Sources & exclusions — Indie Dev Opportunities, verified 2026-09-20

How verification worked: one polite fetch per page (WebFetch or curl with a UA that names us and our email; 1–2 s between requests on the same host). Each kept row was opened this session on the URL shown. Game-jam rows are read from the itch.io jam page's own start_date / end_date fields (UTC). Rows marked "subagent only" were rejected. "Verified" means we opened the URL on that date and confirmed the deadline; it does not verify prizes or fees.

Fetched, kept (official pages)

itch.io — robots.txt allows /jam/* and /jams (disallows only embeds, search, checkout, downloads). Fetched /jams, /jams/upcoming, and 40 /jam/<slug> pages, 2 s apart. 36 kept, 4 dropped (below).
ldj.am/60 (Ludum Dare) — no robots.txt served; ldjam.com's TLS cert was invalid at fetch time, the short link worked. Dates are marked "expected" on the page.
indie-fund.com/apply — robots allows (crawl-delay 10, respected).
innersloth.com/outersloth, contentfund.ukgamesfund.com, wingsfund.me/pitch, bmftr.bund.de, grants.draknek.org, game-in-lab.org, nz-code.nz/funding — robots permit; fetched once each.
Publisher pitch pages: pitch.devolverdigital.com, rawfury.com/how-to-pitch-to-raw-fury, pitch.chucklefish.org, thunderfulgames.com/pitch-a-game, whitethorngames.com/publishing, curvegames.com/contact/im-a-developer, mastiff-games.com/pitch, kwalee.com/publishing/pc-console, firesquid.games/publishing, crytivo.com/publishing, pitch.dangenentertainment.com, kepler-interactive.com/form, playstack.com/pitch, daedalic.com — all HTTP 200, fetched once.
indie.live-expo.games/en/entry, super.magfest.org (indie-retro), gdconf.com/alt-ctrl-gdc, tgs.tca.org.tw (indie_application_e.php), partner.steamgames.com (Next Fest Feb 2027 + Oct 2026 docs; public, no login), bigindiepitch.com/upcoming-events, sxsw.com/pitch, xsolla.com/funding.

Excluded, and why

Closed / deadline passed: Epic MegaGrants 2026 cycle 2 (closed 4 Sep 2026); Creative Europe MEDIA video games 2026; Unity for Humanity 2026; Canada Media Fund innovation stream (15 Sep 2026); UK Global Screen Fund video game release; Content Vienna 2026; AVEK DigiDemo; Screen NSW seed development; IGF 2027 (page says submissions closed); GDC 2027 general call (7 Aug); LudoNarraCon 2026; A MAZE 2026; Tokyo Game Show 2026 and Sense of Wonder Night; BIC Festival 2026; Game Devs of Color Expo 2026; Wholesome Direct 2026; Steam Next Fest October 2026 (registration closed 31 Aug); MIVS 2027 (closed); Yogscast Tiny Teams 2026 (past); Women-Led Games (page still shows the June 2026 showcase); GMTK 2026, Brackeys 2026.2, Jame Gam 61, Boss Fight Jam, Dungeon Crawler Jam 2026 (past); GBJAM 14 and Godot Wild Jam 97 (end 20–21 Sep, too late to join usefully).

Not open yet / no posted date: Global Game Jam 2027 (site blocked our fetch with a Cloudflare 403 — not verified); Nordic Game Jam 2027; Acerola Jam; Wowie Jam; Secret Santa Jam; IndieCade 2027 (submissions page 404; "early 2027" only); Day of the Devs (page: "no events currently taking submissions"); BIG Festival / gamescom latam 2027 (submission page says "coming soon"); Indie Arena Booth 2027; PAX Rising / PAX East 2027; Guerrilla Collective and The MIX 2027; BitSummit 2027; EGX Leftfield 2027; London Games Festival 2027; Nordic Game 2027; DreamHack Winter 2026; Reboot Develop 2027 (connection refused); Indie Cup (no open season on the page); Game Connection (no deadline on page); Six One Indie (404); The Indie Game Awards (empty page); Latin American Games Showcase (DNS failure); Screen Australia Games Production Fund (both URLs 404 for us; a subagent reported a 14 Dec 2026 opening — unverified); UK Games Fund Starter Fund (closed) and Prototype Fund (EOIs paused); Stimuleringsfonds (call closed); Norwegian, Danish (403) and Luxembourg (TLS error) film institutes; Medienboard (no open round); CODE NZ KickStart/StartUp (round 13 opens early 2027) and ScaleUp (suspended); Google Play Indie Games Fund/Accelerator (interest form only, Africa fund closed 31 Jul); Ontario Creates IDM Fund (replaced by an IP Fund whose page shows no deadline); Creative BC Interactive Fund (only a third-party page found); Creative Scotland Open Fund (403 to us); Arts Council England Project Grants (403 to us); VAF Gamefonds and Wallimage (no fixed dates on page); Nordic Game Program (no open round); GameFounders and Stugan (no open cohort on page); Indie Game Academy (paid course, "returning soon").

Pages we could not read well enough to trust: Team17 submit form (page renders empty without JS); Coffee Stain pitch form (heading only); Akupara (404 / 403); Humble Games (blocked); Annapurna (404); No More Robots (domain gone); Playtonic Friends (only a 2021 news post); Neon Doctrine, Digerati, Dear Villagers (home pages with email/contact only, content not confirmed by us); Assemble, Bonus Stage, Skystone, Ukiyo, Gamera, PLAYISM, XSEED, Astrolabe, Panic (no dedicated submission page found); Dutch Game Garden (closed Jan 2025).

Dropped from the itch batch by choice: Trijam 391 (8 joined), Garbage jam 7, GB Pixel Art Jam (art-only), NOIR-VEMBER TTRPG jam (tabletop), comic jams, an NSFW jam, and "jams" that are really newsletters (OST Composing Jam, __jam).

Caveats on kept rows: Big Indie Pitch rows have deadline null and carry only the event date (no application deadline posted; entry fee not stated on the site, so no fee/prize-value claim is made); Taipei Game Show INDIE HOUSE is a paid booth; Game in Lab is for research institutions; prize figures for Game Gauntlet, Eclipse and RGDC come from the jam titles, not audited rules; Cookie Jam cash prizes ($10–$50) were re-read from the page and the '$28k' in its title is an unexplained combined-value claim; Ludum Dare 60 date is "expected".

Counts: 68 kept (36 jams, 8 grants, 14 publishers, 8 festivals/events, 2 accelerators); ~95 candidates rejected.