In game development, assets are the backbone of any project. They include everything from 3D models and textures to sounds and sprites—basically, the visual and auditory elements that help bring a game world to life. Without them, a game is just an empty space with no personality.
As master’s students working on our own game, we quickly realized how important it would be to have the right assets. But here’s where we hit a bit of a roadblock: there were no artists in our program—except for Mikhaela, who’s been doing an incredible job on her own (seriously, shout-out to her!).
With only one artist and a year to work with, we needed to find a way to create all the necessary assets without overwhelming her or sacrificing quality.
After talking with our professors about our concerns, they reasured us that they would purchase some assets from the Unity Asset Store. [Link to Unity Asset Store] This was a game-changer. By getting pre-made assets, Mikhaela could focus on the more creative and necessary adjustments, like remodeling characters and fine-tuning the visuals, instead of having to build everything from scratch.
On top of that, a few months in we were fortunate to bring in two external students who’ve been key to our progress: Núria, who’s been working on the UI and HUD (making sure everything looks sleek and user-friendly), and Rex, who’s assisting with the 3D models. Their contributions have been invaluable in helping us move forward without burning out.
With the Unity Asset Store assets in place, Mikhaela got to work refining the ones that needed a bit more love, like our characters. [Insert Character Photo Here] These pre-made assets gave us a solid foundation, letting us focus more on storytelling and gameplay, while still ensuring the game had a unique visual style.
By combining external assets with a talented team, we’ve been able to stay on track and make significant progress without the stress of creating every single asset from scratch.