itch.io

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! And I think you brought up another very interesting problem — finding the right assets is also a huge challenge for indie developers.

But I think my direction is slightly different from improving asset discovery or categorization. What I'm exploring is not gathering existing assets together, but building an asset ecosystem from the beginning.

The idea is that each asset is designed with the others in mind, so characters, environments, props, UI, and animations can naturally work together as part of the same game world.

Instead of asking developers to search for many different pieces and then make them fit together, I'm wondering if we can reduce that problem by creating collections around specific game experiences.

Of course, asset discovery and categorization are still important problems, and I agree that itch's tag system can sometimes make finding niche assets difficult. Thanks for bringing up this perspective!

Thanks for testing and for the feedback!

I probably won't add an ending animation yet because this is still a prototype — I'm mainly focusing on testing the core gameplay loop first.

The WASD issue is related to Unity's default input system. I kept it simple for this prototype, but I'll replace it with a proper custom control setup later.

I'll also consider your suggestion about using W/Up for jumping. Thanks again!

Thank you for sharing your experience. I really appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed reply.

I think there might be a small misunderstanding though — I wasn't saying my current art style is inconsistent or that I dislike my own work. I actually agree that having a consistent style is important, and I'm happy with the direction I'm taking.

What I was trying to discuss is a broader problem many indie developers face when using external assets: even when individual assets look good, combining different pieces into one game world can still be challenging. (And recently, I've also noticed that even assets from the same creator can sometimes have cohesion issues as the collection grows.)

Your story actually shows another side of this problem — creating a cohesive game world can require a lot of time, money, and difficult decisions, especially for solo developers.

This is exactly the problem I'm interested in exploring. Instead of creating isolated assets, I'm trying to explore whether building a consistent asset ecosystem could help indie developers create cohesive game worlds more easily.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened with your studio. Thank you for sharing your experience, and I hope your future projects go better.

That's a beautiful way to see it. 😊

I think everyone finds value in art differently. For me, the value already exists in the work itself—the persistence is just the ticket to bring it into the world.

I've been thinking about a problem that many indie developers probably face:

There are many amazing asset packs available, but when combining characters, environments, UI, and objects from different sources, the overall style can sometimes feel disconnected.

One solution I'm exploring is building a consistent pixel art ecosystem — a collection of assets designed to naturally work together instead of isolated packs.

My animation pack was the first step, and I'm currently expanding this idea into more parts of a game world.

I'm curious: How do you usually solve asset consistency in your own projects? Do you edit assets yourself, stick to one artist, or mix different styles :D?

Yes

Logically speaking, my base resolution is 16, so it shouldn't fall within the 8x8 range. But thanks for the reminder anyway.:D

Hi everyone!

While making prototypes, I noticed that a lot of time is spent recreating common character animations again and again.

Movement, tool actions, and character states are important, but they are also repetitive work that can slow down the actual game design process.

So I created a reusable pixel character animation pack designed for indie game prototypes.

The pack includes:

• Character movement animations
• Tool-holding animations
• Survival-style character states
• Ready-to-use sprite sheets and animation files

Supported formats:

• PNG sprite sheets
• Aseprite source files
• Unity-ready assets and animation setup

You can preview the animations through the demo before deciding if it fits your project:

Survival Prototype Animation Template Pack by xuanergame

My goal is simple: help developers spend less time rebuilding common systems and more time focusing on designing their games.

Feedback is always welcome!

I'm currently drawing tool idle / tool run animations.
Here's a small preview 👀

感谢建议！

这个包目前会继续完善横版内容，所以不会加入八方向动画。
不过我确实计划以后做一套独立的俯视角动画包，到时候会覆盖这些方向，欢迎关注，后续有进展我会持续更新！:D

Thanks! Glad you like it!

The main difference from a traditional parry is that a parry catches an attack after it's released, while an interrupt stops the attack at the moment it begins, preventing it from happening in the first place.

Also, regarding the timing window: if you watch the enemy animation carefully, there's a very brief moment between the charging phase and the actual attack where the enemy "commits" to the strike. That's the interrupt window.

I'm still experimenting with how readable that moment should be. Recently I've been considering making it slightly more obvious through animation or a subtle flash, but I'm not sure yet whether that's the right direction.

Thank you so much for taking the time to play and leave such detailed feedback!

You're absolutely right. I realized I didn't explain the controls or the core objective clearly enough. This prototype is focused on testing a single combat mechanic, but without proper instructions it's easy to get confused about what you're actually supposed to do. I'll definitely add a short introduction and control guide.

About your question regarding parrying—that's actually the main thing I'm exploring.

The goal isn't to create another parry system. Instead of deflecting an attack, I want the player to interrupt the enemy's attack before it fully happens. A successful interrupt doesn't just block damage—it cancels the enemy's action entirely and creates an opportunity to gain rewards and become stronger.

So while parrying is about winning an exchange, I'm trying to build a combat loop around controlling and breaking the enemy's actions.

Whether this is actually different enough from parrying is exactly what I'm trying to validate with this prototype, so your question is incredibly valuable.

Thanks again for playing and helping me improve it!