$12256 / $11500
I’m working on some character assets right now, and whilst doing that I’ve always got in the back of my mind it’s versitility and how it can be used to create other characters and the possibie interactions with other things. I’ve heard of the term ‘asset flipping’ and from what I’ve read(not here) get the impression that it’s not something that is liked very much. Personally I don’t see it as a bad thing really, il like the idea of getting as much uses out of something and helps to keep some sort of consistency.
the reason I ask is because I’m torn between how I release these characters and how the will be received by on lookers. The football character I am working on will be the first, but then there will be others based on exactly the same sprite, with minor changes, like hair, or slightly taller in size as an example. So there may be let’s say 4 or 5. I would realease each one individually, but am I at risk of being looked upon as someone’s who just ‘assets flips’ or a ‘lazy’ artist (I must say although sprites being based on the same thing, it still takes quite some effort to edit them), and with each one being uploaded to a website, is it ‘overkilll’?
Same thing for let’s say a character is the same, but one has no hat and a sword the other has a hat or a knights helmet with a shield, they are 2 different characters, but from the same sprite, does it warrant 2 different sprite sheets? Should they be put on one, what if there are more? If searching for an archer, to make it would make sense to have 1 archer sheet, not one with archer and 3 other characters, but then hmmmm, I don’t know.
id be really interested on what the community thinks of this approach, what about a gamedev using art like this, which is easier to mange? 1 sheet with all of it? Or 1 sheet for 1 or 1 sheet for the other, which set up is ideal? Or is it dependant on the software? Or should I just consider my own preferences. Or is there a somesort of rule that is a baseline.
wow, I can really drone on a bit :)
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I think you should release similar characters bundled together. It'll make them easier to find and organize for those who'd wish to download them.
As far as your in-game use of edited characters is concerned, I think you should do exactly what you want yourself, and what fits your vision. Old footbal games like Super Football on the SNES only had a single player sprite which was just recolored for all the different teams and such. And I would say it is better to have 1 polished character than 7 sloppy ones, a trap I always fall into myself is drawing sloppily even trough I can actually draw ok.
Also, why do you even fear people calling you lazy? There will always be someone putting more effort into their art than you, but also many more who put much less. I've seen your stuff and you are by no means lazy enough for it to be considered an issue by OGA at least, most of it is quite high quality.
There's a big difference between outsourcing assets (which pretty much everyone does) and being an "asset flip", which the key word here is 'flip' as in selling something off without bringing any value to it. If you build a game using outsourced assets, and the game is more than just that, then you can't be accused of flipping it off because you'd bring extra value to it. It's a term getting thrown around a lot by people who don't understand that concept, like mistaking "old school" as meaning just "old", etc... Not the kind of people you'd ever make happy anyway, they get off on being unhappy, I believe.
My approach is to keep outsourcing to vague materials and little bits of scenery, but make sure the characters/weapons/vehicles/items/GUI and anything that bring real character to the project as unique and original.
As for the resource question, it really depends on your engine and the target platform. If overdraw is a problem VS your texture memory and project size. It's really difficult to answer without more details about the project on a technical level.
I agree with LDAsh; what you're talking about doesn't fit the definition of asset flipping. It would be asset flipping if, instead of customizing and deriving new assets from a base, you just found some cc0 base here on OGA, then sold it on the Unity asset store unmodified. Technically legal, but it adds no value to the asset already available.
Asset flipping is not typically applied to artists anyway. It's more about developers taking the same stock assets used in a bunch of games, and making a new (albeit feature-poor) game with them without customizing them or adapting the game or asset to truly work well with each other. Also, the negative connotation is often referring to illegal asset rips.
I definitely appreciate your thoughtfulness to the future usefulness of the assets you share, but I would say "when in doubt, just make the asset useful to you. Others will customize your donated assets as they need." Don't worry about what the best sprtiesheet arangement is, or the best neutral color scheme. Arrange the sprites the way you need them arranged. Use the colors you want in your game.
