DANCINGENGIE'S LIST OF FREE-TO-USE GAME ASSETS AND TOOLS (that's a long title)
Last update: Sep 2024
This is a simple list of game design and development tools I personally use on a regular or semi-regular basis when working on games. It serves as a centralized (but in no way definitive!) resource for anyone who needs it.
Unless otherwise stated, all of the following are free, engine-agnostic, and suitable for any use:
Art
- Kenney (2D, 3D, and basically everything else)
- Game-Icons.net (2D, UI)
- iconmonstr (2D, UI)
- itch.io asset section (2D & 3D, some paid)
- Qaternius (3D)
- PS1 Model Collection (3D, PSX style)
- poly.pizza (3D, based on Google Poly)
- Miziziziz's Retro 3D Graphics Collection (3D)
- SketchFab (3D, can search by license and price)
- ambientCG (High-def game-ready materials)
- texture.ninja (High-def textures)
- Artvee (public domain classical art)
- Unsplash (public domain stock images, good for textures or references)
Color Palettes
- Material Design Palette
- ColorDrop
- ColorClaim
- Colordot
- Coolors
- Palettable
- Randoma11y (focused on web design)
- Realtime Colors (focused on web design)
Audio
- Freesound.org (SFX and some music, can search by license)
- 99Sounds (SFX & ambience)
- ActionVFX Sound FX (SFX, mostly free)
- Triune Digital (SFX and music, focused on action/horror, $30 - $100)
- SONNISS GDC Sample Packs (SFX)
- FilmCow Royalty Free SFX Library (SFX)
- ZapSplat (SFX, requires proper attribution)
- Free To Use Sounds (Ambience, paid but has many free samples)
- VideoCopilot's MotionPulse (SFX toolkit, $200)
- Free Music Archive (Music, can search by license)
- Filmmusic.io (Music, requires proper attribution)
- Steven O'Brien' (Music, requires proper attribution)
Software/Webapps
- Audacity - open-source audio editing software
- DaVinci Resolve - free, professional video editing software, no watermarks (~$300 to gain access to some advanced features)
- Sound Particles' Explorer - comb through your sound archives with smart search tools
- Shoebox - a tiny, if old, application that does a lot of small operations for you, like ripping textures off photographs
- Google Keep - simple, no BS notetaking webapp. Great as an "ideas notebook"
- Kenney Shape ($4) - makes simple 3D voxel models out of 2D pixel art
- HacknPlan - sprint management made with gamedev in mind
- Diversion - source control with gamedev in mind
Game Design Articles
- Game Design Resources Master List - massive spreadsheet with excellent talks and blog posts about different game development, design, marketing, et al
- In Pursuit of Better Levels - an organized and visual aggregate of level design principles, with an emphasis on action shooters
- The 13 Basic Principles of Gameplay Design - basic principles to keep in mind when creating a game, system or level
- Game Design Document Template - needs some reorganization, but a good starting point for crafting a unified design doc for your team, or just to get ideas out of your head
- Make It Juicy - an interactive, practical demonstration of "juice"/"game feel" and how it drastically improves the gameplay experience
UI/UX Design Articles
- Good Design, Bad Design - YouTube series examining positive and less positive examples of UI and game design
- Game UI Database - large database of game UI references by catagory
- The Best Icon is a Text Label - great blog post about icon consistancy and why the phrase "they use our app so they know what everything does" isn't necessarily correct
Marketing
- How To Market a Game - I do have qualms about the deterministic writing style, and many posts are hit and miss. But the hits really do hit IMO. Treat it with a pinch of salt, but don't disregard it completely
- The Zero Dollar Marketing Plan (text version)
- Steam Review Explorer
- Game Data Crunch
- Altshift Steam Market Study Tool - powerful Google Sheets template that allows you to compare other Steam games in your genre and get valuable info
- Easy Releasy - itch.io image template pack
- Pitch Decks - small but really helpful index of successful game pitch presentations
- Fee Presskit - web-based presskit generator
- Quick Reference Checklist For Developers Contacting Creators
Misc
- Pinspiry - graphic design resources, great for cool fonts and assets to use in cover art
- Nb Pixel Font Bundle [1] [2] - 40 public domain pixel art fonts altogether
- Game Art Cheatsheet - a short list of common 3D engine bugs and how to fix them
- Tinytools Directory - a huge list of small tools, engines, and codebases for gamedevs
- Polyglot - list of common game and UI terms translated to over a dozen languages by humans. Good starting point for localization
- Derek Yu's "Finishing a Game" - advice on how to actually complete a game, especially if you plan to create a big commerical effort
- Seyed's Publisher Database - long, exhaustive list of indie game publishers, sorted by budget and prefered genres
- Raw Fury's Developer Resources - a sample pitch deck, boilerplate NDA and freelance contracts, and useful spreadsheets put forth by an actual publisher. A great starting point for gamedev bureaucracy, but remember to consult a lawyer before sending these off
- GifCities - Internet Archive's old internet GIFs archive