You can purchase software designed to create specific content for the same price, and sometimes less than what the asking price is for models, and packs being sold on TurboSquid, and places like it. These software programs cater to a specific need, and usually allow you to create a limitless number of procedurally generated content. Their price range varies but will allow you to create any number of content to add to whatever project you're working on. Examples of this are present on Turbo as well. Prices for products being sold on Turbo vary as well. Quality of available content, and content being worked on by other vendors, and their prices will also vary widely.

All that aside, you can also purchase software that suits your needs at an appropriate price range, and is not designed to cater to specific content creation. Some programs are completely free as well.

How about having a marketplace focused on game development content only?

Just Google "Game Asset" or "Game Asset Marketplace", thy chance every week as some ambitious person opens a new one.

Here on damedev.net there is a Marketplace but it is undersold.

As you mention there is both the Unity and Unreal asset stores, thy both have the advantage of being near the intended game engine.

There are some good PBR assets at the Unity store you will just need to dig through piles of bad content before finding them.

The Unreal store has a strict quality control policy so thy are underpopulated, thy will get more content over time it's just a bit intimidating for artist now.

Turbosquid is a bad option for game developers, it's leans much more to the CGI community than game development.

This means a lot of over priced props and a lot of props that need to be adjusted before thy work in a game.

I seek for your opinion and advice whether it make sense to build another stock platform for game development purposes or it is doesn`t

Unless you are some kind of marketing expert, you will fail.

The simple fact is there are too many asset stores, it's at a point where as a 3D artist I host assets at the top three sites that appear on Google by moving my assets from stores that have less than four hundred visitors a day.

As a artist there is a simple ratio. A store that sees a thousand views a day and holds three of your props will sell one of yours each month.

This is a very rough calculation from my own sales information, I am not the most involved artist in asset stores and I bet others make much more.

So 3 assets + 1000 possible buyers = 1 sold prop per month. +/- $15 average a month.

My monthly average is: 3 stores * 12 assets = 12 sold per month = +/- $180 average a month, this is then my gaming budget for the month and it is usually more like $150.

Some times I will get lucky and sell one of my CGI props at Turbosquid, that is +/- $40 instantly.

So unless you have something like Unity,Unreal and gamedev.net that brings customers you will fold.

Note I don't sell on gamedev.net, by my calculations I will sell two assets each year if I sold here.

Both the Marketplace and Classfields sections are kind of hidden and don't get that much views.

If thy added even something small like a Assets tab on the homepage, then it would be profitable enough for me to sell here.

You can purchase software designed to create specific content for the same price, and sometimes less than what the asking price is for models, and packs being sold on TurboSquid, and places like it. These software programs cater to a specific need, and usually allow you to create a limitless number of procedurally generated content. Their price range varies but will allow you to create any number of content to add to whatever project you're working on. Examples of this are present on Turbo as well. Prices for products being sold on Turbo vary as well. Quality of available content, and content being worked on by other vendors, and their prices will also vary widely.

All that aside, you can also purchase software that suits your needs at an appropriate price range, and is not designed to cater to specific content creation. Some programs are completely free as well.

you have to posses specific skills to operate the software. I am a programmer and I do know how this software works, however I could not be so nice in art as my peers.

How about having a marketplace focused on game development content only?

Just Google "Game Asset" or "Game Asset Marketplace", thy chance every week as some ambitious person opens a new one.

Here on damedev.net there is a Marketplace but it is undersold.

As you mention there is both the Unity and Unreal asset stores, thy both have the advantage of being near the intended game engine.

There are some good PBR assets at the Unity store you will just need to dig through piles of bad content before finding them.

The Unreal store has a strict quality control policy so thy are underpopulated, thy will get more content over time it's just a bit intimidating for artist now.

Turbosquid is a bad option for game developers, it's leans much more to the CGI community than game development.

This means a lot of over priced props and a lot of props that need to be adjusted before thy work in a game.

I seek for your opinion and advice whether it make sense to build another stock platform for game development purposes or it is doesn`t

Unless you are some kind of marketing expert, you will fail.

The simple fact is there are too many asset stores, it's at a point where as a 3D artist I host assets at the top three sites that appear on Google by moving my assets from stores that have less than four hundred visitors a day.

As a artist there is a simple ratio. A store that sees a thousand views a day and holds three of your props will sell one of yours each month.

This is a very rough calculation from my own sales information, I am not the most involved artist in asset stores and I bet others make much more.