However, if you're making a whole series of small sprites that go together, it's better to edit the first submission to add the subsequent sprites than it is to create a bunch of individual submissions with one new sprite each. :) It will get a lot more favorites that way and end up sticking to the "popular this week" and "featured art" sections.
--Medicine Storm@Spring, its not really fear as such that i worry, its not really a worry. as a novice that has improved over the last year or so, my thinking has changed. It was about getting the opinions, getting tips for improvement and so on. i still need to improve but im in a much better place now and the work i do i want it to be useable and be presented in a way that is useable, purposeful art as apose to maybe its useable. every effort i make i hope it to be considered for use for its own merit, and at the same time, be considered for use due to another asset i have created so its important to me that i set off on the right foot. On some occasions edits will be needed to cater for a variation, either for game genre or something else by the developer, so when searching for art wherever and you come across my art then the first impresion is quite important. i would rather people say "Chasersgaming has got some useful stuff" and not "bloodyhell, its all the same stuff pretty much,err" and hearing about the 'asset flipping' just made me concious about it. I think i made that mistake with the Tile sets i have made recently,by making different coloured variations, but that was all they were, and it didnt sit right with me, not to mention uploading each one seperately just felt it was over the top and more time, time i could of spent doing other stuff with regards to assets. So again i was just concious that it was over the top and unesscary and might be deemed as just silly.:)
thanks for your nice comment :)
@medicinestorm @LDAsh now i see what your saying about the 'asset flip' thing, i get it now thanks for clearing that up, that makes me feel a lot better about it. I understand about doing for me when in doubt, and its not an easy job to set up assets in a way that would suit everyone as the requirments would be different for the reasons LDAsh mentions, I'm not going to please everybody, and i shouldnt worry about doing that, do what works for me is best, but if i can strike a nice balance then thats good. I get the idea of updating a submission instead of multiple posts/uploads of something that caters to a particular need, i think thats where i struggle to make it fit, when i talk about 'usefulness' because i find it hard to place something in a particular place in terms of genre because of how im doing it, the artwork is not intended for one use, well it is but a different version of it, like side scrolling, orthogrphic and isometric. i dont want to make a limited art where only a platformer style art is the only one, having the art 'fit' the isometric and orthographic is what im trying to do to make it versitile, and make those versions available in the one sprite. If someone want to make a side scroller, orthometric or isometric styled game, or a hidden adventure, match 3 etc, then i would like make those available on whatever sprite im working on, but catergorising or index them is a bit of a pain, as its one of the hardest things i find to do, and dont want a feed of what look like a bit overwhelming of what could be considered nonsense and maybe get a poo rep for it. :)
Your comments have been really helpful, i think i have a better heading now, and they will defo help me going forward. It still maybe a bit hit and miss, but hopefully in the end it will all make sense and be worthwhile. :)
Chasersgaming | Support | Monstropolis |
@chasersgaming i like that you think about what you are doing. You have to reach a certain level before you start worrying about the justification for your pieces. ^^
thats true, but when i get to that level i want to have a 'structure' of how i operate and have some sort of organisation so i can continue to create seemlesly. :)
OK, so heres what im thinking, based on what you guys have said. if i create assets for a particular purpose, and edit that asset to fit another particular purpose, that would be OK, and not a bad thing. and put it in a place for where it is intended. heres an example, my football player for a football game, and then the same sprite as an 'archer' for a 'rogue' or 'platformer' type game, thats fits side scrolling, orthographic and isometric. and have 1 project uploaded and add each addition to that, and not multiple uploads, thus not creating a messy unorganised feed/portfolio. :)
Chasersgaming | Support | Monstropolis |
I know this topic was basically settled a while ago, but here is some recent relevant content from Extra Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5zXDDMqhcw
--Medicine Stormthanks, il give it a watch tonight. :)
Chasersgaming | Support | Monstropolis |
I know this is an old topic, but as a developer I'm totally cool with that...especially when it comes to environmental assets, because I can mix-and-match them without having that "Franken-game" look.
It's not as big a deal with pixel art characters, but it really helps with animating vectored parts.