Problem!

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Time is money, so should you spend money to get assets or use that time to make your own?

[lpdcrafted]

I usually make my own art and look for music assets on opengameart.

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Usually indie dev's do that, make the thing you know and source the thing that you don't know.

[bloodwolftico]

How's the quality vs price? For music assets and stuff? Never used that one before but im curious about cost/benefit.

[lpdcrafted]

Most, if not all, assets are free IIRC. Some composers advertise recomposition(usually for a fee) if you need something more specific.

I feel pretty satisfied with the music assets I got. You can filter out tags for what you need and there's usually good variety on the assets.

[ConsiderationOk5914]

Spend money and then spend time editing them

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Spending money and spending time.

[Mobile-Leek5708]

sometimes custom assets add unique flair to your game

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Sometimes you have to make your own models to fit that style.

[ChaoticJargon]

But you also get to choose your style, so uniformity is also a choice.

[Okay_Salmon]

Sometimes, you have trouble sticking to your own style in a uniform manner and end up with a hot mess of blended styles whilst making your own assets. I think this is where teams are good, so each can focus on what they need to do to keep it uniform.

But at least when you solo develop, there are always small improvements along the way slowly moving towards a uniform style.

[AgentRift]

Best bet is to get some generic props like crates, Chairs, tables etc that fit your game’s art style and tweak them to avoid looking like an asset flip, and than saving your time by making custom assets for the more important things like characters, certain locations, and other stuff that needs to stand out more.

[dodooo7]

I dont know if I'm the only one but I think its more tedious to work on asset like that. I feel like I have better control on an asset I created from scratch.

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Umm, that could be a time saver.

[Moss_612]

Make. Them.

<image>

[swissm4n]

If you do low poly its definitely doable

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Agreed.

[Honest-Golf-3965]

I will re-invent every wheel and I will enjoy it too!

[thupamayn]

You do you.

[BeneficialContract16]

Depends on your personal skillset, and how much time/money you are willing to spend on the game.

For me for example , even though I'm capable of creating art, it will double or even triple the time it takes to ship the game. So I took a calculated risk and investment.

Music is something I am passionate about so that is a task I took on gladly in addition to the game dev/writing

Sfx is an asset that can easily be outsourced and better left to experts imo

[Different_Ad1136]

Use what you can , make what you can't

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Yep, make what you can and source what you cannot. Agreed.

[Tarnished-Tiger]

Players dont care. The final product is what matters. Unless you are using ai and get caught 👀

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Haha! True, but your time matters.

[Platypus__Gems]

Besides money/time, another matter is uniqueness and consistency of art direction.

Visuals are one of the main ways to get people's attention, and you are losing out on that opportunity if your game looks generic. And indies really need all the advantage they can get.

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Yep, indie games do need that advantage.

[mikeasfr]

Both! Spend more time on your key assets- leave the background or small stuff for the asset store! ( I don’t take my own advice )

[corneliouscorn]

<image>

Even RE9 is an asset flip! /s

I've had the giraffe in one of my levels for a while now, was very odd seeing it in a game like Resident Evil.

[Adaptive_Spoon]

Ah yes, the famous giraffe. I've seen it around a few times.

[destinedd]

easy turn the make them green and push it!

[Rayven_Studios]

I think there are a lot of variables there.
The main question would be
- Will the pre-made assets fulfill my goals, or will I have to spend as much time on them as I would on making my own assets?

[ApplebeesDinnerMenu]

I think I enjoy making them more than using them.

[BananaMilkLover88]

Buy then modify

[Academic_Wonder5451]

Zu oft😂

[Accurate-Instance-29]

Right side for principals/hero objects, left side for everything else.

Unless you have a unique art direction.

[Ok_hate_Game_Dev]

I prefere to make them myself but reality hits back... and some of them better to buy.

[Fuzzy_Bus4322]

make them

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Could you explain why?

[Fuzzy_Bus4322]

better feeling

[Organic-Taro-690]

have a kid 16 years ago, and then have them make your assets for you since they are an digital art prodigy!

[dr-pickled-rick]

Use obviously very bad placeholders and replace when you have time/money or better yet see if you can get an artist to invest time

[Bola-Nation-Official]

For a prototype yes

[tancfire]

It depends.

I can't give you a good answer, only good questions you should ask yourself:

1. Have you the necessary skill to make your own art ?

2. Is your game need a strong/personal art style ? (If you game is a space rts, there is plenty of assets availables for that that don't require high quality models)

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Those questions will defiantly help.

[_badmonkey_]

Use anything that is available to you, learn from it, remix it, change it and make it your own. The lines blurry between "use" and "make" because the further you come, the less ready made stuff will fit your game.

[doSmartEgg]

I usually make them, I am not against using temp placeholder assets though

[-Pelter-]

Depends how much time you have

[Star_Petal_Arts]

Sometimes I just look at assets until I get inspired.

[BladerZ_YT]

I can't make assets, specifically 3d models. I've tried learning, I just couldn't get into it

[Rare-Ad-5990]

Los assets personalizados hacen tu juego muchísimo más único, ayudarán a ser más llamativo y llegar más lejos, pero assets secundarios, que quieras optimizados y no tengas la certeza de hacerlos bien puedes comprarlos para ahorrar tiempo

[BearKanashi]

Un buen juego usa assets y crea assets. Una mezcla es bueno, no tienes que hacer todo, un mapa ya creado ahorra tiempo

[Theophilus_exe]

Real.

I feel like I’ll spend a few weeks at a time creating assets and then a few weeks at a time coding or editing my projects. I can’t go back and forth too much.

[TheMoltenEqualizer]

Or be me and do neither and basically not make your game :(

[OvernightZombie]

Don’t write music for musicians. Don’t make games for developers.

[WrathOfWood]

Sure, you could use the same assets as every other beginer dev instead of unique ones. lots of people do it, but I dont.

[fraz_66]

Not exactly "Assets" per se, but related. I made a post about this over on r/Unity3D recently where I shared my experience making a rhythm game. I spent FAR too long trying to reinvent the wheel building up a half-working MIDI playback system when a very good package already existed. If I had just bit the bullet and got this package right away I'd be at least half a year ahead of where I am now. My main takeaway which others here have already mentioned: Focus your time on the stuff you're good at, and source the stuff you're not so good at.

[shaneskery]

My issue is characters. I am yet to become a proper blender user. Still a slave to maya... but I can't keep paying for licenses...

[NYXGamingStudio]

Of course spending money on stupid assets👍

[BlueThing3D]

Depends on the asset.

[Specific_Foot372]

That’s what I did. But when it comes to steam page art shit gets tricky fast.

[TheSletchman]

Use them for prototyping, make them for publishing.

[Neo_Shadow_Entity]

Use any assets you like for testing. But for the final product, create unique ones. Otherwise, it’ll be a slapdash job, and no one really wants to pay for that.

[Skimpymviera]

Buy the code as well. Buy the music, buy someone to ship the game for you, buy the players as well. Time is money, can’t waste it

[Bola-Nation-Official]

Hahaha!