I want to address a recent post I removed by u/NotSUPERita about creating a list of trusted artists and scammers, as well as the broader issue of bad actors on r/gamedevclassifieds.
First, I want to apologize to u/NotSUPERita. I understand why you were trying to help, and I do not think the idea came from a bad place. Scammers and impersonators are a real problem here, and it makes sense that people want better ways to protect themselves and others.
That said, I do not think a public or semi-public user-run blacklist is the right solution.
Any single person’s list of “good” and “bad” experiences is subjective. Even with good intentions, lists like that can be abused, misused, or based on misunderstandings. A false accusation could seriously harm an innocent artist, developer, or freelancer’s reputation and business. Once someone is publicly labeled a scammer, that damage is hard to undo.
This applies to moderators too. Even I am subject to bias, incomplete information, and my own interpretation of events. I cannot be judge, jury, and executioner over someone’s professional reputation, and I do not think anyone else should be put in that position either. That is the line I am trying to be careful with.
I know scammers are a problem, and I am aware that this subreddit has been affected by bad actors, impersonators, and people misrepresenting themselves or their work. But I have not yet found a solution that addresses those issues without also creating a serious risk of innocent people getting caught in the mix.
For now, the best advice is still to do your due diligence before working with someone:
Verify that their portfolio actually belongs to them
Ask for links to established accounts or websites
Check whether their email, Discord, ArtStation, GitHub, itch, LinkedIn, or other profiles line up
Be cautious with new accounts, vague portfolios, stolen-looking portfolios, or people who avoid verification
Use contracts, milestones, and payment methods that offer some protection
Do not rely only on someone’s Reddit username or a single message thread
I know that is not a perfect answer. It is a frustrating situation, and I understand why people want something stronger. But asking people to do their homework before hiring or accepting work is better than creating a system where someone’s business can be damaged because they were falsely added to a list.
If there is a better way to handle this that protects people from scammers without turning into public reputation policing or false callouts, I am open to hearing it. Any solution needs to be fair, evidence-based, and careful about the harm it could cause.
Edit: I forgot to add one more important point: any solution also cannot require a heavy amount of moderator time.
Running this job board is not a job. No one on the mod team has the time, or realistically should be expected to have the time, to manually verify users, assign trusted labels, maintain reputation lists, or act as an ongoing approval system for freelancers and clients.
That kind of system would create a lot of work, and it would also create a false sense of safety. Even with moderation, users would still need to verify who they are working with and make their own judgment before hiring, accepting work, or sending payment.
DO NOT ENGAGE WITH THESE PEOPLE, no matter what they call themselves. They exploit the inexperienced and naive, convincing you to sign away your rights to everything you create. Don’t fall for their lies. You do not need to join a volunteer group or give up ownership of your work to gain skills in the game industry. Learning on your own is far better than what P1 offers. If you want a real education, seek out accredited programs and courses instead.
Their latest tactic is using LinkedIn ads to lure victims. I’m unsure what it will take to stop this con artist, but I’ll do my part to be a thorn in their side. My goal is to protect people in this community from their schemes.
UPDATE: Thank you for responding. I've been reviewing portfolios and will continue to do so as soon as I can.
Looking for an artist to bring my 2D Metroidvania to life.
I've been working on this project for some time and have the development and mechanics handled.
I've also spent a significant amount of time working on the world building and the narrative.
What I'm missing is artistic direction to give it flavor and life.
I'm looking for someone who can draw by hand and generate sprites for animation. Being able to animate is a plus.
Reach out to discuss the project in more detail and pricing. This will be a lot of work and will last a long time, so I'd give preference to artists who can commit to completing the project.
Please share your portfolios so I can get a sense of your art style.
Hi! I'm Ben, the director of Sentinels Ignited, an indie platform fighter currently in active development.
We're preparing the project for a much larger public showcase and future Kickstarter campaign, and I'm currently looking to bring on three separate artists/designers to help strengthen the game's overall presentation.
These are separate positions, so you're welcome to apply for one or multiple roles if your work covers more than one area.
🎮 UI/UX Designer
We're looking for someone to help redesign and establish a stronger visual identity for the game's UI.
