Free Apps/Assets that help me as an Indie Game Developer [Megapost]
Hi! I’m an indie gamedev who’s also in University, needless to say that I’m on a budget when it comes to my game creation. I’m making this post to organize my favourite free resources that helped me out.
Also, please note that I’m only commenting on the programs themselves, not the companies/individuals that run them.
For Pixel Art, I use/recommend Dotpict.It’s completely free, you can resize canvases and input custom sizes. It has the essential tools for pixel art creation, and is great to use on small screens with the default point-and-click system. It can also be used on larger touch screens with in “Pen mode”. It also supports animation! Alternatives include Pixquare and Resprite, which function similar to Aseprite for computer. (Resprite does have limited exports in the free version.)
I was recommended Notion by a fellow gamedev friend for organizing ideas/stories. It’s essentially a files-within-files organizer where you can make groups, add pages to the groups, and link other pages. I now use it for my concepts, and am really enjoying it so far.
My go-to for fonts is DaFont. The website allows you to sort and filter in order to only show 100% free fonts to use in your projects. I’ve been using this site for years, and from my experience each download was completely safe.
I’m an RPGMaker user, and rpgmakerweb is a great resource for finding free plugins. Yanfly is also one of the most popular picks for plugins as well. Galv and SRDude are amazing creators with some of the best plugins I've personally ever used.
Launchpad is a beat-mixer app with a literal labyrinth of samples. You can get a free trial to have access to all of them, and I’d recommend it for people looking to explore different genres for in—game music. It’s super fun to just mess around in. You can record and export as well.
FireAlpaca is my personal recommendation for a free digital art software for computer. I’ve used it in the past, and it’s truly a great free alternative to expensive art programs. Krita is also a great free option!
Cymatics is a great resource for free-to-use royalty-free samples/loops. I have a huge sound library thanks to them, and I haven’t paid a cent. Joining their email list also gets you more free packs & the occasional free giftcard.
YoutubeDL is a free and open-source program on Github that allows the safe (speaking on personal experience) download of Youtube videos, as well as audio format. I use this to download royalty-free samples/SFX that are posted on Youtube for anyone to use. You can also download a .exe from their website with the YTDL program directly in it (my personal choice).
Online-Convert is a free online file converter. I've personally relied on it to convert my music into OGG format, and I haven't had any problems with it so far. There are many other converters for lots of different needs and formats as well.
BFXR is a free downloadable program that is great for making digital sound effects for your games. I was actually recommend this program by my prof in first year. You can use all FX in any use for free!
Ibis Paint X is a free drawing app for Apple devices/other mobile devices that support pen pressure. You can upgrade to the full version, but the free version has a lot of options.
Fortelling is great for planning out stories and worldbuilding. It’s optimized for writers to keep track of their projects. You can make timelines, add characters with customizable traits & avatars, create locations, specify items/languages/species, and a lot more. There is a premium subscription version, but I’m perfectly content with the features that come with the default.
Design Cuts is a website for lots of artistic resources, including Procreate brushes, graphic design assets, and more. They give out weekly freebies, as well as an extended commercial license included with every purchase. There’s frequent sales too, and you get so support independent artists.
Feel free to reblog/add your own favourite free resources to share with other devs/artists! I’ll update this post as needed.
Website / Discord Server / Patreon
stormborns
pixelskylines
kianamaiart
annaxmalina
dededos
germansingergirl
blakekathryn
baratheonpilled
