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> Can't. The word you're looking for here is can't. I think the real term is "Not Invented Here Syndrome". This site has thousands of open sourced game assets

> Can't. The word you're looking for here is can't. I think the real term is "Not Invented Here Syndrome". This site has thousands of open sourced game assets: https://opengameart.org https://opengameart.org Here is an asset pack of 65 fantasy icons for $5: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/gui/icons/fantasy-rpg-icon-set-42707 https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/gui/icons/fantasy-r... I suspect someone spending $200 and a day of searching could probably find most of the art needed for Queen's Wish. There's really no need for him to be hiring freelancers in the first place.

kcbanner 7y ago
Working with purchased assets is not so simple; there is no consistent art direction when you buy things from different sources. This usually requires an artists to do a pass and make all these disparate assets work together. Simply saying "just buy cheap assets" completely misses the point here.
- nimblegorilla 7y ago
  Everyone already acknowledges the current art has no consistent direction. It makes no sense to pay extra money for bespoke artwork that looks worse than what you can get by just going to what's already available.
eropple 7y ago
Dude...have you ever tried to use OpenGameArt or asset packs in anger? The quality is at best "uneven", you'll still have the exact same "but they're inconsistent" complaints, and then on top of that you get people whining that you used off-the-shelf art. (Rather like "oh it's an RPG Maker" game, which is something that Zeboyd Games, another low-budget indie developer, gets all the time; they don't use RPG Maker, but that's another story). You can't make everybody happy. JV is going to more reliably make money by making his audience, like me, happy. Why should he change it?
- nimblegorilla 7y ago
  Dude... I have and am using asset packs. If your design schtick is looking as cheap as possible then it's not very hard to get what you need.
MammalWithLegs 7y ago
Indie dev here who was been working solo on games for the last 3 years (nights and weekends) using the resources you're describing. You can get a lot of mileage out of those assets for not much money, but it takes a huge amount of time and skill to turn them into something consistent and usable. You can usually find art similar to what you want, but almost never: - in the correct aesthetic - the right size - with the proper animations It's a full-time job to find this art in the first place, to resize, to animate, to recolor, and apply effects to the art to help it match your desired aesthetic. And then it still is never good enough. There's a lot to be said for having someone produce art to your requests in a consistent style, even if the quality of the art is not extremely high.
cestith 7y ago
I think the key words here are "New Coke". When you change your focus from a loyal customer base and change key aspects of your product they prefer in order to chase a competitor's customers you risk losing your own base and still not picking up a substantial portion of the rest of the market.

kcbanner 7y ago

Working with purchased assets is not so simple; there is no consistent art direction when you buy things from different sources. This usually requires an artists to do a pass and make all these disparate assets work together. Simply saying "just buy cheap assets" completely misses the point here.

nimblegorilla 7y ago
Everyone already acknowledges the current art has no consistent direction. It makes no sense to pay extra money for bespoke artwork that looks worse than what you can get by just going to what's already available.

eropple 7y ago

Dude...have you ever tried to use OpenGameArt or asset packs in anger? The quality is at best "uneven", you'll still have the exact same "but they're inconsistent" complaints, and then on top of that you get people whining that you used off-the-shelf art. (Rather like "oh it's an RPG Maker" game, which is something that Zeboyd Games, another low-budget indie developer, gets all the time; they don't use RPG Maker, but that's another story). You can't make everybody happy. JV is going to more reliably make money by making his audience, like me, happy. Why should he change it?

nimblegorilla 7y ago
Dude... I have and am using asset packs. If your design schtick is looking as cheap as possible then it's not very hard to get what you need.

MammalWithLegs 7y ago

Indie dev here who was been working solo on games for the last 3 years (nights and weekends) using the resources you're describing. You can get a lot of mileage out of those assets for not much money, but it takes a huge amount of time and skill to turn them into something consistent and usable. You can usually find art similar to what you want, but almost never: - in the correct aesthetic - the right size - with the proper animations It's a full-time job to find this art in the first place, to resize, to animate, to recolor, and apply effects to the art to help it match your desired aesthetic. And then it still is never good enough. There's a lot to be said for having someone produce art to your requests in a consistent style, even if the quality of the art is not extremely high.

cestith 7y ago

I think the key words here are "New Coke". When you change your focus from a loyal customer base and change key aspects of your product they prefer in order to chase a competitor's customers you risk losing your own base and still not picking up a substantial portion of the rest of the market.