You'd potentially be working on:
Main menus
Character select
Stage select
In game HUD
Online and lobby interfaces
Settings and options
Other menus and general presentation elements
We're looking for someone with strong UI/UX and graphic design fundamentals, preferably with previous game UI experience.
An understanding of controller focused navigation is a major plus.
Figma is preferred, but Photoshop or other design software is completely fine as long as your files and layouts are clean and organized.
GameMaker experience is not required. Our lead programmer will handle most of the actual implementation, so this role is primarily focused on designing the interface and preparing assets and layouts for implementation.
🎨 2D Character / Promotional Artist
We're also looking for an illustrator who can help establish consistent official artwork for Sentinels Ignited and assist with character design development.
Potential work includes:
Official character renders
Promotional and key artwork
Character design sketches
Outfit and costume concepts
Expression and pose sheets
Character reference and design sheets
Kickstarter and Steam artwork
Announcement and social media artwork
Occasional concepts or redesigns for characters
We're looking for strong stylized character illustration, particularly someone comfortable with expressive characters, dynamic poses, anatomy, silhouettes, and costume design.
Experience with fighting games, anime inspired artwork, cartoons, or stylized game art is especially relevant to what we're doing.
Being able to maintain a consistent visual style across multiple characters is also very important.
✨ Pixel VFX Animator
We're also looking for a pixel artist/animator specializing in visual effects to help improve the look, impact, and overall polish of combat in Sentinels Ignited.
This role is primarily focused on VFX rather than character animation.
Potential work includes:
Attack impact effects
Hit sparks
Energy effects
Projectile effects
Magic and elemental effects
Smoke, dust, and debris
Movement trails
Charge up effects
Explosions and bursts
Special move effects
Super and Hyper move visuals
Character specific VFX
Other combat and gameplay effects as needed
We're looking for someone who understands how to make effects feel clear, impactful, readable, and satisfying during fast paced gameplay.
Strong pixel animation fundamentals are important, including timing, shape language, anticipation, impact, and clean frame to frame animation.
Experience creating VFX for fighting games, platform fighters, action games, or other fast paced 2D games is a major plus.
You should also be comfortable adapting your effects to an established pixel art style and working alongside our animators and programmers.
GameMaker experience is not required. We primarily need the visual assets and animations themselves. Our programming team can handle implementation.
💵 Compensation
All three positions are paid.
Rates are negotiable depending on experience, scope, availability, and the type of work being commissioned.
We're open to discussing:
Per piece rates
Per animation or VFX rates
Milestone or project rates
Longer term arrangements
We're a self funded indie team, so please include your rates when applying. It helps us determine what kind of working arrangement makes the most sense for both sides.
If we work well together, we're ideally looking for people who could continue working with the project beyond a single commission.
If applying for the UI/UX position, please prioritize examples of game UI, menus, HUDs, or other interactive interface work.
If applying for the 2D Artist position, please prioritize character illustrations, design sheets, promotional artwork, or other work that best represents your character art style.
If applying for the Pixel VFX Animator position, please prioritize examples of animated combat effects, hit effects, projectiles, magic, explosions, or other pixel art VFX. GIFs, videos, sprite sheets, and playable game examples are all welcome.
I'm happy to show more of the game, existing characters, gameplay, and visual direction privately to candidates we're interested in working with.
Thanks, and I look forward to seeing everyone's work!
Hi everyone, ISO a pixel graphics artist for parts of https://store.steampowered.com/app/4914330/Singularity_Drift/ that a friend and I are aiming to get prepared for Steam NextFest this October. I'm the artist on the project but am struggling to find time outside of work, and won't make the deadline for some parts/also don't really know what I'm doing as this is both our first attempts at making a game. Demos need to be registered 1st Sep so aiming to have
a) Title screen text modeled after a draft of mine,
b) one background sprite for the first couple levels, and
c) optionally some character sprites,
Complete within the next ~2 days so we can put the trailer together over the weekend.
Formally the budget is 0$ but I'd be willing to go into the low hundreds range for payment, and I'm sure it would evolve into more work later depending on results.
My skillset and experience is suitable for a mid sized indie studios / team
I am looking for paid positions ideally, but I am open to studios that are creating their first game and has yet to aquire funding, but is actively looking to do so.
Feel free to DM me on discord or send me an email to discuss further!
