Losing Your Artistic Voice to Convenient Asset Packs

orangesky · Oct 22 2025

Hello everyone, I'd like to know your opinion on the widespread use that many developers are making of Megascans (to name one example) and other paid or free asset packs in their one-person or small-team development projects.

It's not just once or twice or three times that I've recognized the same asset pack in different, completely unrelated video games. And honestly, recognizing the same assets in different titles gives me a feeling of a generic game, created in a rush or without real interest in it; games created just for the mere sake of trying to generate the maximum possible profit without investing time in it. And I believe that, precisely, the initial and "poetic" idea of indie games was to convey the opposite idea, to give a feeling of fresh air, originality, and differentiation, bold bets to stand out from the rest.

I don't want to be misunderstood; I don't want to demonize the use of third-party assets in an indie, personal project, or even in larger projects. It's fine to use them; I myself have sold assets. But it's not the same to use those assets straight out of the box as it is to edit them a bit so they adapt to our artistic style or our overall idea without losing the essence and level of quality we want to convey.

And I won't even get into the quality-zero assets generated by AI; that's a separate issue and I'm not going to address it in this post.

I look forward to your musings on the topic.

Cheers

MikeF · Oct 22 2025

I dont like it. Theres an inherent cynicism that comes with a project made entirely of asset packs and tutorials that cheapens the art of game development.
Stock assets are however an incredible tool when used as such, they can give you a starting off point or fill in a gap in your skillset when needed, but it should be done sparingly
The project im working on now uses some stock flat maps and weapons that have been modified/reworked to fit in with the rest of my work, anything more than that and i dont really feel like it would be MY game

Rima · Oct 22 2025

Won't they just look like asset flips?

I'm not talking from experience or whatever here, but I feel like art directors or whatever they call that kind of thing from studio to studio or team to team, are probably very fitting into that phrase about "if you do it right, they won't notice you did anything". If you don't have that, it won't look coherent. Assets, sounds, mechanics, won't look, sound or feel like they belong together. Like anime that use CGI as a shortcut for adding mecha but they don't have someone compositing them properly, so they look completely wrong.

Likewise, I think that a game that's using lots of asset store stuff will probably look and feel wrong to the player because the assets weren't made with union in mind. They might not be able to say why it feels wrong, but they will feel it, and those that have played enough games will be able to name the vibe as "asset flip", and review accordingly. Especially since, if a project is made by people who are leaning heavily on bought assets, they probably also lack the knowledge to know how to best use them to hide that dissonant feeling.

I also think that it'll have the other problem of looking too generic. Realism can be good....But it's realism. There's not that much you can do to put your fingerprints on it if the goal is to be as realistic as possible, right? Because style is making "errors" with intention, and realism doesn't allow for that. Especially with highly realistic stuff; you try to stylise that and you get the Uncanny Valley. So even if they use them well and don't give off asset flip vibes, they're also not going to be making something that's visually distinct from the crowd, and that's going to make it hard to get sales, I think, unless they have some incredible mechanic.

That's how it seems to my pleb brain, at least.

kanga · Oct 22 2025

It's how you use it. If you just lump components together I guess that is what it will look like. I.ve been doing my own kitbash project for a few months and it aint as easy as it looks. Check out the vid below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCsMfrfpf-M&list=PLlDGMChkrqexornQbcCQIyZRARJJX3Ijr&index=3

zetheros · Oct 23 2025

well, 'losing your artistic voice' is kinda up to the artist.

Personally I like asset packs that are not very unique and granular enough to add to my work; filagree, alphas. If I can't find something that works I'll just make my own tools, just like when I was a blacksmith many years ago. There's a lot of shoddy asset packs on the market that can slow you down or ruin your work, I just don't pay attention to those

Joao Sapiro · Oct 23 2025

it comes down to time saving imo. Why model the same tables, chairs etc, loosing production time that could be better used for other assets\optimization, when theres a pack that fits the art direction and is well made ? Why model the same rocks\cliffs you see everywhere from scratch ? If you have time\budget then go for it ! if you have tight constraints and you need to maintain quality look, then i guess its okay. It depends alot on productions.

At the end of the day, when youre working for a project, you arent beeing hired for your artistic vision 100% , sure it matters when making assets, but youre making someone else reality come to life.

Losing Your Artistic Voice to Convenient Asset Packs

Replies