stacks: five starter stacks from the task tests

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Wc67NX9MM964uaVGn4bpZJ

Author: TMHSDigital

stacks/2d-pixel-platformer.md

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+---
+id: 2d-pixel-platformer
+title: Make a 2D pixel platformer
+task: A side-scrolling pixel-art platformer you intend to sell.
+walked: 2026-09-25
+---
+
+# Make a 2D pixel platformer
+
+For a solo developer making a side-view pixel platformer in any engine. The art picks are drawn for a side view. Music comes as two picks: five tracks that need no credit, and a larger album that does.
+
+## Art
+
+- **Tiles and level art:** [Kenney Pixel Platformer](../catalog/2d/kenney-pixel-platformer.md). 200 tiles and sprites on an 18x18 grid, covering terrain, characters and backgrounds.
+- **Player character:** [LuizMelo Martial Hero](../catalog/2d/luizmelo-martial-hero.md). Animated sheets for idle, run, jump, fall, attacks, hit and death.
+- **Enemies:** [LuizMelo Monsters Creatures Fantasy](../catalog/2d/luizmelo-monsters-creatures-fantasy.md). Four enemies (skeleton, mushroom, goblin, flying eye), each with idle, walk, attack, hit and death sheets.
+- **Parallax background:** [Industrial Parallax Background (ansimuz)](../catalog/2d/ansimuz-industrial-parallax.md). A night-time industrial skyline in four seamless, looping layers, to move at different speeds.
+- **Menus and HUD:** [Kenney UI Pack](../catalog/2d/kenney-ui-pack.md). 430 buttons, panels and sliders.
+
+## Audio
+
+- **Music, no credit:** [5 Chiptunes (Action), SubspaceAudio](../catalog/audio/subspaceaudio-5-chiptunes.md). Five looping tracks: Title Screen, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Ending.
+- **Music, with credit:** [Eric Skiff, Resistor Anthems](../catalog/audio/eric-skiff-resistor-anthems.md). An 18-track album of melodic 8-bit music, for more tracks than [5 Chiptunes](../catalog/audio/subspaceaudio-5-chiptunes.md) has.
+- **Sound effects:** [ChipTone](../catalog/tools/chiptone.md). A sound-effect generator in the sfxr family that runs in the browser and exports WAV.
+
+## Fonts
+
+- **Title and score text:** [Press Start 2P](../catalog/fonts/press-start-2p.md). An arcade-style bitmap face for titles, scores and HUD text.
+
+## Tools
+
+- **Level editor:** [LDtk](../catalog/tools/ldtk.md). A 2D level editor with entity and layer workflows that exports JSON.
+- **Pixel art editor:** [Pixelorama](../catalog/tools/pixelorama.md). A pixel art and animation editor with tileset features.

stacks/2d-top-down-pixel.md

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+---
+id: 2d-top-down-pixel
+title: Make a 2D top-down pixel game
+task: A top-down pixel-art adventure or RPG with menus, controller prompts and a terminal-style font, to sell.
+walked: 2026-09-25
+---
+
+# Make a 2D top-down pixel game
+
+For a solo developer making an overhead pixel game in any engine. The world art is 16x16 and drawn in 3/4 view: the ground seen from above, buildings and characters shown from the front. See Gaps for a straight-down view.
+
+## Art
+
+- **Characters, monsters and a starter world:** [Ninja Adventure](../catalog/2d/ninja-adventure.md). One 16x16 pack with 50+ characters, 30+ monsters, bosses, tiles, UI, effects, 100+ sound effects and 37 music tracks; characters face four directions.
+- **Town tiles:** [Kenney Tiny Town](../catalog/2d/kenney-tiny-town.md). 130 tiles for an overworld town: houses, roofs, fences, trees, paths and a few villagers.
+- **Dungeon tiles:** [Kenney Tiny Dungeon](../catalog/2d/kenney-tiny-dungeon.md). 130 dungeon and sewer tiles: floors, walls and props, also 16x16.
+- **Controller prompts:** [Kenney Input Prompts](../catalog/2d/kenney-input-prompts.md). 1500+ button glyphs at 64x64 plus vectors, covering Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, Steam Deck, keyboard, mouse and touch.
+- **Menus and HUD:** [Kenney UI Pack](../catalog/2d/kenney-ui-pack.md). 430 buttons, panels and sliders.
+
+## Audio
+
+- **Music:** [Abstraction Music Loop Bundle](../catalog/audio/tallbeard-abstraction-music-loop-bundle.md). 200+ loops, for more music than the 37 tracks in Ninja Adventure.
+- **Menu sounds:** [Kenney Interface Sounds](../catalog/audio/kenney-interface-sounds.md). 100 interface and button clicks for dense menus and HUD feedback.
+
+## Fonts
+
+- **Terminal-style text:** [VT323](../catalog/fonts/vt323.md). A CRT terminal-style monospace for debug overlays, hacking UIs and HUD text.
+
+## Tools
+
+- **Map editor:** [Tiled Map Editor](../catalog/tools/tiled.md). A tilemap editor for ortho, isometric and hex maps. Read the entry before shipping any of Tiled's own code inside your game.
+
+## Gaps
+
+- No straight-down character set that turns in four directions. The two four-direction sets in the catalog, Ninja Adventure and the [ArMM1998 Zelda-like set](../catalog/2d/armm1998-zelda-like.md), are both 3/4 view (ledger, 2026-09-23).

