The game makers who found careers as asset store creators

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Jonathan van Immerzeel takes a suitcase on vacation. The creator takes a passport, sunscreen, swimming shorts, and audio recording equipment. He can document every aspect of his surroundings in as much detail as he wants.

He does so in order to find inspiration for his next hit program, a program that renders graphics, which he then publishes on the Unity asset store. The maker of Stylized Grass Shader and Stylized Water 2 says that creating these tools for game development, understanding the details of nature, andTranslating that into virtual form has helped foster an appreciation for the actual great. Van Immerzeel says that his eyes and ears need to be open to new information. It's just part of the job.

For the past five years, van Immerzeel has created tools for the Unity asset store, an online marketplace for users of the Unity game engine. Thousands of virtual objects, some beautifully made, others less so, are thrust together as if a high-end department store and thrift shop occupy the same beguiling online space. Anything you can think of that brings a video game to life is included. It is worth checking out an asset store for the first time. Imagine a group of Elden Ring-esque zombies roaming a Japanese street.

Before you know it, your dream video game will look a lot like a monster of stereotypes.

Image: Denis Pahunov

Most game makers don't create games entirely from the material hosted on Unity's asset store unless they face the wrath of players labeling their work an "asset flip" The assets are used for a variety of reasons, from beginners messing with them to professionals using them for rapid-fire prototyping. The primordial terrain of sci-fi game Exo One was created using Map Magic 1. Sometimes the makers of these tools are credited but not always. Denis Pahunov said this isn't a problem. He doesn't think that they should advertise the assets since they already paid him.

Both Pahunov and van Immerzeel started their careers in the modding scene. While the games could hardly be more different, Morrowind, an epic, fantasyRPG, and Unreal Tournament, a high-octane sci-fiFPS, modding allowed both creators to peek into the guts of these titles. It is like dismantling a toy to reassemble it with precision. As a child, Van Immerzeel remembers opening Unreal and seeing a flat piece of geometry with a picture on it, instead of a horizon filled with models of 3D buildings. It was an illuminating moment that revealed the extent of the smoke and mirrors video games use.

There is something lovely about these formerly teenage tinkerers facilitating the next generation of game makers with a suite of digital tools. The plug-ins allow game makers to buy solutions to complex problems so that they can focus their efforts on the larger picture. It is possible to create gorgeous virtual landscapes at both a macro and micro level.

Assets are a business. When van Immerzeel was let go from his warehouse job in the Netherlands, he started studying art and technology. Van Immerzeel had a lot of free time and decided to make something. The post blew up after he posted it on the unity subreddit. The creator has graduated, dabbling in contract work, but is drawn back to the store because of his revenue. A little over 33,000 was brought in by the second edition of "Stylized Water". In between game development jobs, Pahunov devoted himself full-time to the asset store, bringing in thousands of dollars per month.

For others, like Noah Ratcliff, part of worker-owned game studio cooperative Aesthetician Labs, the Unity Asset Store is a reliable source of money. Ratcliff's tool, " Easy Feedback Form", was developed as a personal project during college, but now supplements the income of the studio, raking in over $7,000 so far. This goes a long way to covering basic costs for Ratcliff and his friends, who are still early in their game development careers. Inscryption, the hit collectible card game, had a feature called "Easy Feedback Form" that was used to fine- tune the title. Ratcliff says that they are technically an award-winning asset.

Making a living from the kind of tools and assets that are used to make video games can be very difficult. You are entering into a business arrangement with yourself, your potential customers, and the ebbs and flows of market demand, but you are also dependent on companies such as Unity. Search results for prospective buyers are dictated by their Algorithms.

Image: Brandon Gillespie

Just ask Brandon Gillespie, a 3D artist who has sunk days and weeks into planning and creating eye-catching assets such as " Peacekeeper Robot" only to sell a few units. " Farm Field", which came together in a number of hours, shifted over 200 units, while " Greeble City" has sold over 650. Huge numbers are not what these are. The unpredictability is a huge problem for Gillespie, who treats asset-making as a side hustle. He hasn't published more because of the "hit and miss situation." Quality is no guarantee of success.

If you want to be an asset creator, you need to consider the regularity with which the engine is updated. Van Immerzeel warned me to be careful when I raised the subject. There are a lot of things to say about that. With a growing portfolio that likely contains asset packages with numerous models, maintaining assets for each new version of Unity is a time-Consuming business. The range of variables for a fix can quickly add up if you consider thatUnity may work differently on different hardware. There is a weird glitch on the PS5 that you can't anticipate. "You don't have the development hardware so you're hoping customers don't run out of patience while you fix it."

Despite these issues, as well as contract work which has seen him work on a host of notable games, van Immerzeel thinks his future is with the Unity Asset Store. He can follow his curiosities. Sometimes it doesn't result in profitable assets. If he wasn't doing this, he'd be working at a studio doing exactly the same thing, but without the same degree of freedom.

Pahunov sees the work in a different way. He considers video games to be art. I would like to be a painter or sculptor. It doesn't make me closer to being an artist if the entire community uses my brush.

His tools have aided Pahunov in achieving this. Antti Ilvessuo, the studio's very own former creative director, encouraged him to apply for the job. The asset store caught Ilvessuo's attention. The next innovation to Van Immerzeel's business would be sound. The recording equipment he takes with him to far flung corners of the planet is part of the plan to stay one step ahead of the competition.

He says that everyone offers environment packs but they don't have audio. There is a market for it on the asset store.