| Unity Discussions | You work in Unity and want paid job offers, for-hire threads and unpaid team projects in one category. | The pinned rules ask you to keep rates out of your post, and you reply to posts by private message. |
| Unreal Engine forums | You work in Unreal and like posts that put the pay type right in the title. | Lots of royalty and unpaid posts, plus some for UEFN or archviz rather than indie games. |
| GameMaker and Godot forums | You work in GameMaker or Godot and want a smaller crowd that already uses your engine. | Quiet boards, and Godot's official forum has no jobs section yet. |
| r/gameDevClassifieds | You want paid gigs and can filter by the Programmer or Game / Level Designer flair. | Lots of people posting [FOR HIRE], and you need to watch for scams. |
| r/INAT | You'll do rev share or hobby work to build credits or join a team. | Lots of projects there never finish. |
| Work With Indies | You want a contract or staff role at an indie studio, in its Programming or Design category. | A lot of the roles are senior, so it's a better fit once you've shipped something. |
| itch.io jams | You need a finished game and a credit fast, and want to meet people by building together. | Jam teams are short-term and usually unpaid. |
Start with your engine's forum
A dev hiring a programmer needs someone who knows their engine, so engine forums are a natural place to start. Here's what each one has right now.
Unity
Unity Discussions has a Collaboration & Jobs category for paid job offers, for-hire posts and unpaid team projects, with tags like Programmer, Game-Designer and Level-Designer. The pinned Job Offering rules say paid job posts need a guaranteed, known-value payment, and anything paid only from future sales belongs in non-commercial collaboration instead. So if you want paid work, the job offers are the posts to read.
Before you post your own thread, read the Job Seeking rules. They ask for your positions, CV, portfolio and a way to contact you, but no prices or rates in the post. Only the person who started a thread can reply in it, so you reach out by private Conversation or whatever contact the poster lists.
Unreal Engine
The Unreal Engine forums have a section called Got Skills? Looking for Talent? with two boards: Job Offerings and Looking For Work. The pinned Recruitment Template asks posters to start the title with the pay type: [PAID], [CONTRACT], [ROYALTY] or [UNPAID]. It also says crowdfunding doesn't count as [PAID] until the campaign has actually funded. Read the prefix before you read anything else.
For your own post, the Looking For Work template starts the title with [LFW], then your name and skill, and treats a portfolio link as required. Some posts there are for UEFN islands, archviz or film work, so check it's a game if that's what you want.
GameMaker
The GameMaker Community forum has a Collaboration board, described as "Portfolios, team building and job offers." It's moderated, so read the forum guidelines first. It's a quieter board, but everyone there already works in GameMaker.
Godot
Godot's official forum doesn't have a jobs section right now. A Godot team member said in this forum thread in October 2026 that a job board is still something they want, after the asset store work. Until then, Godot Forums, a community-run forum that Godot lists on its community page, has a Professional Trade tag for Godot gigs and for-hire threads. It's quiet, so pair it with Reddit, where plenty of posts name Godot too.
Reddit, Work With Indies and jams, for code and design
Here's how to use these as a programmer or designer.
- r/gameDevClassifieds. Posts are flaired by type and role, like PAID - Programmer, PAID - Game / Level Designer, and the FOR HIRE versions of those. There are a lot more [FOR HIRE] posts than [PAID] ones, so reply quickly to paid posts with one build that fits their game, and make your own post specific: engine, language, systems you've built and a playable link.
- r/INAT. Teams post under Programmers Needed and Designer Needed, and you can post under Programming Offer or Design Offer. Titles usually say [RevShare] or [Hobby] up front. Programmers Needed is one of the busiest flairs there, so pick teams that already have a playable build.
- Work With Indies. It has its own Programming and Design categories, with roles like gameplay, multiplayer and tools programmers, technical designers, level designers, systems designers and UI/UX designers. Treat it like a real job hunt: a tailored portfolio and a short, specific application.
- itch.io jams. For a programmer, a jam proves you can finish. For a designer, it's the fastest way to have a playable game where the design is clearly yours. On IndieGuild, tap "I'm in" on a jam with Jam Crew so teams can find you.
What a programmer's portfolio should show
A dev hiring a programmer wants to know one thing: can this person build what my game needs, in my engine, and finish it? Show that fast.
- Playable builds first. itch.io lets you upload HTML5 games that play right in the browser, which is a lot easier to click than a download.
- Short clips of the mechanics you built. A ten-second GIF of your grappling hook or inventory UI does more than a paragraph about it.
- One or two clean repos on GitHub. Pin your best, each with a README that says what it is, the engine and version, and which parts you wrote. Two tidy projects beat dozens of tutorial follow-alongs.
- Name the systems. "Save and load, enemy AI, dialogue system, local co-op" tells a dev exactly where you fit.
- Engine and language up front. Unity and C#, Godot and GDScript, Unreal with C++ or Blueprints. It's the first thing I'd check as a dev.
- Work under NDA? Say what you built and what shipped, and show a small sample you wrote on your own time instead.
