Hello!
I’ve recently been working on a new asset called Snappy that people may find useful in the Asset Store and wanted to get some feedback before trying to release it.
Demo: http://unity.phatrobit.com/productdemos/SnappyDemo.html
Asset used in demo: Unity Asset Store - The Best Assets for Game Making
What is it?
Snappy is a simple system that allows players to create customized objects within your project or game.
How does it work?
Basically you place snap points (a mesh with a collider) anywhere on your objects. Those points will automatically snap to other snap points located on other objects. You can rotate and flip the objects around any way you like before snapping them together, so there’s no need to create more than one of the same prefab.
When will it be available?
I still need to add a saving and loading feature for saving creations as well as loading them into the actual game to play with (non-editable). As soon as that’s implemented and I write up the documentation, I believe it will be ready!
What I’d like to know now is how much would you be willing to pay for this? I was thinking between $20 - $30, but will see what people vote for and decide once it’s almost ready to release!
I’d also really like to know how you would expect it to save / load the objects? XML or just a plain text file are what I’ve been thinking about using, but would like to have any other suggestions!
I am also open to any questions or suggestions anyone might have!
Thanks!
Screenshots:
Before snapping together…
After!
Definitely a useful asset idea. I wanted to create something like this for my asset, only having it work within the editor instead of in-game. I could certainly see the applications for having it in-game as well, though (Kerbal Space Program, for example).
Being on a Mac, I had a few troubles with the demo. No middle mouse button, for one. I also couldn’t get parts to snap to the point I wanted to consistently, but I imagine this is just an issue of getting used to the system.
Pricing would be a tough one for this. Since it doesn’t include any models or anything, it would mainly appeal to the artist who can create textured 3d models, but wants the system for snapping them all together in game. That’s sort of a niche market. But to the kind of person it would appeal to, it could be VERY useful. So it may work to sell it for a higher price, understanding you’ll have a relatively low number of sales. In this case, though, you MUST make it work flawlessly for Macs, because there’s a good chance that’s what your artist customer is using, and he/she has to get a good impression of the product.
Alternatively, you could aim for mass-market appeal, and make it an asset everyone wants to buy. To do that, though, I’d say get rid of the multiple button mouse and key commands altogether and go for visual tools. Handles to rotate and flip, dragging of object, etc. This would make it much more intuitive, and would have the added benefit of working on touch screens, if one so desired to use it in that scenario. In this case, I would actually sell it for cheaper and try to sell way more copies. Who wouldn’t want to buy a $5 asset that would give them all the in-game snapping ability they ever wanted?
Hope that’s helpful somehow. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Schneider, you bring up some great points!
Yeah, KSP was one of my inspirations for making this and I couldn’t find anything on the store like it. I will be including some (crappy, I’m not great at modeling) models for an included example scene, I just wanted to show it off with a decent looking model first. You’re right that they will need to get their models elsewhere so it may only appeal to certain people.
I really like the idea of removing keyboard/mouse controls (or making them an alternative) and instead having handles for manipulation. I didn’t even think about that!
Your asset is looking great by the way! There are a bunch of editor snapping tools in the store already, but I couldn’t find one like this for in-game.
I’m very interested in something like this very
