The End of Project Forge 2026

This past quarter, we had the honor of running Project Forge for the very first time. For the final blog post of winter 2026, we wanted to put some spotlight on a couple of games made during its duration!

We at VGDC just wrapped up our first season of the newly introduced Project Forge! A total of ten teams were given just six weeks to develop a game, each one led by the originator of their game's idea.

Before we look to the future, it's important to take a step back and admire what everyone was able to accomplish. Let's take a look at a couple of currently public games developed for Project Forge!

The title screen for SPINLOCK.

Known before as Speedrunner Roguelike, SPINLOCK is a fast-paced platformer with an emphasis on replay value. Featuring a randomly generated map and assortment of abilities that augment your movement options, this game's a sure hit for anyone who enjoys the genre!

A snippet of SPINLOCK's gameplay.

Led by Jacky Mei, the team was able to put together a game that feels great to control! While the game's Itch.io page notes only partial controller support, the experience just feels at home playing with one in your hands.

Notably, the team behind SPINLOCK announced at Project Forge Showcase that they plan to continue development with the ultimate goal of a Steam release—if you enjoy games like Celeste or Super Meat Boy, we strongly recommend this one!

The title screen for A Good Day.

A Good Day is a 2D microgame collection, inspired by Nintendo's WarioWare franchise! Like its inspiration, microgames are played in quick succession of one another—mess up three times, though, and you'll get a game over.

One of A Good Day's microgames.

This team was led by…yours truly! I'm really glad that I decided to pitch! Not only did I get paired with an enthusiastic and talented team, but I'm incredibly happy with how the game turned out.

I think the game's strengths are its diverse set of microgames, its pixel art pastel aesthetic, and impeccable sound design. One of my personal favorite parts is its opening cutscene; I won't spoil anything, but that cinematic element really elevates the experience.

If you're reading this on your phone, A Good Day is also compatible with mobile devices—try it out and let us know your score!

The home page for Doodle Derby.

Doodle Derby is VGDC's first ever solely web based game! Most projects instead opting to go for a web build in a preestablished game engine, the game's team lead, Allie Atkinson, thought it a better fit to be played straight in the browser.

A couple of doodlers doodlin' it.

Inspired by Allie's love for social drawing games like Gartic Phone and Skribbl.io, Doodle Derby takes player submitted prompts, presents them to those selected to be artists, and has everyone not drawing guess what the prompt they received was.

Outside of the main gameplay, the game has a silly presentation that makes it stand out amongst the crowd—if you enjoy these types of social drawing games, please give Doodle Derby a try!

Now that Forge is over, you might be wondering what comes next. The answer? Our most pre-professional project yet.

The steam page for Mariposa.

TCP seeks to simulate the experience of working on a project in the game development industry. It revolves around a singular team, working together to develop one game. This spring, we'll be running the third iteration of this project.

This fall, we were very proud to give Mariposa, the previous iteration of TCP, a Steam release. For more information on the project, please keep an eye on our Discord server for further communications!

Thank you to everybody who participated in Forge this quarter! It was an honor to see the gradual development of all of your games. I would also like to extend my thanks to everyone who allowed us to write about their games; we're always happy to provide that additional support after our projects end. As always, thank you for reading!