Should You Use Assets in Your Indie Game?

Join us for a no-nonsense discussion in this video as we delve into the controversial topic of game assets and asset flip games.

Should you use assets or not? The decision to use assets can dramatically speed up your development time, but fears of your game being labeled as an "asset flip" or the desire to do everything yourself may hold you back.

In this video, we break it down into two categories: Art and Tools. We explore the benefits and disadvantages of using game assets in your games and provide our insights and experience to help aid you in your decision.

If you're new to our channel, we're Brandon & Nikki from Sasquatch B Studios. We sold our house to start our game studio, and work full time on building our business and making our games, Veil of Maia & Samurado.

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[ozgurgurbuz]

Not everyone has the same opportunities as AAA studios do. While it's fair to criticize AAA companies, it's unfair to judge independent studios solely based on their use of known assets.

[georgeaggelopoulos]

About tools: If you use Unity, Unreal, or whatever engine, you already use tools (engines are a set of tools). About art: Buy art and use it. Help artists to do what they love. Isn't this our goal too?

[marosmierka]

as i see the whole asset thing is
if i want to build something out of wood, i go to hardware store, buy wood some screews and drill and build my project
or
i can chop down trees, make planks and manufacture drill, mine iron and make screws
and then build whatever you want
or even, you can go to ikea and just assemble it
in the end what matters what you want to build, how much time and/or budget you have

[sealsharp]

The last few days where Steam Next fest, an did spent a lot of time playing demos. I didn't play the games that everyone considers good, but instead i tried to play everything related to the type of game i make ( FPS ) and what i would make in the future to get a feeling for the market and also find things to enjoy, because of course i love the genre.

A lot of games i played are really obviously using assets. Probably all of them where. And i also thought about some as assets flips, but it's not about the assets.

It's about whats between them.

There is no standard way to do things in gamedev, or even Unity. There is no general game state system that assets can hook to and work together. The developer still needs to create the code that brings all the assets together. And that part often failed. I saw so many games where both the menu and the game where okay, but the menu didn't properly pause the game or the menu had many options and they didn't properly apply. The game uses gamepad but it's broken in the menu.

That is not a coincidence. Building a great bridge between systems requires some kind of understanding in how the systems work. Buying assets can be a shortcut, but it can not be a replacement for actually learning the craft. It is not only assets, but also tutorials content. The reason why so many people want to make games and so few release something is: It is a shitload of hard work.

So i am not surprised when people with the idea of making games are super in love with the idea of AI helping them to do so. It's the dream of doing it, but without the hard part.

You can recreate tutorials, copy scripts, use AI, buy assets and pay third world citizens a penny for stuff and all of that will not make a god game. Combining it takes a certain mastery of the craft. There is no way around it, every chain breaks at the weakest point and there is no "why does my stuff not work"-package at the asset store.

I really don't give a damn about how many assets games use. It's a non issue because in my experience, asset flips fail at combining the assets anyway.

[Tenchinu]

kinda superficial for people to say ‘copying assets is cheating’ just cause they are visual geometry, when code and add ons are never mentioned, and are 1000% more important and useful

[MagicPigGames]

As an asset publisher (Infinity PBR), I 100% support using assets. Also supportive of making good games. Honestly, I couldn't have made my games without assets (art) from the store, and that got me into producing content --for my game and to sell to others. The issue isn't the content, it's the developer -- making bad games with ANY asset, from a store or whatever...is a bad game :) Most players don't give a single poop about asset store art if a game is fun.

[zombienationz]

I personally use existing assets but modify them heavily. I just don't use that many yet but I'm also planning on having a thank you in the credits for the people who allowed me to us their free assets. I haven't bought anything yet but i probably would buy from them to support them as they have quietly supported me without knowing they've done so. If my game slams into tons of money legit giving back to the community that assisted me. That's a pretty big if though a lot can happen in the 2 or so years I'll need because i still work at a factory to get by im just hoping it does well enough i can focus on game dev full time. But i come from an incredibly poor background so I won't pretend my feelings in the matter are shared by others.