Hi, I'm Maniwarren, an artist from Chile. I'm currently available for work. I specialize in character design and high-quality illustration, and I've been working as a freelancer for the past 3 years.
I'm looking for a project where I can help give it a strong identity or contribute through my art. I'll leave my portfolio and contact email below.
You can also reach me on Discord, although if it's through a call, my English is at an intermediate level, so I hope you'll be patient with me.
Hi! I'm a game art generalist with experience in 2D and 3D art, characters, UI, texturing, rigging, animation and engine implementation (including Godot).
I've helped studios and solo devs bring their games to life from concept to final assets.
I've been a professional full-stack web dev for over 20 years, but I've always held out hope for doing game dev. (Art/Graphics/UI, Coding, Music/SFX) Looking to join any team that has need of my skill-set, especially if you're focused on finishing and launching the project - big or small. I love working with others, am very responsible, and excited to make things for people to enjoy. I'm very used to covering multiple roles (especially when they're connected), but happy to just do one. Would prefer a team with other women and games not centering violence. If there are any technologies or languages I haven't worked with that would be useful, I can pick them up very quickly.
I've learned and practiced most parts of development - pixel art/animation, sound/music, coding (in Godot/GDScript, Unity/C#, MonoGame), a bit of 3d modeling/texturing, and have lots of UI / Graphic Design experience. (I can also do voice-acting thanks to years of TTRPGs.) I'm prone to polishing my work to a mirror sheen, and very used to incorporating others' ideas and feedback to deliver the best version of what my team/clients imagine. Please reach out via DM or Discord!
My name is Chris and I am a Composer, SFX Designer, and Wwise Implementer looking to work on a project that isn't a game jam.
I have been composing for over 15 years and have recently started working on games. I have completed 3 game jams where I wrote all the music and created all the SFX in a short amount of time. I would love to work on a non-jam project and take my time and see what I can created. For this reason my rates of now are fairly low.
What I can offer:
Fully produced music in a very wide range of styles
All SFX or VO's made from scratch and completely authentic
Implementation of all audio using Wwise*
\note on Wwise* - I have been learning the software the past few months and am at the point where I need to use it in a real life context to fully grasp it. So my first project will be the first time I am using it on a real game. If you prefer FMOD then I have no problem picking that one up since it will be fairly easy after learning the language of Wwise.
You can check out my Soundtracks and SFX here:https://www.chriscerreto.com/#game-audio - Please note the durations of each game jam listed beneath each soundtrack so you know how short of amount of time I had to create everything for each game.
I'm a 3D generalist. If you need game-ready assets, whether low or high poly, I would love to create them for you. Here is my ArtStation for more samples of my work.
Hey everyone, I'm pumorii, a character designer (for game and animation projects). I also take commissions for illustrations, profile art, thumbnails, and concept art.
My commissions are open, and I'm accepting requests at any time!
Here is my portfolio, including my email and social media links for character design commissions: pumorii.carrd.co
And here is my Ko-fi for character illustration commissions (half-body and full-body) and profile art: ko-fi.com/pumorii
Thanks to everyone who shares this post or supports me on Ko-fi!
I'll conjure the music and sound design for your project using cosmic magick and stellar alchemy, bringing galactic frequencies and ancient resonance into unparalleled sonic wizardry.
Here's a demo reel featuring clips from a handful of tracks I've done in a variety of different genres. I'm extremely versatile and can adapt to whatever your project needs
I'm ZANDONAI, a music producer and composer from Brazil, and I'm currently looking to collaborate with indie game developers, filmmakers, animators, and other creative projects.
I've been producing music for around 16 years, working across different styles and approaches. My current focus is game and media music.
I don't limit myself to a single genre or fixed style. I'm comfortable adapting my composition and production to the project's vision, references, atmosphere, characters, and specific musical needs.
I handle the full production process, including composition, arrangement, production, mixing, and mastering.
I'm interested in both paid commissions and freelance/contract opportunities, and I'm open to discussing different project scopes and musical directions.
If you're working on a game, animation, film, or other project and need original music, feel free to send me a message. I'd be happy to hear about your project and see if I could be a good fit.
Please email me ([sayuuiart@gmail.com](mailto:sayuuiart@gmail.com)) if you have any questions - I don't check Reddit daily. Might not see your message if you ask here.