Tip: Call out specialist skills like multiplayer, porting, tools and shaders loud and clear. A dev who needs one is looking for exactly that.
What a game designer's portfolio should show
Design is harder to show than code or art, because the good stuff is in how a game feels. So make it playable, then explain your thinking.
- Small playable prototypes. Each one showing a single idea: a movement feel, a puzzle rule, a combat loop. Three tiny finished prototypes beat one big unfinished game.
- A short design doc for one feature. One to three pages: the goal, the rules, the numbers, how you tested it, and what you changed after playtesting. Devs want to see how you think, not a giant design bible.
- Level design. A top-down map, greybox screenshots and a playthrough video with notes on flow, pacing and how the level teaches the player. Before and after shots from playtesting really help.
- Systems and balance. A spreadsheet for an economy, a loot table or a difficulty curve, with a few lines on why the numbers are what they are.
- Say which kind of designer you are. Systems, level, narrative or UX. "Game designer" alone is too broad for a small team to picture.
- Mods and custom maps count. A level you built in an existing game's editor is real level design.
Narrative designers often sit closer to writing, so my guide to finding game writing work may fit you better.
How to climb from jams to studio work
The usual path is jams, then small paid tasks, then a bigger indie contract, then a studio role. Studio roles often ask for shipped games, so every finished project moves you up.
- Take small, clear paid jobs early. One bug fix, one feature, one level. Doing a small job well is how the bigger follow-up job happens.
- Be the teammate who sends updates. Someone who replies, asks questions and pushes their work often gets hired again.
- Pitch devs whose game you actually like. My guide to pitching a game dev has a first message you can adapt.
- Put your rates or pay type up front. I don't have a pricing guide for code or design yet, so I won't guess numbers here. A starting rate, or "paid only" or "open to rev share," saves everyone a round of messages. On IndieGuild, roles can show a USD budget, so you can see what a dev has in mind before you reply.
Red flags
- "Idea guy" posts where someone has only the idea and wants you to build the whole game for a share.
- A free "test" that's really a full feature. A small paid test is normal. Building their combat system for free isn't.
- No written deal on the code or design work. Get pay, credit, who owns the work and what happens if someone leaves in writing, even on rev share.
- "Paid" that depends on a publisher or a Kickstarter. Ask whether the money exists today.
- Being asked to pay to apply, or to run an unknown file before any deal is agreed.
- NFT, blockchain or crypto-token projects. IndieGuild doesn't allow those roles at all.
Programmers and designers on IndieGuild
On IndieGuild, programmers and game designers share one craft, so a dev looking for either one can find you. Pick Programmer / designer when you make your profile, put your builds and code right on the page, and list your roles, engines and genres. Devs browse you on the programmers and designers page, and roles that fit you land in your inbox. Every role on the Job board says up front whether it's paid, rev share, either, hobby or not sure yet, and you can tag "Rev share OK" or "Hobby projects OK" yourself. It's free, I don't take a cut, and nobody can pay to be seen first.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find game programming work for indie games?
Start with your engine's official forum: the Collaboration and Jobs category on Unity Discussions, the Got Skills? Looking for Talent? section of the Unreal Engine forums, or the Collaboration board on the GameMaker Community forum. Then watch PAID posts on r/gameDevClassifieds, rev share and hobby teams on r/INAT, the Programming category on Work With Indies, itch.io game jams, and roles on IndieGuild's Job board.
Where can I find game design work?
Mostly in the same places, filtered for design: the Design category on Work With Indies, posts flaired PAID - Game / Level Designer on r/gameDevClassifieds, Designer Needed posts on r/INAT, the Game-Designer and Level-Designer tags on Unity Discussions, and itch.io game jams. Lead with small playable prototypes, because they show your design thinking faster than a document does.
How do I get game programming or design work with no experience?
Join a few game jams so you have finished, playable games to show. Put the builds on itch.io and your code on GitHub, make a free profile on IndieGuild, and answer small paid posts like a bug fix or one feature. Every finished project makes the next one easier to land.
What should a game programmer's portfolio include?
Playable builds first, ideally ones that run in a browser, plus short clips of the mechanics you built. Add one or two clean GitHub repos with a README that says what the project is, the engine and version, and which parts you wrote.
What should a game design portfolio include?
Small playable prototypes that each show one idea, a short design doc for one feature with what changed after playtesting, and for level design, maps or greybox shots and a playthrough video with notes on flow and pacing. Say which kind of designer you are: systems, level, narrative or UX.
Is IndieGuild free for programmers and game designers?
Yes. Making a profile is free, and I don't take a cut of your gigs. You and the dev agree on pay and rights directly.
Let devs find you
Make a free profile with your builds, code, engines and rates, and say what you're open to (paid, rev share or hobby). When a dev posts a programming or design role that fits you, you get it in your inbox. It's free, and I don't take a cut of your gigs.
Make my profileMore guides
- How to find work as an indie game developer
- How to pitch a game dev (for creators)
- How to find game writing work
- How to find game art work
- How to find a programmer for your indie game
- How to find a game designer for your indie game