In theory, I guess it's not since I'm not taking any money, but I'm just asking to make sure
I have a game in the making that I plan to post here. I plan to make it free as in I have no intention to make money from it, it is merely a demonstration of skill so I can show it to my future employers. Yesterday I downloaded a pack of graphics that I plan to use, but on the website that I download it from, the author wrote "This is for PERSONAL use only". I guess in theory, I can still use it and upload the game since I have no intention of making money from it, but I don't want to get into any legal trouble so I am just asking to make sure
Personally, I think you're good so long as you don't charge money- because that's what 'commercial' literally means.
If you post something on Twitter. Facebook or an online portfolio- that equally counts as 'publishing', but nobody would see that as commercial.
It's always important to consider the intentions of the owner of the assets. When people say "For personal use only" this tends to mean "Yes, you can use this, but if you make money off our work, we want some of it!"
A literal interpretation of "This is for PERSONAL use only", won't allow you to do that BUT:
You should try contacting the author because there are licenses that do not allow commercial use, but you can distribute to others (as long as it's free or you leave it as open source). Maybe, just maybe that's his way of expressing that he wants to give it to the community but doesn't want people to have any profit from it? Or maybe he wants a commission?
I would consider a publicly released freeware game to be neither "personal" and "commercial". Same category as charity work, public service announcements, and political speech.
But, yeah, it's better to ask the author directly instead of a bunch of armchair lawyers. And if you need real legal advice, find yourself a real lawyer.