Here’s what I came up with, after having some trouble and taking a look at some other student’s lists (a quick thanks to the students and the GameDev.tv team for the courses and social platform!).
Core Stuff
Voxel Max - Editor for $20
Voxel Performance - Map Generation for Free!
Meat and Potatoes
Voxel Fantasy Pack - General fantasy assets (characters, mobs, bricks, items and weapons, etc.) for $20
Voxel Dungeon - Dungeon-y assets for $5
Crafter’s Set - Items and weapons for $4
Ores, Ingots and Gems - crafting items for $3
Voxel Rocks and Boulders - Prefab overworld rocks and such for $3
Voxel World Mobs - More baddies for Free
Finishing Touches
Blue Button Fantasy GUI - Menu items, buttons etc. for $15
Ancient Fantasy Game SFX - game sounds for $15
Fantasy Music and Ambience Pack - Music and environmental sounds for $15
Cube Space Effects - Particle effects for Free
Total $100
It’s pretty crazy the amount of pre-worked assets are available for Game Devs on the asset store, and especially for such a low cost. With just 100 bucks you can have a damn-near shippable game ready in no time flat. Put another hundred or so hours into it for polishing the gameplay and maybe making some modifications to some assets (and bug-testing of course), you’d probably be turning a profit pretty quickly.
I’m a little perturbed if I’m being honest. In a way you can say it cheapens the craft… Game Devs gotta eat though. I imagine this is a good way to make cash while you learn the craft too. Being commercial is not a sin in itself.
This exercise really opened up my eyes to what’s possible. It’s easier than ever to get your foot in the door doing this kind of stuff. Why in the world did I wait so long?