How do you Guys manage it?

General Discussions
#1

I am new to Android Game development and soon found out it will be not as smooth as I thought it would be !!!

I can write Codes (means I am a Programmer , a member of your community :wink: ). I thought to start it simple , with 2D Pixelart style games. I written a custom Game Engine for the purpose with Libgdx in nearly 4 Months.

Up to this it was kinda smoothā€¦ But after that I am stuck !!! The biggest problem I am facing :

HOW DO YOU GUYS MANAGE TO GET THE ATTRACTIVE GRAPHICS FOR YOUR GAMES ?

I Googled for Pixelart resourcesā€¦ But didnā€™t found much of useful arts.
I Googled for tutorials on Pixelart , I found them going tangential to my head (They are much different from Coding tutorials , arenā€™t they?. I can learn new Programming languages within days, but Pixelart ? Ok forget itā€¦)

I thought to involve some artist ,but at first contact, they ask what games have you made till today and when I disclose that I am a beginner , they say : ā€œGOODBYEā€

Some ask for upfront but wonā€™t settle with profit-sharing. Being my first project, which is quite hard for me.

So I just want to ask you How do you manage to get amazing graphics? or How did you managed for the first time at least ??

Any suggestions will be helpful. Please share your experience. They will be really helpful for meā€¦

Also if you know some good game graphics source , share them tooā€¦

Waiting for your reply !!!

#2

I think most people here either make the art themselves, whether that be solo or they have an artist on their team, or pay an artist. You might just need to save up and pay someone if you donā€™t like the art that you can produce yourself.

#3

This is the extent of my personal artistic ability. Good luck.

#4

The quality of the assets you get rises with the amount of money you are willing and/or are able to pay. Simple as that. You donā€™t get amazing graphics for cheap.
Except you get to know someone (in person !) to build up an ongoing team.

But for starting and learning, there should be enough free stuff on the internet.

#5

There are lots of resources for freely available, mostly pixel, art resourcesā€¦

www.opengameart.org for example.

Unfortunately, the quality of what you will find for free is often somewhat lacking. However, if you keep digging, you might just find something usefulā€¦ in the meantime, why not just use placeholder art?

There also seems to be a trend in the minimalist games, that might be something worth considering?

#6

I can only agree with bmanmcfly hereā€¦
You should first create some simple games with placeholder/programmer art, a process in wich you are learning to draw pixel art (or whatever kindo of art you are using) as well.
Then if you finally are at the stage where you want to release a game publicly and are in need for an artist, you still can show him your previously written games, and he might see that you are a talented programmer for whom it would be worth drawing art, aaaand you wouldnā€™t have to tell him that you are a beginner :smiley:
There actually isnā€™t much free, usable art out there, so donā€™t hope for that too much.

I hope thatā€™s helpful.

Cheers,
from someone who is drawing programmer art ever since he started codingā€¦ :wink:

#7

I mostly leverage things like perlin textures, particle generation effects with maybe a little pixel art. Understanding perspective and anti-aliasing can lead to a surprising amount. Also learning a bit about visual composition. Thereā€™s a fair bit you can do with basic shapes.

Havenā€™t managed to snag a artist as a collaborator yet. Am hoping that finishing Hexara will add to my credibility on that front.

#8

As long as you donā€™t plan to use them commercially, https://graphicriver.net/ might have some fitting offers for little money (Commercial licenses are more expensive). At least I bought some stuff from them.

#9

Yeah Iā€™ve bought some from them too. Itā€™s usually about 5-10 bucks per sprite if youā€™re not going to sell your game, and $100 if you want to sell the game.

#10

The best way to learn to draw something is by copying it. All you need is practice, like to programming.
I learn to draw my game Ylao watching videos of Pencil
I took an image of kingdom rush and literally copied it. Until eventually I was improving and drawing my things. But without practice there is no mastery
Advice: draw a simple sketch or shape and go ā€œdecoratingā€. Things can always be drawn from a circle or a triangle

I hope someday draw something like this:

http://www.hardcoregamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/BugButcher02.jpg

#11

Make your own. Even if you did find some good resources, it would be virtually impossible to find more with a the same art style.

#12

Nvidiaā€™s Control Panel gives you graphical options for your Nvidia graphics card.
Run Ninja Run

#13

Thanks for the link

#14

Sighā€¦ this is why we canā€™t have nice things.

Cas :slight_smile: