| URL | GameDev.net |
|---|---|
| Slogan | "all your game development needs" |
| Type of site | game development portal |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | GameDev.net, LLC |
| Created by | Dave Astle, Kevin Hawkins, John Munsch, Don Thorp, and Michael Tanczos |
| Launched | 1999 June[1] |
| Alexa rank | 14,939 (January 2012[update])[2] |
| Current status | Online |
GameDev.net is a website dedicated to game development, founded by Kevin Hawkins, Dave Astle, and Michael Tanczos among others, in 1999. It serves as a central trade resource and media outlet for the computer and video game industry, with particular regards to hobbyist and independent developers. The site features daily news, articles, forums, job listings, product reviews, book reviews, contests, and regular columns. The site contains many tutorials for hobbyists and professionals alike with a noticeable focus on computer programming. GameDev.net is visited by a variety of people, including both professionals and hobbyists, and has a highly active user base. Previous site wide polls indicate that the site's demographics are predominately male, with roughly 44.5% of its user base being under 21, and 44.1% of its user base in the 22-30 range. The site also has a popular forum which boasts advanced topics ranging from artificial intelligence and DirectX programming to the off-topic lounge.
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GameDev.net hosts a well known annual competition known as the "4 Elements" contest, which typically starts September of each year and lasts 6 months. It is a sponsored game development competition that requires the contenders to create a game based on 4 elements (revealed before the start of the competition). The contest was originally created around the classical elements, although the focus of the contest has since shifted to random and seemingly unrelated elements to encourage innovations in game play rather than graphics.
GameDev.net offers a number of services to paying members, under the brand name GDNet+. Among the offered services are developer journals, web hosting, and the GDNet Showcase, a service for hosting downloadable games created by members.
Beyond itself, GameDev.net also hosts a number of other game development sites. The most popular of the hosted sites are NeHe, a comprehensive, but outdated suite of OpenGL tutorials originally written by Jeff "NeHe" Molofee, and NeXe, a wiki-based website on DirectX containing various tutorials and other information. Also hosted is the Game Development Wiki (formerly the Game Programming Wiki).