Post by Cimeto in Dear Gamedevelopers, what do you look for in a gamekit??

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With all respect, I have the feeling that my comment is not going to be so different to what you have being said to, but here it goes.

A full Visuals/Art asset pack that works for a full game and at the same time being reusable to other projects doesn't look so feasible for me, imho. I mean, while that's what most of us may want... and the idea of having GUI, sprites and 3D models all artistically homogenous is mouth-watering and all, at the same time we all want to make our games different to the rest.

What about focusing in some specific areas in particular?

You have been already recommended with complete GUIs and looks like a good point (buttons, fonts, window-borders, window-backgrounds, sliders, radio-buttons, ... )

But after checking what you offered for free, what about sticking with that? Making specialized packs with those? Personally, I liked the little guy and made me remember those RollerCoaster Tycoon little people. Well, actually most of you offered in the pack. :P

What about plants? Animals? Vehicles?

What about making separate packages with what you already offered? Tiles on one, buildings on other, a bunch of little people on other, etc...

I've the impression that offering a good amount of tools and assets to choose from makes developers interested. And well, I hope that's easier to achieve than big full-game scale artistic packages.

I hope this answer helps you a bit and I wish you a lot of luck!

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Clomy4 years ago

Hey Cimeto,
Thank you for your reply!

I edited my top post to 2D visuals, since that's all I can make.
Specializing is something I have thought about, However, I don't feel that my pack would be so attractive to game developers if it only has what it has now(or an expansion of it)
I Have a vision for what I want to achieve with it and though it is tough, I do think it is doable.
Currently I'm working on UI elements while also learning a bit more about anatomy in drawings so I can improve the character.
Plants, animals, objects are on the list, but I sadly can't do everything at the same time. I planned on updating monthly, which is very doable and also very focused on one specific part of the asset pack.

That said, I agree with the statement that all developers want their game to be different than the rest, which is why I think the UI design is going to be crucial...
Would you as developer appreciate variations in the buildings, knowing that their are more to choose from, either in color or details?

I know it's a big task that I set for myself, but I believe I can actually make an asset pack that is so diverse, that more people can use it and all have different outcomes.

Again, thank you for the reply! I appreciate the input. Writing this answer really helped me strengthen my resolve to make this!

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Cimeto4 years ago(+1)

"Would you as developer appreciate variations in the buildings, knowing that their are more to choose from, either in color or details?"

Trying to answer to that, I'd say that definitely. Having variations, and some randomness makes a lot of things more lifelike, like for example, houses in a village presenting small differences between them offer a better illusion of a real town.

But, what about creating components that can be mixed on the fly? I experimented with that in a little kids game I offered here on itch.io. I have a multitude of little components that I mix programatically so every house or ground 'component' presents little differences to the others generated around.

And theoretically, the same can be done with colours. You can determine a game of palettes for those components so when making use of random generation they keep some similarity in style/colour.

A different thing (related to this subject I think) I tried to work with in another project I have in development, is being able to change colours in a sprite on the fly, following the style of old RPGs as those made by SSI (Champions of Krynn f.e.) or like in Knights of Legend, where you determine colours for different parts of the sprite.

Knights of Legend - Character sprite modification

But it's some work I must say, and the best approach I was able to find was making a list of 'special' colours that programatically can be interchanged when looking for pixel by pixel with colour similarities on the sprite. In other words, having an index of colours to be used to know what pixels to change. And some multiple-sprite approach in the middle... if possible.

I think I'm talking too much, but in fewer words, if you are interested in offering a good amount of variations of buildings or other elements, what about random generators? Maybe that could make you save time on the long run...

Well, I hope... because a random generator imply using an engine or code. But components and instructions of where should they be placed on the main image can be all graphics and would not depend of any engine at all.

I hope this answers helps a bit!

Good luck!!

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Clomy4 years ago

You gave me some very good ideas here!
I may actually dabble in codes for this...
Cimeto, You are an MVP! Thank you for all the feedback!

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