Studios don't care where you studied. They want to see what you've shipped. Shipmates gives you a structured brief, a matched crew, and a verified playable game with your name on it — in 6 weeks, for less than a coffee a week.
No experience required. Just ambition, a skill, and a willingness to show up.
Every brief is scoped, time-boxed, and designed to produce something shippable.
Start as a Shipmate. Earn your way to Navigator.
For entry-level creatives who want to build their first real portfolio credits. The project is the product.
For junior-intermediates ready to charge for their work. Clients come to Shipmates to find vetted, proven talent.
Your Shipmates subscription includes access to the full library of every game ever built on the platform. A growing collection of original indie games — made entirely by your community, playable in your browser.
You need credits to get hired. You can't get credits without being hired. Universities give you theory. Upwork gives you rejection. Game jams give you chaos. We give you a structured brief, a real crew, and a shipped game — every single time.
Not grades. Not certificates. Not potential. A playable game with your name on it that a hiring manager can open in their browser right now. That's what gets you the interview. That's what Shipmates gives you.
$4/month. 7-day full refund if you're not convinced. Your founding rate locked forever. The price doubles after the first 100 members — there is no cheaper time to join than right now.
Shipmates was built by a creative worker who knows exactly how hard it is to get that first credit. Not a tech startup. Not a VC-backed platform trying to extract from creatives. A product built for the community it serves.
$4/month. 7-day full refund. Founding rate locked forever.
Five briefs open right now. Three roles each. Your crew is waiting.
Price goes to $9/month after the first 100 members. No exceptions.
Showing briefs with roles open for a 2D ArtistShow all
Deep in uncharted ocean trenches, life glows. Make players feel slow, mysterious movement through a bioluminescent world.
A crumbling medieval fortress. The last guardian has been asleep for a hundred years. The keep is now home to something else.
A short dungeon crawler set in a crumbling medieval fortress. 2D Artist and Composer roles both open.
Deep in uncharted ocean trenches, life glows. Make players feel what it's like to move through that world — slow, mysterious, alive with colour in the dark.
Deep in uncharted ocean trenches, life glows. Your job is to make players feel what it's like to move through that world — slow, mysterious, alive with colour in the dark.
This brief asks for a short vertical slice: one environment, one character, one loop of gameplay. The deliverable is not a full game — it's a mood, a feeling, a few minutes that make someone want more.
The best submissions will prioritise atmosphere over complexity. A platformer that feels right beats one that has more features. Trust the brief.
Abzû · Ori and the Blind Forest · Journey — deep blues, glowing teals, warm bioluminescent accents. Slow movement. The world feels alive without being threatening.
Pixel art and concept illustration for games. Final year at RMIT — looking to ship as much real work as possible before I graduate.
Atmospheric 2D platformer set in a bioluminescent ocean. Responsible for all in-game sprites, background tiles, UI elements, and the animated title screen.
Top-down survival RPG. Handled environment design, character sprites, and all animated FX.
Join with your favourite service or use email.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Choose your primary discipline. You can add a secondary one after signup.
Select up to 8. You can update these any time.
You're one of the first 100 Shipmates. Your rate is locked in at $4/month — forever. Cancel before trial ends, no charge.
You're now a Shipmate. Here's a brief that suits a 2D Artist — your crew is waiting.
Be one of the first to join.
No crew members yet — but five briefs are open and waiting. Join now and your profile will be the first one here.
Every month the community votes on the best submission for each brief. These are the crews that shipped something extraordinary.
A bioluminescent ocean platformer that made the community feel something. Shipped in 5 weeks.
All in-game sprites, animated title screen, background parallax layers, and bioluminescent particle effects.
Entire Unity codebase — player movement, water physics, audio integration, and the HTML5 export. Runs at 60fps.
2-minute evolving ambient loop and 6 custom SFX. The discovery chime became the game's signature moment.
Join a brief, find your crew, and ship something the community can vote on.
You're 3 weeks into Echoes of the Deep — your crew is waiting on sprite assets. You've got this.
Atmospheric 2D platformer set in a bioluminescent ocean world.
Complete 5 Shipmate projects to unlock Navigator and start charging for your work.
Price goes to $9 after the first 100 members. Lock in your founding rate now and keep it forever — even if we raise prices 10 years from now.
No spam. One email when signups open. That's it.
We'll email you the moment Shipmates opens for signups. Your founding rate is reserved — $4/month, locked forever.
Getting into games is hard in a specific, unfair way. Shipmates exists to fix that — one shipped project at a time.
If you want to work in games — as a developer, an artist, a composer, a sound designer — studios want to see what you've shipped. Not your grades. Not your degree certificate. Shipped work. Playable, verifiable, real.
But here's the catch: to ship your first game, you need a team. And to find a team, you need experience. And to get experience, you need to have shipped a game.
It's a loop that keeps talented people out of an industry they're capable of contributing to. Universities teach you the theory but rarely give you the credits. Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr reward established workers, not newcomers. Game jams help but they're chaotic — the output is rarely polished enough to show a studio with confidence.
Shipmates breaks the loop.
We publish short, carefully written game briefs — scoped projects with clear deliverables, a creative direction, and a 4–8 week timeline. A developer, a 2D artist, and a composer each claim a role on the brief. They build together. They ship a real, playable HTML5 game.
That game lives permanently on their Shipmates profile. It's verified. It's playable by anyone in the community. It's a real credit — the kind that actually moves the needle at interview.
Every month, the community votes on the best submission for each brief. The winning crew gets featured in the monthly showcase — a shareable, credible moment of recognition that's worth putting in a cover letter.
We believe the creative industries need a new kind of platform. One that's built for the people trying to break in, not the people who are already established. One where the product is progression, not transactions. One where a $9 subscription feels like it's funding a community — not extracting from one.