So 3 assets + 1000 possible buyers = 1 sold prop per month. +/- $15 average a month.

My monthly average is: 3 stores * 12 assets = 12 sold per month = +/- $180 average a month, this is then my gaming budget for the month and it is usually more like $150.

Some times I will get lucky and sell one of my CGI props at Turbosquid, that is +/- $40 instantly.

So unless you have something like Unity,Unreal and gamedev.net that brings customers you will fold.

Note I don't sell on gamedev.net, by my calculations I will sell two assets each year if I sold here.

Both the Marketplace and Classfields sections are kind of hidden and don't get that much views.

If thy added even something small like a Assets tab on the homepage, then it would be profitable enough for me to sell here.

Ninja, thank you so much for such a good opinion with argumentation.

I found ~40 active marketplaces with 3d assets on sale.

Deep overview with license analysis and available content have been done for about 10 most popular stores, I am actively working on that.

Only few of them keep clear focus on what they sell, everybody else just about to get as much as possible on the shelf.

My goal is to build something in between of unitys asset store and unreal marketplace with focus on photo-real content (PBR) to be the best in the specific niche.

I am not a genius marker but I do have successful business experience in the industry.

So far, I posted similar topics to the ~8 another forums and I see 50\50 in people`s opinions.

Looking for more discussion!

hey gamedev, I would love to keep you updated on my research, but I need a bit of your activity :)

thanks

I Have a few questions then.

1.)Have you ever made a game or sold a asset?

2.)I don't expect you to tell me everything but what kind of advertising plan do you have?

3.)What will be the customers payment options?

4.)What about Tax Laws?

These are things a Artist expect from a asset store owner:

5.) How much money will we get to keep?

6.) How and when will I get payed?

7.) Exclusive assets, and if not is there some kind of benefit for exclusive assets?

8.) How much marketing info will I be privileged to?

9.) Do you have a template or can I just use any images I want?

10.)Do you have any pricing rules?

11.)What formats can be uploaded?

12.)Will customers have to download all the formats at once or can thy just download what thy want?

13.)Do thy have to pay again to download again?

14.)Can I update assets?

15.)What is the difference between downloading a free asset and a payed asset?

16.)How do I advertise my products on your site?

17.)Do you inform me why my model didn't make it past quality control?

18.)Is there a benefit to staying a with you over time?

19.)If someone uses a voucher or such do you pay me?

20.)What payment options do customers get?

21.)How will you get customers to buy there first model?

22.)Can a asset be taken down from the store?

23.)Will you cleanup old models?

24.)Can artists vote on a other artists assets?

25.)Do artist have a say on the pricing of other artists assets?

26.)The big one, what is the license?

You can purchase software designed to create specific content for the same price, and sometimes less than what the asking price is for models, and packs being sold on TurboSquid, and places like it. These software programs cater to a specific need, and usually allow you to create a limitless number of procedurally generated content. Their price range varies but will allow you to create any number of content to add to whatever project you're working on. Examples of this are present on Turbo as well. Prices for products being sold on Turbo vary as well. Quality of available content, and content being worked on by other vendors, and their prices will also vary widely.

All that aside, you can also purchase software that suits your needs at an appropriate price range, and is not designed to cater to specific content creation. Some programs are completely free as well.

If you can show me an application that allows you to create models "cheaper" than what they are sold for on sites like squid, I would gladly pay 1000$ for it! Really!

Now, I know some of the newer tools are really amazing, my time creating textures has really been slashed by using DDO instead of handpainting in 3D Coat or Photoshop. That tool really helped me a lot.

Still, I don't see procedural modelling getting anywhere yet. You might be able to do some simple models like trees by using procedural tools like speedTree modeller, or you might be able to kitbash stuff by using some stock or selfmade library... still, you are investing lots of your time to finish anything a little bit more detailled.

Yes, I know about Mixamo Fuse and similar tools... which are great timesavers if all you need is a generic looking character. Or, if you invest a little bit more time, a slightly less generic looking character. I still think we are miles away of doing anything really artistic with these tools, even though they might be really good starting points for very good sculpts (might buy Fuse just for that at some point).

Now, I earn around 35-40$ per hour (depending on how I calculate my monthly salary back to a hourly one) in my job. If I spend even 5 hours on finishing a model, which will most probably still be a rather simple prop in the end, that has costed me 150-200$ already to create!

If you start putting a price behind the time you spend on your own 3D models, you suddenly start to realize the seemingly high price of stock 3D art is not that expensive. Especially when you hear stories about just how little sales some artists get from a single 3D model.