stacks/3d-low-poly-arena-godot.md

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+---
+id: 3d-low-poly-arena-godot
+title: Make a 3D low-poly arena game in Godot
+task: A 3D low-poly arena game with rigged, animated characters and impact sounds, built in Godot 4, to sell.
+walked: 2026-09-25
+---
+
+# Make a 3D low-poly arena game in Godot
+
+For a solo developer building a small 3D arena game in Godot 4. The art, audio and font picks work in any engine; the Tools picks are Godot 4 add-ons.
+
+## Art
+
+- **Arena pieces:** [Kenney Mini Arena](../catalog/3d/kenney-mini-arena.md). 20 miniature arena pieces in glTF, FBX and Blend.
+- **Characters:** [Quaternius Universal Base Characters](../catalog/characters/quaternius-universal-base-characters.md). Six humanoid bases with humanoid rigs for retargeting in an engine, plus mix-and-match hairstyles.
+- **Animations:** [Quaternius Universal Animation Library](../catalog/animation/quaternius-universal-animation-library.md). 120+ humanoid clips (locomotion, combat, emotes and more) on a retarget-friendly rig, with export sets tested for Godot.
+- **Melee weapons:** [3dmodelscc0 Melee Weapons Pack](../catalog/3d/3dmodelscc0-melee-weapons.md). One pack of melee weapons in GLB. The entry covers this pack only; its sibling packs have their own entries.
+- **Controller prompts:** [Kenney Input Prompts](../catalog/2d/kenney-input-prompts.md). 1500+ button glyphs for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, Steam Deck, keyboard and mouse.
+
+## Audio
+
+- **Impact sounds:** [Kenney Impact Sounds](../catalog/audio/kenney-impact-sounds.md). 130 punches, thuds and physical impacts.
+- **Menu sounds:** [Kenney UI Audio](../catalog/audio/kenney-ui-audio.md). 50 clicks and switches for menus, toggles, confirm and cancel.
+- **Music:** [Abstraction Music Loop Bundle](../catalog/audio/tallbeard-abstraction-music-loop-bundle.md). 200+ music loops.
+
+## Fonts
+
+- **Menus and subtitles:** [Atkinson Hyperlegible](../catalog/fonts/atkinson-hyperlegible.md). A sans designed for low vision, with distinct B and 8, O and 0, and I, l and 1.
+
+## Tools
+
+- **Camera and shake:** [Phantom Camera](../catalog/tools/phantom-camera.md). A Godot 4 add-on for target tracking, transitions and camera shake.
+- **Input remapping:** [G.U.I.D.E.](../catalog/tools/godot-guide.md). Input mapping and remapping for Godot 4, including controller configurations and Steam Deck rebinding.
+- **Enemy logic:** [Beehave](../catalog/tools/beehave.md). Behavior trees for Godot 4 enemy and NPC logic, built as node hierarchies in the scene tree.

stacks/README.md

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+# Starter stacks
+
+One file per kind of game: one pick per need, and the site works out what the whole set
+owes from the picked entries. Each stack has a page at `stack/<id>/` on the site.
+
+| Stack | For |
+| --- | --- |
+| [Make a 2D pixel platformer](2d-pixel-platformer.md) | A side-scrolling pixel-art platformer |
+| [Make a 2D top-down pixel game](2d-top-down-pixel.md) | A top-down pixel-art adventure or RPG |
+| [Make a 3D low-poly arena game in Godot](3d-low-poly-arena-godot.md) | A 3D arena game with rigged characters, in Godot 4 |
+| [Make a first-person destruction game](first-person-destruction.md) | A first-person game about breaking things |
+| [Make a mobile puzzle game](mobile-puzzle.md) | A casual match-3 or board-style game for phones |
+
+## Writing a stack
+
+- Frontmatter: `id` (the filename without `.md`), `title`, `task` (one sentence), and
+  `walked`, the date you assembled the stack against the catalog. Walking a stack
+  re-verifies no licence and changes no entry.
+- A lead paragraph, then `##` sections in this order, each optional: Art, Audio, Fonts,
+  Tools, Gaps.
+- In Art, Audio, Fonts and Tools, every bullet is one pick: the need in bold with a
+  colon, a link to the entry's file, a full stop, then why this pick. Copy the shape
+  from any stack above.
+- The why sentence states facts the entry records. It must not name a licence: licence
+  facts come from the entry, so a re-verified entry updates every stack that uses it.
+- A pick must be a listed entry. A deprecated pick fails `node site/validate.mjs`;
+  repick or move the need to Gaps.
+- Gaps: plain bullets for what the catalog does not yet cover for the task.

