(i wasn't sure if this belonged in questions & support/get feedback since it wasn't specifically related to itch.io or a concrete product, but apologies in advance if this is also not the right spot!)
as the title says, i've been dabbling with making game assets that i release in early access on my subscription services (presently patreon & kofi). i plan to eventually release them on itch.io in packs, but thought i'd offer them in a slow trickle for a monthly subscription as well.
some potential problems have been coming to mind though, so i wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts/advice.
what would be the ideal way to prevent "dine & dash" situations?
(they subscribe, download everything & then unsubscribe without actually paying anything)
i feel like this is an age-old subscription service problem in general, so there might be something obvious i'm missing. (does patreon charge new patrons immediately these days? my memory fails me, but i suppose that would be one way around it.)
other than that, i'm open to any general advice for running a subscription that includes game assets. most of my current patrons subscribed for other elements of the service (sketches, commission discounts, etc) & haven't given me much feedback on these lol
Shalmons
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Thank you for taking the time to reply!
Good to know about the store page collections
I noticed you mentioned copyright stuff, and while I intend to create most of the assets myself from scratch, I had been wondering what the etiquette would be in regards to incorporating stock images into an asset in some way? Like the very no-strings royalty free stuff you might find on pixabay or unsplash. Do you know if assets derived from stock are allowed on itch, as long as it's properly clarified & credited?
(Examples: 3D model with a photobashed texture made from stock; creature sprite frankensteined from different stock photos & then pixelized; etc)
Again, mostly going to be making stuff from scratch, but there is a part of me that enjoys creating stuff from stock & i got curious about what the rules are for that lol
Might just be impatient, but I'm getting tumbleweed w/this question on bluesky, so I thought I'd try here.
If there is already a thread about this, I would love to be linked to it & apologies for the redundant thread!
btw, by "beginner" I mean "has never made an asset pack before" -- i would like to say I'm at least a little experienced in the art styles I'm thinking about using lol
(art styles i'm considering: pixel art, pre-rendered 2D (like Donkey Kong Country), regular 2D art, lowpoly 3D)
Anyway, open to all manner of advice
but here are various questions, in case those are more helpful that amorphous advice requests:
-when to consider an asset pack done?
-etiquette in regard to adding content to a pre-existing asset pack at a later date? (does itch.io allow that?)
-smallest reasonable size for an asset pack?
(like is it ok to put out a pack that is basically just the same cat with a few different colors/textures applied)
-proper format across different styles mentioned above?
-what should be included with 3D assets? (should it be a blender file, an .obj, something else, how many animations are expected, etc. i admittedly struggle w/the technical side of 3D & need to study more lol)
-pricing?