Shipmates is a curated itch.io meets LinkedIn for creative workers. We're not trying to be Upwork. We're not trying to be a job board. We're trying to be the place where the first shipped credit happens — and everything that comes after.
Shipmates are entry-level and junior creatives building their first portfolio credits. For $9/month (or $4 for founding members) they get access to all open briefs, a permanent hosted portfolio, and a path toward the next tier.
Navigators are earned, not bought. Complete five successful Shipmate projects, collect strong peer reviews, and you can apply to become a Navigator — unlocking the ability to charge for your work and appear in the client-facing talent directory. The progression is built into the platform from day one.
A shipped playable game on your profile says more than any grade. We're obsessed with making the output credible and verifiable.
The platform is designed around your growth — from first credit to Navigator status to a career. Not just a marketplace.
We write briefs carefully. We scope projects deliberately. We'd rather have five excellent briefs than fifty mediocre ones.
The subscription funds the platform. Not advertising, not data, not promoted listings that crowd out the people who can't pay extra.
Five briefs are open. Three roles each. Your crew is waiting.
Shipmates is an online platform that connects junior creative workers — including game developers, artists, composers and sound designers — to collaborate on structured project briefs and build portfolio work. By creating an account or using shipmates.gg, you agree to be bound by these Terms.
You must be at least 18 years old to use the Platform. By creating an account, you confirm that you are 18 or older.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information when creating your account.
Shipmate tier. Provides access to open briefs, a hosted portfolio profile, the game library, and community features. Charged monthly as displayed at signup.
Founding Member rate. Members who subscribe during the founding period lock in a permanently reduced rate. This rate is non-transferable and only applies while the subscription remains active — it is forfeited upon cancellation.
Navigator tier. Earned through completing a minimum number of successful Shipmate projects and meeting quality criteria set by Shipmates. Not purchased. Criteria may be updated with reasonable notice.
Payments are processed securely through Stripe. By subscribing, you authorise recurring monthly charges until you cancel.
You own your work. Always. All creative work you produce on the Platform remains your intellectual property. Shipmates claims no ownership over any work created by members.
By uploading work to the Platform, you grant Shipmates a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display and host your work for the purpose of operating the Platform. This licence ends when you request removal of your work.
You confirm that any work you upload is your own original work, or that you have the rights to use all components of it. You are solely responsible for ensuring you do not infringe the intellectual property rights of others.
If you cancel, your profile is deactivated but your work is not deleted. You may request full removal at any time by contacting us — we will action it within 30 days.
Briefs are written by Shipmates and represent suggested creative directions only. By claiming a role, you commit to making a genuine effort to complete your deliverables. Shipmates is not responsible for the conduct of other members during collaboration. Disputes between members must be resolved between those members directly.
All commercial arrangements between Navigator members and clients are made directly between those parties. Shipmates is not a party to any such arrangement and accepts no liability for disputes, non-payment, or other issues arising from them. Shipmates takes no commission from Navigator engagements at this time.
You agree not to: use the Platform for any unlawful purpose; upload content that infringes third-party IP rights; harass or threaten other members; create fake profiles; circumvent the subscription system; upload malicious code; or solicit members to move projects off-platform to avoid Platform policies. Violations may result in immediate account termination without refund.
The Platform is provided "as is". To the maximum extent permitted by Australian law, Shipmates will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages. Our total liability for any claim will not exceed the total amount you have paid to Shipmates in the 12 months prior to the claim.
These Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. Any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales.
Questions about these Terms: [EMAIL ADDRESS]
Shipmates is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, store and share your personal information. We comply with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Information you give us: name, email, discipline, tools, bio, portfolio links, uploaded work, resume (optional), payment information (processed by Stripe — we never see your full card details).
Automatically collected: IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and referring URLs.
From third parties: if you sign up with Google or Discord, we receive basic profile information as permitted by your settings with those services.
To create and manage your account; process payments; display your profile to other members; match you with relevant briefs; send transactional and platform update emails; improve the Platform; and comply with legal obligations.
We will never sell your personal information to third parties.
Stripe — payment processing. Your card details go directly to Stripe. We do not store them.
Email providers — your name and email are shared with our email platform (e.g. Mailchimp/Beehiiv) for the purpose of sending emails only.
Legal requirements — we may disclose information if required by law.
You have the right to: access your personal data; request correction of inaccurate data; request deletion of your data (actioned within 30 days); receive your data in a portable format; and unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [EMAIL ADDRESS]. We will respond within 30 days.
Australian users may also contact the OAIC at oaic.gov.au. EU users may contact their local data protection authority.
We use industry-standard encryption and security practices. We retain your data for as long as your account is active or as required by law. On account deletion, personal data is removed within 30 days.
The Platform is not for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from minors.
We may update this policy and will notify you of material changes by email or platform notice.
Privacy questions: [EMAIL ADDRESS]
You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. There are no cancellation fees. Your subscription remains active until the end of your current billing period, after which your profile will be deactivated (not deleted).
You will not be charged during your free trial period. If you do not cancel before the trial ends, your subscription begins automatically. Cancel any time before the trial ends at no charge.
7-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not satisfied within the first 7 days of your first paid period, contact us and we'll issue a full refund. No questions asked.
After the first 7 days of a paid subscription period, we do not offer refunds for that period. We will consider exceptions for technical issues on our side that prevented access, or billing errors.
To request a refund, contact [EMAIL ADDRESS] with your account email and reason. We respond within 5 business days.
The founding member rate is locked to your account permanently while your subscription remains active. If you cancel, the founding rate is forfeited and the standard rate applies on resubscription.
We reserve the right to change subscription pricing with at least 30 days' notice. Founding member rates are exempt from price increases.
Billing questions: [EMAIL ADDRESS]