As we're on a dev forum, many of us here are not 2D/3D artists so our potential games comes with assets that may not be a good match for the design and code.

Maybe, there is a way, if you like little plastic bricks like Lego (there are now many competitors and cloners than decades ago), Stud.io is a great tool to create 3D models using Lego parts in any colors and quantity, as long as your computer can sustain huge models, the tool is made using Unity by the way.


There are many fan websites like Rebrickable hosting tons of models which can be use (with respect with theirs author of course) as-is or as inspiration.
Then you can render pictures using various features and details (realistic or more cartoonish) so the generated pictures can also be used
right away in a game or as templates for pixel arts assets, 3D models or anything else.

Here is an example using a nice Gudi model (a Chinese brand which doesn't just copy Lego models), it can be use for a top/side scrolling shoot'em up or space game, in a cut scene or as something in background in a picture.



(I know, the top view isn't perfectly centered, it's just a quick preview)

Do not hesitate to share your creations 🙂.

Something like this is OK to use for prototyping perhaps, but I'd be very careful not to show publicly any of those creations lest lego company send their lawyers after me. Legoland is very similar to the Mouse incorporated when it comes to IP.

    If you're not good at 3D or 2D, then learn, the best thing about games these days is you don't need zomgwtf unreal style realism to make a game as long as you get the point of your visuals across. Especially given how common it is for devs to shamelessly rip 3D assets, these days if I see a game with 'good graphics' I immediately think it's going to be garbage.

    The reason being is we've all seen these internal systems before and when I look at the third party assets I know the studio in question likely has barely any experience making games or worse they're lazy and are looking for a quick asset flip cash grab by charging as much money as possible for what is essentially an early access game and then running off when the torches and pitchforks come out. That's not to say you shouldn't make a game with terrible graphics, but you should find a style that suits your workflow, there's also that issue of time spent on art and indie devs can definitely outperform the big studios if they ignore fussing about graphics and concentrating on things like animation, gameplay and sound.

    You have to bear in mind that the big studios are likely getting a couple of million in funding at least and have 30 artists on a regular payroll full time, don't ever compare yourself to them in terms of art quality.

    Megalomaniak Something like this is OK to use for prototyping perhaps, but I'd be very careful not to show publicly any of those creations lest lego company send their lawyers after me. Legoland is very similar to the Mouse incorporated when it comes to IP.

    Of course it won't be very smart to use Lego owned designs, but there is no issue at all to create our own using Lego bricks, especially considering Stud.io allow to add or not logo on studs (it looks like to be a bump/normal map) and I just suggest to create some render, then apply at least some filters like oil paint or pixelize and better to draw on top of it using the picture as reference.

        2 months later

        Don't worry if your game has naff graphics that run at 30 fps, Redfall came out on Xbox last week, and the whole world's crying about it, seriously cry me a sodding river about the 30 fps non issue.

        I've been a gamer since the early 80s and have obviously played even slower games with NO problems.

        JusTiCe8 Of course it won't be very smart to use Lego owned designs, but there is no issue at all to create our own using Lego bricks

        The problem with using official legotm bricks is that the word 'lego' is stamped all over them.

          I've been following the philosophy of "git gud".
          You get some really cool visuals when you suck at traditionally "good" art, but you creatively weave that suck into something passable. Granted, it's an option only if you have a year to practice the whole [art -> game] workflow. It takes a while, but the outcome can be more than worth it.
          It's also a really good excuse to spend a day not code monkeying or worrying about logic and just go outside and draw some trees. Remember you're a human and computers exist for a reason. We're not machines. :-)

          You should also remember that a jack of all trades is usually a master of none.

          Have you read the license? Do you own the models that lego software creates? Can you distribute them in a game? Somehow I doubt it

            davek Forgive me for mentioning the "competition" but there's an official Lego "microgame" tutorial for Unity on their website, I successfully did and uploaded it last month.

            Fully editable to make it your own.

                GodotBeginnerRich It'd be really funny if we had so much animosity for [HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED], it was a bannable offense to even mention it.

                  You can make a game with crap graphics and still be successful. Look at Minecraft. Or Cruelty Squad, which was made in Godot.

                  There have been a lot of cases where people make a fan game and get it shut down right before they publish. Stay away from copyrighted material. It doesn't matter if it's free or whatever, many times they will shut it down and you won't know until the last minute. And ships like this are extremely easy to make in Blender. Just watch some tutorials from Imphenzia. He makes a ship, or simple object in 10 minutes.

                    fire7side I completely agree, really these days it's much better to hammer out your own brand and franchise even if it's a blatant rip off of what you like done to the bare minimum so you don't get sued, partly because people are that fed up of the state of things when it comes to the games industry they'll give it a shot over the brand that's reliably screwing them over every release.

                      I've received cease and desists before. Not worth the legal hassle. Just make your own designs.

                      Can just use Asset Forge by Kenney, and you can even add your own pieces. Ain't worth taking the risk with Lego.

                      I mean, you can make blocky art. Lego doesn't own the idea of blocks or voxel art. But they do own the specific shape of the blocks and the way they fit together. Star Wars (well, Disney) is also a huge ball buster, you'll get sued 100%.

                      But in that same way, Disney does not own the idea of flying space craft. You can invent your own ship design, that doesn't steal from others, and it is fine. Just don't steal art or you will be sorry.

                      I know this from personal experience. I won't name the companies, but there were two things I got in trouble for, one was a project I worked on for 6 months at least and had to can, and the other was a video that got my YouTube channel restricted for years. Don't do it.

                      9 days later

                      I've just been playing a cool platformer on Xbox called Ratyboy (where you control a Rat, methinks there's a typo in the title), I'd like to try and create summat similar (not on Xbox obviously, I don't have the license) but different enough to not infringe copyright.