The indie game market is a rapidly growing market. The increasing access consumers have to mobile devices, coupled with the improvements in technology and software has really opened up the market for developers.
A report published by Newzoo stated the total consumer spend to be $137.9 Billion USD in 2018 and this was an increase of 13.3% on prior year. They estimate it to increase to 180.1 Billion by 2021 this is a massive 30.6 % over the next 3 years. With this kind of growth there is a surge in the amount of indie developers entering the market.
For someone who is looking to pursue selling 3d models online this presents a great opportunity and there has never been a better time. The big question is how do you stand out above all the other aspiring 3d artist. Here are some great tips you might want to consider
1. Treat it Like a Business
The first thing you have to understand when you are attempting to sell on marketplaces such as Unity Asset Store or Unreal Engine Marketplace is that you will be in direct competition with other artists who have the time and resources to commit.
Simply making a model uploading it and hoping for the best may not be the best approach. The people who succeed have made many models and made many mistakes. They have learnt what works, perfected their workflow, dealt with customer service and how to market their assets.
Your competitors will have a vast amount of data as to what works, how to price their models and best way to present their models. They have done this through trial and error and not through a sample size of one.
This should not be a deterrent, this just means if you can develop the mental fortitude and skills you can easily be one of the few who can be successful.
2. Understand Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience is crucial. Simply modelling something because you want to may not be the best approach. Thinking about what a developer may want out of a model is important.
For example you decided to make a treasure chest. Simply modelling a treasure chest may not be enough. You may want to make sure there is enough functionality that it is modelled in two pieces so the lid can open. You could take it a step further an animate the lid opening for them. Maybe take it even further and add in some simple particle effects and sound effects.
This kind of approach may appeal to a one or two man teams who are limited with time. All the hard work is done for them and essentially it’s just plug and play.
Take any opportunity you can to differentiate yourself from competitors even if that means you learn a little bit of coding. That way you have an edge over the competition.
3. Type of Models
When choosing what to model it is worth doing some research on the markets as to what’s available. You will find people tend to preference creating models such as characters and equipment. To be competitive with these you will need to have knowledge in rigging and animation. Not to mention there are some pretty talented artists out there.
Props and environment assets are less popular with 3d artist, but still to stand out you either have to find an under served part of the market or take a conventional idea and put a twist on it.
For example if your speciality is in character modelling why not take the approach of creating a set of ancient statues as props. This way you can work to your strengths and have a lot less competition. This would also save time in work as you do not have to rig and animate.
The possibilities are endless and as an artist it can be up to you to inspire developers when creating their games. It once again comes back to serving the target audience.
4. Consistent Style
A lot of the models you find on marketplaces are beautiful and well done, however may not be ideal for a developer who is looking to use several assets in a scene. If the style is not consistent with the scene it is not going to be ideal.
This presents an opportunity for you to create a set of props with a consistent theme.
A great example of this is creating a modular environment. Almost always when I see these done well on the marketplaces they have loads of rankings and comments. While you cant easily tell whats popular, this would indicate this is something people are really interested in.
More an more Architecture Concepts are being done inside Unity and Unreal Engine due to Real Time Ray Tracing so your could create a bunch of furniture assets utilising a Physically Based Rendering Pipeline.
The options really are limitless.
5. Quality
There is an argument to be made that you should focus on quantity over quality as you won’t know what will be popular, but in this I disagree. Looking at the marketplaces time and time again you see the most popular are the ones where people have gone above and beyond. Not just through artistic talent but also by adding in extras. This may include:
- Animating where practical
- Sound Effects
- Visual Effects
- Including various Level’s of Detail (different size resolution textures and poly count)
- Having the correct file types
6. Keep it Ambiguous
When choosing your model try to find something that can be used in multiple scenarios and not something really niche that would appeal to a small audience.
A random example would be a Space Wizard while this would be pretty cool the amount of games that would utilise a Space Wizard would be minimal. The amount of work involved vs the benefit really is just not there.
Narrowing your market to much is going to really reduce your audience and hence reduce your sales.
7. Sell on Multiple Marketplaces
If you’ve put in a lot of work to create some great models there is no point posting it only or a store like Unity and be done with. You can reach a huge audience by branching out to sites like CGTrader, Turbo Squid and Unreal Marketplace to name a few.
There are heaps of markets out there and it’s these sites sole purpose to market and sell your models. That’s why they can demand the the big commissions. There is no point in limiting yourself.
One word of warning on this subject however ensure you read the fine detail. If a site requires exclusivity then it is up to you to honour this. Ensure you are familiar with the rules to avoid any legal issues. Turbo Squid is a great example they have a program where you can get a higher rate however you have to exclusively sell with them.
8. Do Your Research
Before spending the time to model anything I would recommend doing your research. There are 3 main forms of research you should do.
First research what the standard is for models on the site. This is especially important if you have never used a store like Unity Asset Store before. What you are looking for is how is what standard it is, how they are packed and what kind of files are included. If you have the money buy a premium asset for educational purposes it can really help.
Second look for gaps in the market. Think of some popular games and think about the kind of models they require. Can you easily purchase those models on a asset store or is the current offering lacking.
Third once you have chosen what to model research the popular items in this category what do they do to stand out, is there anything you can do to improve on that. To look for popular items I generally look to find the items that have a lot of reviews, this tends to indicate lots of people have purchased as not everyone leaves a review.
9. Presentation
Taking the time and presenting your models can really help. Ensure you present them in the game of your perspective marketplace for example if its the Unity Asset Store then present them in Unity. Add a video of it in a personal project show your potential customer exactly what they are getting.
Secondly provide a decent description of exactly what is included. What files are included poly counts if applicable and any other function your model has.
Once research and look what the successful sellers are doing as it quite likely they have tried and tested a lot and found what is working.
10. Keep it Simple
If you are looking to create large amount of models on the stores then it is important to keep them simple. If there is a long process to set them and and get them working for the customer, it is very likely that you will have to spend a large amount of time answering questions and troubleshooting.
If this means you need to write a script to give them better control then do so. It can only the quality of your work.
11. Market Your Model
Once you have your models loaded on the store don’t rely on the store alone to sell them promote them. This doesn’t mean you have to spend money promoting. Try promoting through groups on Facebook, create a website, post a few YouTube videos of your asset in action. Jump into Mixamo grab some animations and post a crazy video. TikTok is a popular video sharing platform at the moment.
Be creative it can be fun!! Don’t stick to the normal means you have a lot of freedom as an artist. You aren’t necessarily tied to the social norms that are expected. You have permission to be a bit silly, after all you are marketing to a bunch of grown ups who like to play and make games for a living.
Summary
Hopefully you have found his article to be useful and it has given you some ideas. Don’t be turned off by all the negativity it is totally possible to sell 3d game assets if your willing to put in a the work.