Recently I understand how hard is to design a game, far more than to programm one. Usually I search for some free stuff online but not everything I want is available so sometimes I have to improvise on that and to change my work a little bit, which is annoying. I don’t know how to design, not even the simplest thing so I just wanna ask what do you guys do? How do you overcome this so called obstacle?
Hi
At first, I want to make something clear about “free stuff”. Use only artworks that you are allowed to use; if there is a license, check that it is compatible with your project, otherwise use it only with the prior consent of the copyright owner(s). Don’t take whatever you want without taking care of the rights especially if your game is publicly available (even with a very low audience). Nobody should consider that it’s safe to infringe copyrights even though I disagree with some parts of its laws. For example, Square Enix sent a DMCA take down notice against Final Fantasy The Legacy whereas it had a ridiculously small audience, Sega asked me to remove a model from my game in 2010…
If you aren’t ready to make any effort, don’t create any game. Accept the fact that you can’t be good everywhere. You’re probably not a computer artist, I’m almost in the same situation.
I overcome this “obstacle” by several means:
- I look for decent models to use as is
- I look for decent models that I could modify to fit into my needs
- Sometimes some people give me some models (Markus Borbély drew my rocket launcher)
- I look for an artist for volunteer or paid job
- I make some models by myself even though I know that it sucks
I have spent some time in learning how to use Blender and I think that it’s not a waste of time because I can go further when I want to modify some models and it helps me to do what I want instead of modifying a lot my initial project because of a lack of good models.
I said that I’m “almost” in the same situation because I don’t know your skills. When I was younger, I drew a lot (with a pen). I draw worse now but I still have some artistic skills. When I feel really comfortable with Blender, I will have a lot of fun in drawing my own enemies for my first person shooter.
Maybe you should focus on improving your programming skills until you can join a team with some artists.
Good luck.
I think Julien is probably correct in guessing that when you say design you mean draw (perhaps as a false friend from the French dessiner), but can you confirm that?
As the original poster talked about “some free stuff online”, I assumed that he was talking about drawing, I didn’t think about game design:
[quote]art of elaborating rules and mechanics to facilitate interaction between players for playful, educational or simulation purposes
[/quote]
My game design is rudimentary: If they don’t surrender, they will die… Oops, I have forgotten to implement the ability of surrendering in the artificial intelligence ;D
@DavidLasry be careful, the “game art” and the “game design” are 2 totally different topics.
While the “game design” is more about the gameplay itself, like the goal of the game, the features, upgrades, whatever, the “game art” is the visual presentation of the game.
As @pjt33 and @gouessej allready mentioned, you probably mean the art.
Creating the art is a work, as hard as coding the game. Of course as you are a programmer, coding to you is easier then drawing.
For an artist programming a game will be a lot harder, then drawing something for it.
Drawing textures, creating 3D models or even creating soundeffects and music needs a lot of practice.
So you have a few posibilities:
- Practice drawing/modeling/creating music, with your preffered program, until you get some skills and you are able to create the art you need
- Focus on coding and use placeholder art or even shapes, until your game reaches a good state. Then try to find someone who can do the art and show what you have got.
- Look for someone who does the art for you (paid or unpaid)
- Look for a team and join it
I have a similar problem, i just can’t keep the motivation. Even if the game progresses well, a little problem/bug is enough to remind me, that the art is stil missing and will be hard to get.
And i am just to impatient to practice drawing 
Also assuming you’re talking about art, not design.
What goussej said is very important: make SURE you aren’t stealing art from other people.
I am also a terrible artist, but the few times I have been happy with my art, it’s because I went with my own style instead of trying to make it look like somebody else’s art. For example, I think my “best” art was a bunch of crayon drawings I did by hand and then scanned in. They weren’t “good”, but they were unique and fit the feel of the game pretty well, which I think goes a long way.
Yea I hear you guys. As far as I know, I haven’t taken anything that is not free-to-use so I’m good. I always check if I’m allowed to use some art.
Regarding the topic, I think I will improve my programming only to join a team with artists later because I have never been an art-fan.
Your website is prettier than mine
Haha, thanks! But I think you’re the first person in history to call it pretty…
It’s not all bad though. Having limitations forces you to be creative instead. You’ll have to come up with interesting game play ideas to compensate for poor graphics. Just take a game like Dwarf fortress for example, they completely focused on game play instead of graphics and the result is a game with an incredible amount of depth. Because of that the game is quite popular, despite looking awful. Oh, and the community is actually helping to create graphics for the game, for free, how awesome isn’t that?. Another example is of course Minecraft. Simple graphics, yet the game play is appealing to a lot of people so the game became incredibly popular. So what I am trying to say here is: focus on game play, not graphics.
With that said, if you’re looking for pixel art graphics, you could take a look at http://oryxdesignlab.com
I think you may to use the sprites for non-commercial for free, but have to pay if you want to use them for commercial games (though the price is really low in my opinion). I bought some sprites from there and I am satisfied with what I got.