Idea: Art Assets Portal

I was surfing through some indie freelance artists’ sites, and I came across Qitsune’s blog. One of the posts Qitsune made that caught my eye was entitled “Art and Audio Assets Portal?“

From her post, she plans a “…portal where artists can publish packaged pre-made graphical 2D game assets, like a map pack, a sprite pack, tile packs, or themed pack like, all the art needed to make a XYZ game… When the license to the art is bought, …you buy the rights to use the art…, [and] you can use it as placeholders in as many prototypes as you want.”

Personally, I think this would be a great idea. Finding pre-made 2D art is a rare sight and building a site to house a multitude of these assets would create business for both indie’s, who can churn out games faster, and artists, who can make a livelihood or earn extra cash, alike. The only big hurdle I see is getting enough artists to contribute.

Building a repertoire of art assets take time and dedication – it’s almost like making a game continuously through the years. Amateurs would create one or two packs, most likely drop off soon after and move onto to another project. Freelancers are a mixed bag. So far, most have not made art packs available to indie’s with an exception or two. Who among them will take time to make art packs when they get paid for their time at much higher prices already? If they must be persuaded, I think you’d have to sell them on the long term earnings that packs can bring in but even that is flimsy with no hard facts.

If Qitsune ever decides to make this portal, I’m in! But for now, it’s a nice dream.