I’ve spent the past two weeks scanning the internet for free animations and models for my game. There are some great finds out there, especially in the animation department, but there are still big holes to fill. .
At this point, I have a single unity project that contains 1000’s of animations, and yet I still don’t have what I’m looking for.
Now, I’m strongly considering making a few purchases on the asset store and elsewhere, but I’m not sure if that’s the best route to take considering I’m still prototyping.
Does anyone have a suggestion as to what assets I should look at (free or pay)? The assets don’t need to be from the asset store either. I’m ok buying stuff from 3d sites like turbosquid provided the licence is applicable. My game is turn based and includes both melee and ranged units. Fighting styles include single weapon, two handed weapons, dual weapons, weapon and shield, etc (standard equipment load-outs). Character models can equip / un-equip gear (armor, boots, helms, etc). Movement options include, climbing, flying, walking, jumping, etc.
Rather than continue with this effort, I thought I’d ask for some advice. What assets do you recommend?
I think the key thing is to remember that you’re working on a prototype. Mixamo is a great source for humanoid animations (and Fuse is great for prototyping characters), but odds are you won’t find exactly what you’re looking for.
Focus more on functionality than aesthetics for a prototype, and you can swap out your assets for final ones later. From the sounds of your scope, you’re going to want a custom character master rig for your equipment anyway.
You’re prototyping… use cubes, capsules and other primitive super simple shapes. If you really want them animated then knock out some ultra low res models and ultra quick n easy animations for them.
You don’t try to find “real” or otherwise high quality stuff for the prototyping. Unless you are prototyping the visuals themselves. Then sure do it (in a limited manner not the entire game) but only until you have the answers you need for how to get the “look” you want.
That might mean trying different shaders, finding or creating models or sprites in various styles for only a handful of elements in a scene and choosing the “look” you like the best. Then you don’t mess with the visuals any more and prototype the rest of the game (level design, game mechanics, etc) as low fidelity quick n easy visuals as possible.
Even then it makes far more sense to prototype the visuals AFTER you have prototyped the game with primitives or ultra quick n easy graphics. Because until you prototype the actual game you won’t even know exactly what you are building and the time spent on visuals may all have been wasted.
And yes you will almost certainly not find all of the content needed to make your game. Flappy Bird style? Sure. Anything with any meat to it? No. Only bits n pieces here and there.
It seems to me if 1000 animations is not enough, you’ve moved well beyond the prototype stage and are building your game. A prototype can be made with primitives and debugs. Anyway, if you are looking for more free animations, check out the CMU mocap database: http://mocap.cs.cmu.edu
Sure most of them will suck, but if it’s just prototype, that shouldn’t matter. If your game relies heavily on animations, you’ll need to shell out cash to get them the way you want in the end anyway.
thanks, I looked at all those too. I think the problem I’m having is that animations are often only partially correct. In the case of mixamo, the sword and shield animations for example have horrible walking animations, but great upper body animations.
Yeah, I think you’re right. I’m not prototyping in that manner. I have moved beyond that. I’m now exploring all the functionality and refracting as needed. I don’t need highly polished models and animations, but I do need a basic set of animations and models that support the needed functionality. I need a base level of functionality in place before I can start swapping out finished assets.
Of course, one could argue that I should just move directly to the finished asset requirements and not waste my time with junk.
yeah I went through all of those I’m quite familiar with them now. Some are good for climbing etc, but most are useless because the animations are not holding things like shields and weapons.
You are definitely past prototyping. The visual flourish of “correct” animations is far past the prototyping phase. Prototyping is experimenting with basic structures, not collecting pre-created animations. Getting things “looking” right is well within the production phase, not prototyping.
Yeah my methodology is a bit different. I’m working on a living prototype in which each module is refactored and polished as needed. I suppose it’s not incorrect to polish in an agile manner. It certainly keeps my excitement /motivation level up.
Working on blocky primitive animations that you make yourself will avoid all the “noise” you get from finished animations that are far from what you really want. But maybe you prefer browsing for finished animations more than you enjoy making your own. Whatever works best for you.
If I were doing it for prototyping purposes, I would just fire up Blender and crank out some quick-and-dirty animations in a basic armature. Simple box-man as the model, possibly even without a single continuous mesh. (no worries on the joint deformations) Making precise life-like animations takes an unholy amount of time. Making a skeleton simply bend over and wave its arms around is considerably easier and faster.
My guess would be that actually making the game is boring to you and no doubt it is a lot of tedium, nothing difficult that you can’t do, just tedium that you don’t want to do.
To change that you need to come up with a game concept that is fun for you and that you look forward to working on.
Well, I would love to have my artistic / animations skills on par with my coding skills. Coding is my strength, I’ve been doing that for decades. All I was saying is that it’s exciting to see your game come to life with polished assets.
I already have the concept down and I’ve written all the game mechanics / logic code. At this point, I’m working on the presentation layer and hooking everything into unity.
I’m quite familiar with them now. Some are good for climbing etc, but most are useless because the animations are not holding things like shields and weapons.