A way to create assets when you're not good (or even worth) in 2D/3D art

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A way to create assets when you're not good (or even worth) in 2D/3D art

JusTiCe8

As we're on a dev forum, many of us here are not 2D/3D artists so our potential games comes with assets that may not be a good match for the design and code.

Maybe, there is a way, if you like little plastic bricks like Lego (there are now many competitors and cloners than decades ago), Stud.io is a great tool to create 3D models using Lego parts in any colors and quantity, as long as your computer can sustain huge models, the tool is made using Unity by the way.

There are many fan websites like Rebrickable hosting tons of models which can be use (with respect with theirs author of course) as-is or as inspiration.
Then you can render pictures using various features and details (realistic or more cartoonish) so the generated pictures can also be used
right away in a game or as templates for pixel arts assets, 3D models or anything else.

Here is an example using a nice Gudi model (a Chinese brand which doesn't just copy Lego models), it can be use for a top/side scrolling shoot'em up or space game, in a cut scene or as something in background in a picture.

(I know, the top view isn't perfectly centered, it's just a quick preview)

Do not hesitate to share your creations 🙂.

Megalomaniak

Something like this is OK to use for prototyping perhaps, but I'd be very careful not to show publicly any of those creations lest lego company send their lawyers after me. Legoland is very similar to the Mouse incorporated when it comes to IP.

JusTiCe8

Megalomaniak Something like this is OK to use for prototyping perhaps, but I'd be very careful not to show publicly any of those creations lest lego company send their lawyers after me. Legoland is very similar to the Mouse incorporated when it comes to IP.

Of course it won't be very smart to use Lego owned designs, but there is no issue at all to create our own using Lego bricks, especially considering Stud.io allow to add or not logo on studs (it looks like to be a bump/normal map) and I just suggest to create some render, then apply at least some filters like oil paint or pixelize and better to draw on top of it using the picture as reference.

Lethn

If you're not good at 3D or 2D, then learn, the best thing about games these days is you don't need zomgwtf unreal style realism to make a game as long as you get the point of your visuals across. Especially given how common it is for devs to shamelessly rip 3D assets, these days if I see a game with 'good graphics' I immediately think it's going to be garbage.

The reason being is we've all seen these internal systems before and when I look at the third party assets I know the studio in question likely has barely any experience making games or worse they're lazy and are looking for a quick asset flip cash grab by charging as much money as possible for what is essentially an early access game and then running off when the torches and pitchforks come out. That's not to say you shouldn't make a game with terrible graphics, but you should find a style that suits your workflow, there's also that issue of time spent on art and indie devs can definitely outperform the big studios if they ignore fussing about graphics and concentrating on things like animation, gameplay and sound.

You have to bear in mind that the big studios are likely getting a couple of million in funding at least and have 30 artists on a regular payroll full time, don't ever compare yourself to them in terms of art quality.