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Is assets flipping Ok?

A topic by SupremeStudio created Apr 23, 2024 Views: 520 Replies: 13

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So i want to know more about this subject, Most of the time this is consider a negative subject but i want to hear more from Developers and Gamers about Asset flip, Not everyone has years and time to devote to make their own assets or funds to pay for an artist/programmers/sound designer/etc...

Short Story: i finished my second game and i was sharing it thought social media(Marketing)someone said that my game is basically a Asset flip and he know the Assets i used from the Unity Asset Store. Now I'm not a Professional Programmer/Artist/Graphics Designer/Sound Designer so i used Unity Asset Store to find the assets that suit my needs witch make things easier and short in time.

I want to know more on how other think of this.

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Magicsofa207 days ago(+2)

Using assets that you are allowed to use, or that you paid for, is certainly OK.

Basically this person is accusing you of making a generic game just to make money. An asset flip isn't just any game that doesn't produce everything in-house. That would be insane... tons of developers use free and paid assets from other people. The term is really supposed to refer to games that are slapped together as quickly as possible for the sole purpose of making a few bucks.

It sounds like they are just being a harsh critic, I mean if it is your second game (congrats!) then nobody should expect it to be some sort of masterpiece. But people don't always look into your history or even come up with a legitimate criticism. Like maybe if you had a history of reusing the same assets in similar games over and over, and you were actually making a lot of sales from it, it would be fair to say you're a "flipper." But to say this to someone who is just starting out is pretty much ridiculous.

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SupremeStudio207 days ago

to be fair before i didn't like any game that use multiple assets i feel like the developers are lazy and just want quick money like Synty Studio it is common to see developers use their assets there for they appear in many games.

but now since I'm a developer this save me a lot of time(witch i don't have a lot of) and effort(I'm not a 3d modeler and don't know how to use 3d Model software).

I want to know how this effect my game. Example" Someone see my game but don't want to play/download/purchase the game cause I'm using other assets i found on the store.

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Magicsofa207 days ago

Another option is to look for assets from people here on itch or other places where you can download stuff directly from creators. It only involves a little extra work (i.e. importing the assets into your project manually instead of letting the store do it for you) and you will be able to find more unique works. You'll also be supporting indie artists by hopefully crediting them and/or paying.

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SupremeStudio207 days ago

I do that all the time also Unity make it easy to import assets from outside the store however when purchase from the unity assets store you gain a license for using the asset does Itch.io have something similar?

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Magicsofa207 days ago

Yes, but it is up to the uploader to write the license terms, usually included with the download in license.txt or similar

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redonihunter207 days ago

I had to look that one up. It even has a wikipedia entry. It is a bad term. Because it is descriptive, and could be used and understood so, but apparantly people use it to mean shovelware.

Initially I thought this is about literally flipping assets instead of buying them. But those assets stores are meant to be used. Why should anyone complain about them being used.

But releasing one game can not be "assets flipping", even if only stock assets were used. So yeah, the "critique" was misnomed. Should have said, boring, only stock assets. Not the term assets flipping.

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SupremeStudio207 days ago

what does the term "Assets Flipping" mean what i know is" When a developer purchase a working prototype and uploaded as a Game without changing anything literally" what does it actually mean?

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redonihunter207 days ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_flip

After reading that, some things in this thread will make more sense, I guess ;-)

I did not understand grammatically, what you wrote.

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gamesareart207 days ago

Very well this is my Personal Opinion.

In general using Assets from other people that you are allowed to use(paid or free) is ok however many developers use assets from others as a shortcut Example" A small team of 3 people but they have no artist so they used an asset they found on the asset store that do the job"

As a Gamer and a Developer i do understand people using assets in their game however I'm not ok with people just get multiple assets put them together and release a game without any effort those are lazy/greedy developers that are looking for quick money without effort.

I did look at your games and the moment i saw the Cover images is the moment i know the assets you used

For Zombie Operation you used Synty Studio Zombie Asset and you used a FPS with weapon controller that are available on the asset store(I tried the game)i notice you make a Damage System/Wave System/Menu/UI you did put some work on it so i say "It is OK" Since it is your first game good job

For Battle of the wild West you also used Synty Studio Western Asset and i think you used either Modular engine or Advance FPS and Photon(PUN2).

Again it is clear that you put some effort in the game not just smash some assets together and call it a game.

you are In the OK Zone(For me).

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Arren Lane207 days ago

Free assets are great for making prototypes, personally I like making all the art myself or with a teammate. It can take much longer but it adds a lot more personality to your game and a game with personality is worth a lot.

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SupremeStudio207 days ago

My problem is I'm new and not expert in anything Assets save me a lot of time and i can learn from So why not.

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Arren Lane207 days ago

If you're new to gamedev then don't worry about it at all. Most of what you release will probably not be commercial for a while and anecdotally, most people don't mind if a game has many free assets as long as it's not made entirely out of them, and the game itself is not expensive.

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Evolutionary Games207 days ago

Using assets that other people made is fine. After all, whether you employ them to make the asset, or buy it in store doesn't make any difference. The same applies to free assets. It's only developers who frequent these stores that will recognise the assets - and itch.io tends to be a community of developers (so this might be the wrong place to ask).

Where it becomes a problem is when you buy a demo of a game, and release the game as is. Google Play Store blocked this because they were getting 1000s of listings of the same game. They've now stated that only the person who created the demo may publish it on the Google Play Store. It was this behaviour that gave asset flipping a bad name.

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