Beamable Gift Guide: Our Top 10 Picks for 2021

Beamable Gift Guide: Our Top 10 Picks for 2021

Looking for that perfect gift for your fellow game creator? Wondering what tools you might need to start creating games? We asked our co-workers here at Beamable what’s on their list this year. Below are our top 10 picks for gifts this holiday season. 1.) Blood, Sweat, and Pixel: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made. by Jason Schreier $12.99 USD

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Its always important to have an understanding of the world you want to work in before getting hands on with creating. One of our workers here at Beamble suggested this book to allow for people to get an inside look at the highs and lows of game creation.

2.) Aeron Chair $1,645.00 USD

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While our next item is expensive, it’s for good reason. A worker here at Beamable explains their recommendation: “ Game Makers, and everyone whose work includes a lot of siting at computers, will get a lot of comfort ( and possibly healthier sitting!) from a really good chair. The Herman Miller Aeron is super expensive, yes, but you can often find discounts and perfectly good refurbished units. Would you rather have a really good $1500 chair for 20 years, or ten merely adequate $150 chairs that you need to replace every couple of years?”

 

3.) Makey Makey $49.95 USD

 

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Looking to use Bananas as controllers for your next game? Now you can with Makey Makey! Try out new ways of learning the mechanics and circuits of controls with video games. 4.) Pico-8 $14.99 USD

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Meet Pico-8! This downloadable fantasy console allows for you to create small games in an 8-bit style. 5.) A Rubber Duck $2.24 USD

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Yes, we’re serious. This Rubber Duck is not all its QUACK-ed up to be. The Beamable worker that recommended this explains the mythical powers of the duck: “ When you’ve been staring at the same block of code for hours and hours, sometimes you just need to explain the problem to a friendly duck. The duck will know what to do.” We like to call this rubber duck debugging 6.) Camtasia $299.99 USD

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Already have a fantastic game? Looking to show off gameplay or make an epic trailer? Camtasia, although on the pricier end of our list, allows for creators to easily create content to promote their games. 7.) Playdate $179.00 USD

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Playdate is currently on pre-order, and would be a great gift for a gamer with a nostalgic mind. Playdate allows for any game-dev to create games for their Playdate and play games created  by other owners of a Playdate. 8.) Elgato Stream Deck XL– $249.99

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Looking for new ways to amp up your setup? Whether you stream or not, a stream deck can help you easily create projects in an organized fashion 9.) SwissGear Laptop – $89.99 USD

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The worker that recommended this item explains that “A sturdy backpack with plenty of room for a laptop, books, mobile devices, cables, and peripherals is essential if you are making games on the go. SwissGear makes really solid bags that are comfy to wear and carry.” 10.) Another Castle: Enjoying the Journey – $0.00 with audible sign up/ $9.99 paperback

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Our last item on this list is created by our very own Josh Schmidt! In Josh’s book, Another Castle, he outlines his personal journey into working in the games industry and the importance of enjoying both the highs and the lows. Josh’s book is available for free when signing up with Audible, and is $9.99 when purchasing paperback from Amazon. We hope you’ve enjoyed the roundup of our top 10 gift ideas for this holiday season. For more ideas take a look at last year’s round-up here: https://www.beamable.com/blog/beamable-gift-guide-for-game-makers-2020