(I thought there was a thread for posting requests people had for assets, but I cannot find it. I apologize if this is the wrong place for this thread and understand if it gets moved.)
So there’s a bunch of assets that were removed from the store recently because they used stolen content.
That’s understandable, but still disappointing. There were a number of assets I had my eye on that I was just about to pick up.
I imagine that other people had similar experiences, and people who were using those assets and now need to find alternatives.
So for everyone involved, let’s mention some of the removed assets that we are interested in finding a legally distinct version of. Make sure you mention particularly what made the “original” asset so appealing, so if anyone decides to follow up on these requests they know what elements to try to maintain as opposed to the ones they need to be more creative with.
So I guess I’ll go first.
For my project I’m looking for hand-painted styled creatures. And my camera isn’t too close to the creatures so I was perfectly fine with the lower poly counts many of these creatures had. (The camera distance also made it easier for me to fudge how stylized the creatures looked as well, for what it’s worth.)
Apparently a lot of the removed assets were stolen from World of Warcraft, so I think the hand-painted look it going to be a common theme today.
Starting with what I’m most interested in and working my way down:
This one was inspiring me to make a boss creature made up of all these tentacles hidden in the backs of different mine shafts. I was really interested in this mostly-unseen creature with tendrils popping up out of the ground. But the only other tentacle monster I can find on the asset store looks like it is made out of lava. This one still looked a bit flamey, but it looks biological enough that I thought I could fudge it. Plus, threatening spikes on the tip. So to make it more original than the stolen content, you could drop the “hell” motif and make look more… wormy or snakey or something. A creature of the earth, not a creature of the abyss.
I love how distinct that troll looks, with all those crystal shards growing out of him. Honestly it’s not about the crystal shards per se, but just that he was a big beastie that looked distinctive and unique. Take away those crystals and he looks like just another leathery-skinned troll. Also the two-toned coloring is good.
The lizardMan does a similar thing but with a flavor more for mid-boss than boss monster. Those green tendrils make him look different from the dozen other lizard-man characters on the asset store. Plus he’s also sporting the two-tone look that makes him both more colorful and easier to read.
Also, both of these creatures look non-sentient; they don’t wear clothes and they don’t wield weapons. This was a big plus for my game. They are creatures, not people.
The model is basically a generic evil wizard, and there are plenty of characters like that in the store. But I haven’t seen many with the white robes, and the name “white ghost” really inspires me to have a somewhat ethereal looking creature. Since we’re talking about making something legally-distinct, I would be interested in an apparition that looks like a floating white robe, maybe a misty not-fully-corporeal body fading out of existence could be visible where his legs and face would be. Maybe some glowing red eyes. That would look so rad.
But definitely the floating wizard-robe thing.
I can’t see the assets beyond these thumbnails, so I don’t recall exactly how interested I was in either of these, but I think fantasy-themed robots are pretty cool and in short supply. I think a burly clockpunk-esque robot that looked like it was powered by magic crystals would make a sweet boss fight. Maybe something that looks like a wood-cutting robot that has gone haywire after coming into contact with some foul magic.
I put this one last because honestly I don’t want it for this project, but maybe for one in the future.
Okay, there are dozens of lizard-men and lizard-warriors in the asset store. But how many of them wear a dragon skull as a mask? Frikkin sweet.