So even with all the amazing new tools around (that, most of the time, are not as amazing as they are sold at. Good artists can achieve great results with it in a shorter time, but thats about it), Stock art has its place and is important, especially to the Indie devs out there that cannot create art, or just lack the time to do that.

If you think purchasing a tool to create art instead of purchasing the art itself is a good investment, you are most probably not the target audience for 'Squid or other stores like it. That doesn't make the art sold there a bad deal, nor does it make the devs buying stock art making bad decisions. It is just another option that is not a smart decision for everyone, but can save a lot of time for some.

And never forget: Time is Money. Use yours well

If you can show me an application that allows you to create models "cheaper" than what they are sold for on sites like squid, I would gladly pay 1000$ for it! Really!

Aaah, I see what you saying, I didn`t quite understand your first reply :)

I meant that buying software make sense for those who posses artistic skills. As for me(dev) there is no benefits of buying 3dmax\maya, etc.

Now, I know some of the newer tools are really amazing, my time creating textures has really been slashed by using DDO instead of handpainting in 3D Coat or Photoshop. That tool really helped me a lot.

Try Substance Painter, and slash it more =).

Still, I don't see procedural modelling getting anywhere yet. You might be able to do some simple models like trees by using procedural tools like speedTree modeller, or you might be able to kitbash stuff by using some stock or selfmade library... still, you are investing lots of your time to finish anything a little bit more detailled.

It`s not quite 100% procedural. It still requires a lot of knowledge and artistic view. Thats just a tools. (Substance\DDO)

Now, I earn around 35-40$ per hour (depending on how I calculate my monthly salary back to a hourly one) in my job. If I spend even 5 hours on finishing a model, which will most probably still be a rather simple prop in the end, that has costed me 150-200$ already to create!

That`s good if you have full time job or fulfilled with freelance tasks 8 hrs per day. But there are plenty of people who do things for fun or in between jobs.

Hey Ninja, so far, conversation with you is just plain insight for me.

I appreciate your attention and help. If you ever need programming help\advice - you are welcome :)

Now, here we go with answers

I Have a few questions then.

1.)Have you ever made a game or sold a asset?

Yes I do. I am running a small firm (up to 15 dev) and we do high-end content and developing variety of stuff.

2.)I don't expect you to tell me everything but what kind of advertising plan do you have?

The first step would be to produce first batch of content by ourselves and make set of video guides on tips and tricks, but not publish it.

Then I will go and find 10-20-30 artists or production studios and help them to make their models good and nice with my resource.

When we have all their content on my website, I will go to game dev. studios and would offer different licensing options.

By the time we receive first contracts, we will know what those studios looking for in order to accomplish their games.

And thats to make first "loop" of sales guaranteed and expand to more wide audience.

+ some publicity, news buzz, good experience, usability and published guidelines could make service interesting for freelancers and others.

I am not going to re-invent a wheel and will use best tools available in the area of web development.

shopify.com - shopping, amazon\google servers - storage and so on.

facebook\google acc\twitter for login, etc

3.)What will be the customers payment options?

shopify provides 70 payment methods.

4.)What about Tax Laws?

We are New Jersey based and I have lawyer :).

I don`t see too much problem with US\Canada\Europe.

These are things a Artist expect from a asset store owner:

5.) How much money will we get to keep?

It depends how much money it would cost to keep infrastructure running.

6.) How and when will I get payed?

usually it depends on the payment methods. Each transfer cost some money - bank fees.

Btw, with bitcoins - immediately =)

7.) Exclusive assets, and if not is there some kind of benefit for exclusive assets?

Very depends on how much visits website can expect.

8.) How much marketing info will I be privileged to?

Good quesiton ;)

I still research customer base from "buyers" point of view.

PBR going to take over 100%. But how quickly it will penetrate indie market I don`t know.

Marketing related questions are open.

9.) Do you have a template or can I just use any images I want?

Content is pre-moderated. I was thinking to make set of plugins and template scenes for unity\unreal\etc to be able to setup content quickly.

Even more, I was thinking to be able to upload just archive or package and system will do everything automatically or with minimal help.

10.)Do you have any pricing rules?

Good point! I was going to talk to buying customers what fraction of production price they would expect or satisfy.

11.)What formats can be uploaded?

Basic - fbx + textures

Advances - source package file (max, etc) + ddo\substance sources. For extra charge (if seller willing to do so).

+ options, if LOD`s, shadow LOD, collisions, or particle markers required.