This repo contains files and examples to help you build game-inspired voxel art.
Close your eyes and think back to your childhood. Can you remember the games you loved to play after a long day at school? We wanted to make it easy for you to bring some of those childhood memories back to life (or at least to 3D), so we created this repo.
At Akamai, we deliver content for some of the world's biggest game companies, influencing millions of players' lives daily. We love gaming on our team and have always been inspired by the new ideas, stories, and tech that comes from games. And we know that a lot of you feel the same way.
We commissioned Zach Soares, a voxel art teacher and designer, to create a set of game-themed templates and building blocks. In this repo, you’ll find voxel templates, example artwork, and some tips from Zach to help you get started.
Our developer community constantly inspires us by sharing interesting, funny, and useful projects. So, in the hopes of giving back, we’ll be adding new building blocks and examples to this repo to inspire artwork that brings back that familiar nostalgia of early games.
If you create something awesome that you’d like to share, send it over to us on Twitter!
This GitHub repo contains all the files you need to build your own retro game-inspired voxel art. We’ll be providing the template and adding new examples each week that you can use as building blocks or inspiration. All you need to do is star and follow this repo to get updates as we release new scenes.
- Star and follow this repo to get notified when we release new scenes that you can use to build your own artwork, or just for inspiration.
- Download the template file here(models folder in this repo) and open it in your favorite voxel editor. If you’re new to voxel art, we suggest using MagicaVoxel, a free voxel editor, but there are other great options out there.
- Model your retro game-inspired scene inside of the monitor. You can use the area inside of the monitor or expand outside of its borders. Try to take advantage of the 3D space. Need inspiration? We wrote out some tips to use the models.
- Export a rendering of your scene and share it on Twitter using the following hashtags so we can see what you’ve created and share with our community: @akamaidev #inspiringgamescenes
Want some tips on how to get the most from these files? Zach Soares put together a tips to using the models guide.
Build a game scene that inspires you to life using our desktop template(models folder in this repo).
We partnered with MagicaVoxel, a free open-source voxel editor, to help us ramp up for an upcoming game jam that we’re huge fans of: Ludum Dare.
Ludum Dare brings gamers, developers, and artists together to create a game over one weekend. It’s all about exploring new game concepts, putting your twist on game art and animations, and inspiring others with your creativity.
In honor of Ludum Dare 51, we are hosting our own voxel game art contest. We invite you to build and share retro game-inspired scenes using our desktop template (pictured above) and examples that we’ll be adding each week from Zach Soares. Below, you’ll find the rules for a chance to win a Razer laptop, gaming chair, monitor, and more.
Star and follow our repo to stay up to date on new downloadable voxel art each week. We’ll be adding new building blocks and examples for you to utilize.
We can’t wait to see what you create!
Submission Requirements
- Star Akamai-Communtity/ inspiring-game-scenes repo
- Follow @akamaidev on Twitter
- Tweet your high resolution image and mention @akamaidev. Include a short description of what you made and add the hashtags: #gamescenecontest #LDJAM
- Fill out our form to submit your artwork. We’ll only save your information until we send out prizes.
Important dates:
- Submissions open: August 8th, at 00:00pm PST
- Submissions close: August 29th, at 23:59pm PST
- Voting: August 30th - September 2nd
- Winners announced: September 7th
Things to keep in mind to qualify:
- Your entry must be unique to you. Claiming others’ art will disqualify your entry.
- Entries with sexual, homophobic, racist, and other inappropriate references will be disqualified.
- This contest is open to residents of the United States, Canada except for the Province of Quebec, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Australia who are at least 18 years old at the time of entry.
All entries will be chosen by Zach Soares and team for the following categories:
- Use of Space and Template
- Originality (Extra Kudos for Original Characters)
- Composition Balance
- Wow Factor
1st Place:
- Razer Blade Pro 17 Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i7 - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER - 300hz Refresh Rate - 512GB SSD - Black
- A Voxel Poster signed by Zach Soares
- A Desk Pad featuring Zach’s artwork (12” x 24”)
2nd Place:
- Razer Raptor 27” 165Hz Monitor
- Razer Black Widow V3 Keyboard
- A Voxel Poster signed by Zach Soares
- A Desk Pad featuring Zach’s artwork (12” x 24”)
3rd Place:
- Razer Iskur Gaming Chair - Black / Green
- A Voxel Poster signed by Zach Soares
- A Desk Pad featuring Zach’s artwork (12” x 24”)
Finalists: Five winners chosen by Zach Soares and team
- Zach Soares’ Voxel Character Design course
- A Voxel Poster signed by Zach Soares
- A Desk Pad featuring Zach’s artwork (12” x 24”)
- A Razer DeathAdder Mouse
Participants: Anyone who submits a valid submission
- A Mousepad featuring Zach’s artwork
Have Questions? DM us on Twitter @akamaidev