[silverflame]

As an Indie Dev who is learning and developing indie dev projects for more than 5 years and other projects for more than 10 (this is an alt account) and has released a horror demo I agree with everything and would like to emphasize that when it comes to art, I believe it's ok to use other people's assets as long as you credit them and don't create a cash-grabing asset flip game. I used to want to do it all myself but my opinion changed when I became too tired creating books and sofas and telephone 3D models and wanted to focus on the main parts of the game like mechanics or level design and character development. The asset store is a spectacular way for some artists to make some extra money but also it creates this community which allows more and more devs to create greater projects by using those assets. I believe that in the end people don't care if you use store assets when they see a well developed and carefully crafted game. (PLUS: by crediting the artists, you promote them to other devs who might liked something and look in the credits for who created it and that's a healthy market)

[green]

I think it matters ZERO percent, except in the gaming social media space, the very VERY critical gamer demographic, and within game development social circles. your average user of your game, except in very rare circumstances, will have no idea whether or not assets are used. using them is completely personal; if it matters to you not to use them, don't use them, but if you are happy to use them, definitely do because even if you get some and customize, you will be way WAY more efficient.

[reglan_dev]

About that part of "not feeling that the game is mine anymore, after using assets":
Well, in that case, using an engine like Unity or Unreal also doesnt makes your game "your" anymore, because 80% of systems in it were made by developers of an engine you're using 😅

I think that using "tool" assets is a great way to speed up development process, and nobody playing your game will ever know that you're using this asset, because its just a tool that helped YOU make the game.

[darkprince]

I've always struggled personally about whether or not I should go ahead and buy some asset packs I have been looking at, but like you pointed out in the video the internal struggle of not feeling like it's my own work being put out has always been what makes me second guess myself. You do make a good point about them also being time savers and I need to look at them more in that light and also as ways to shore up where I feel I am weakest at in my development process.

[wesleygrant]

As a web dev who's trying to switch to indie game dev while still working a full time job, I wouldn't be able to do anything without pre-made assets.

[Rikaisan]

Quick language correction...
Asset -> any item your game uses (sprite, sound, music, 3D model, etc)
By that logic, even if you make the sprites yourself, that's an asset.

Therefore, the title should be "Should you use third party assets in your indie game?" or something along those lines

[damotr]

Asset tools: depend on tool and how of a core functionality it is.
Eg. Save system. I used and tried multiple different save systems until I decided to build by own Unity framework. Doing it from ground up was much more efficient for later usage than going for off-the-shelf solution.

On the other hand: TMP (in long forgotten times while still not default in Unity) is a huge time saver.

[TheRealHamrath]

I think the term "asset flip" is misused nowadays. In the beginning asset flips were games where developers used a finished game template and just replaced its graphics with their own (or other bought assets). Using assets in your own game totally is fine. Heck, there are so many big indie games use assets and most people are totally fine with it: Quest of Dungeons (which was released on Desktop, mobile and every last gen console), Perfect Heist 2, and one of the biggest indie hits right now: Vampire Survivors - just to name a few.

[dangerousbobstudioLLC]

6:55 That is a big point. We all use assets from the Unreal Marketplace but what is really important is keeping a style. If you mix a dozen environment packs that don't look the same it will cheapen the feel and upset the players. Players will accuse you of an "asset flip" even if you have a polished game just if they feel like there is "to much marketplace" assets shoved into a game. So there is a balance needed.

[coachmcguirk]

I think there's a healthy approach where you don't let assets hinder your growth as a developer but instead use them to help you finally finish a damn game (which is my problem and a problem I think of a lot of devs have). At the end of the day what's really important is that your game is fun, and if you make a popular game (even despite it's asset use) then you will be opening the door to a future where you can hire artists and other programmers to create your unique vision the way you first intended it to be. Or just move on to bigger better things. It's like how DotA 1 was a Warcraft 3 mod and used Wc3 assets that every single other mod was using, yet DotA 2, which wouldn't be here without DotA 1, is an entirely unique game with it's own art and sounds. But maybe that's a bad comparison, I dunno, It's 3 am here.

[Xsetsu]

The idea of asset flips is nonsense and always has been. Some of the textures (ground, brick, etc.) used in the early days of Unreal (2, 2.5, 3.0, etc.) and other engines/games have probably been in 50 or 100 different games. Trying to go for a unique look or unique era, etc. (i.e. No One Lives Forever or other type of game look) is where it will take all new assets and art.

Tbh, most people only use this as a post-hoc rationalization, if the game is good and not blatantly ripping on other properties the vast majority just won't care.

[BlackJar]

Its funny the way the asset store has created a who new understanding of the word "asset": To me as asset is any part of a game that is not code, no matter who made it, yet its become common to use it to mean any part of a game made by a third part (including code outside the engine). Having said that, AAA studios use middleware all the time, so why shouldn't I? Having said that, in my current project there are basically no assets for sale that would help with the core game anyway -- a few that are sort-of close, but none that would really work.

[Bprice]

I’d rather pay somebody to hand paint some scenery for me than either me doing it poorly or using ai to make something soulless.