stacks/first-person-destruction.md

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+---
+id: first-person-destruction
+title: Make a first-person destruction game
+task: A first-person game about breaking things, with debris materials, industrial props and ambience, to sell.
+walked: 2026-09-25
+---
+
+# Make a first-person destruction game
+
+For a solo developer making a first-person game where things break apart. Debris is made ahead of time: fracture a mesh in Blender and ship the pieces, which works in any engine.
+
+## Art
+
+- **First-person arms:** [FPS Arms, rigged (OpenGameArt)](../catalog/characters/oga-fps-arms-rigged.md). A pair of first-person arms with a full hand rig, and the catalog's only rigged first-person arms. FBX and Blend only, so they go through Blender before most engines.
+- **Industrial props:** [Kenney Factory Kit](../catalog/3d/kenney-factory-kit.md). 140 conveyor belts, machines and warehouse props for interiors; not building shells.
+- **Concrete, metal and brick:** [ambientCG](../catalog/3d/ambientcg.md). 1500+ seamless PBR materials, with concrete, metal and brick among its tags.
+- **Smoke and dust:** [Kenney Smoke Particles](../catalog/shaders-vfx/kenney-smoke-particles.md). 70 smoke and explosion frames for flipbooks and particle systems.
+
+## Audio
+
+- **Impact sounds:** [Kenney Impact Sounds](../catalog/audio/kenney-impact-sounds.md). 130 punches, thuds and physical impacts.
+- **Ambience and foley:** [BigSoundBank](../catalog/audio/bigsoundbank.md). 3,500+ field and foley recordings. Check each file's marking on the site: the entry says which files are covered.
+
+## Tools
+
+- **Pre-broken debris:** [Cell Fracture (Blender extension)](../catalog/tools/blender-cell-fracture.md). Blender's fracture extension: it splits a mesh into convex pieces, the usual way pre-broken game debris is made.
+- **3D editor:** [Blender](../catalog/tools/blender.md). The editor the fracture extension runs in, and the way into the arms' Blend and FBX files.

stacks/mobile-puzzle.md

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+---
+id: mobile-puzzle
+title: Make a mobile puzzle game
+task: A casual match-3 or board-style puzzle game for phones, to sell.
+walked: 2026-09-25
+---
+
+# Make a mobile puzzle game
+
+For a solo developer making a casual puzzle game for phones: gems for a match-3 board, or cards, dice and pieces for a board-style game.
+
+## Art
+
+- **Gems:** [Gem Match 3 Set (Sylly)](../catalog/2d/sylly-gem-match-3.md). Four gem shapes in six colours with a vector source. Static pieces: add your own tweens for swaps and pops.
+- **Animated gems:** [Rotating Gems for Match-3 (Bondoki)](../catalog/2d/bondoki-rotating-gems.md). Animated gems in seven colours, with heart-bomb and rainbow-bomb special pieces. Delivered as animated GIFs with no licence file inside, so keep a record of the source page.
+- **Cards, dice and pieces:** [Kenney Board Game Pack](../catalog/2d/kenney-boardgame-pack.md). Playing cards, poker chips, dice and pieces in seven colours, with SVG sources and a dozen matching sounds.
+- **Menus and HUD:** [Kenney UI Pack](../catalog/2d/kenney-ui-pack.md). 430 buttons, panels and sliders.
+- **Sparkle effects:** [Kenney Particle Pack](../catalog/shaders-vfx/kenney-particle-pack.md). 80 particle sprites at 512x512 (sparks, glows, soft blobs) for match and combo effects.
+
+## Audio
+
+- **Level complete and game over:** [Kenney Music Jingles](../catalog/audio/kenney-music-jingles.md). 85 short stingers: level complete, game over, item pickup, menu confirm and similar cues.
+- **Menu sounds:** [Kenney UI Audio](../catalog/audio/kenney-ui-audio.md). 50 clicks and switches for menus, toggles, confirm and cancel.
+- **Background music:** [Abstraction Music Loop Bundle](../catalog/audio/tallbeard-abstraction-music-loop-bundle.md). 200+ music loops.
+
+## Fonts
+
+- **Menus and scores:** [Inter](../catalog/fonts/inter.md). A UI sans with broad language coverage, in variable and static builds.
+
+## Tools
+
+- **Sprite atlases:** [Free Tex Packer](../catalog/tools/free-tex-packer.md). Packs sprites into atlases with JSON for Godot, Unity and Phaser. Use the GitHub repository: the old website no longer serves the app.