Having read through most of this thread I must say…
Hat’s off to you, and I hope I can get there one day.
Hope to create asset packs myself after I get some more modelling under my belt.
Any wisdom/tips from the other side?
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Thanks… and you can do it - it’s just a lot of work.
Hard to say without specific question (if you have them - shoot, I’ll answer if I know the answer). But on top of my head - for skills: practice, practice and practice. And for the business side of things: this is really tough market, especially for new sellers/publishers (esp. in low poly style ‘niche’).
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I’m aiming to create Unity asset packs. I haven’t actually made a game myself though.
When a pack says “game ready”, what does that mean to you? Are the assets easily customizable or have multiple rigs or UV maps? Also, are there any rules for creating a unified theme?
And what about marketing? This is my only “social media” so that’s definitely a weak point for me too. Are there any other ways to market that you consider worth exploring?
Thanks for any answers
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I’ve seen quite a few times that people slap this label without actually making assets game ready 
. It’s a topic for a course or a book, but in simplest form - it’s optimized for game engine and targeted types of game and hardware. Eg., it has proper UVs, correct topology, it’s rigged using given engine specification (for characters it’s eg. rigged for humanoid rig), it can run on target hardware in intended use case (e.g., for low poly style model that you advertise it will be usable on mobile and VR you don’t deliver a chair that has 10k triangles).
But it’s widely broad definition too. Take a simple polygon count: if you target AA/AAA-quality, it will be ok to have a character of 50k - 100k triangles… but for mobile you will try to make it at least 10x less.
Depends on the asset. Customization is a plus for customers on asset stores. As mentioned above - just one rig, that is a standard for a given engine (I’m not an expert here). UV maps - usually just one, but that depnds on how you want to use it. If you are thinking about UDIMs here (to have better texel density), than mostly no (unless you target AA/AAA games, but also don’t go crazy here, maybe 2-3 for character, 2 for vehicle, 1-2 for a gun, etc. - but don’t quote me on that). Though common opinion is that majority of Unity Asset Store users usually don’t target AAA quality graphics.
I don’t think there are any rules here beyond theoretical fundamentals. E.g., for colors, you can always fall back on color theory and use only colors that fit together to your pack and theme. For form, you stick to one style (e.g., not having on realistic character and 2nd one cartoonish with big head). I think 
touches a bit on it in their courses, but let me point you to this course. At the very begining they show how they use pureref to nail down art direction.
It’s one of the least ‘fun’ aspect of becoming publisher (the worst for me are legal and tax aspects - do think about those too before starting!). As a new publisher unless your asset is exceptionally good and fits exceptionally under-served niche - you will get some visibility for 1-2 weeks (if you decide to make ‘launch discount’ - which IMO you should do) and then your asset is buried in the rankings. So it’s up to you how will you attract potential customers.
To be completely honest - I don’t know how to do it. I don’t think anybody does (advice on the web is very basic, some advice I got from long-time publishers contradict each other, etc.). Some publishers/sellers just use the platform for visibility (here: Unity Asset Store), some have presence on primary 1-2social media platform, some use a lot of them. I so far decided on the last approach, you can check my socials here: vertexrage | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree. Edit: ah, I also create threads on Unity Forums for my assets and show progress of my work on various discord servers (including Unity official one) and reddits. It’s A LOT of work though.
I hope that helps!
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And from Unreal:
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While the scenes are largely the same, I love the small detail differences from one to the other. It feels intentional that the Unreal video has more delicate objects (grass, flowers, butterflies) and more densely populated around the center. Whereas Unity video has overall more of a low poly vibe with the rocks out front.
Was this what you were going for? Or am I totally lost
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I’ve used as a baseline maps from unity and unreal nature packs. I made those maps from scratch in each engine - so they are different. I tried to find similar spot and make them look similar, but it will never be 1-1 comparison. Some big differences:
- Both engines have different workflows and different limitations. IMO Unreal has way better tools for that (you can buy some good assets to make the gap smaller, but still the workflow in Unreal IMO is just smoother) so it’s really hard to make exactly the same thing in both engines. I’m sure there are ways, but I don’t know any.
- Unreal map has way more stuff. In unreal there are 100M triangles on average in that map vs a 7M in Unity/URP - Unity just can’t handle so much triangles and objects. You can find assets to close the gap a bit (like GPU instancer, Mesh combiner etc.), but engine capabilities are just different. (Ofc after turning on Nanite, UE has to render something like 200k triangles… but that map works in UE4 too without issues)
- Both engines handle particles differently, but the map are mostly different bc I didn’t make those particles. I just used some that I had in various asset packs
(I plan to do a few basic ones for the pack, but that’s for after finishing modeling) - Lighting and shading model is way different in both engines.
- Post processing stack is totally different between engines.
- Camera/sequencer systems are quite different.
tldr: I set out to make similar scenes, but leaning in towards each engines strong points and workflows.
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And daytime lighting scenario:
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Working on tools now, here is one WIP screen grab:
Seems there is a problem with displaying shorts, so here’s a link to it: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bARL9_DxFz4
Another quick update - broom:
I’m seriously amazed how fast cycles with denoising works in Blender nowadays. Plus that shallow DoF in viewport is sweet
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Another micro update. I finally got around to updating my gumroad and now the free pack contains also Unreal Engine version of the pack: Low Poly Nature: Essentials
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Ok, finally finished the tools. I stopped myself at half of what I planned though - will probably add a few of those (like wheelbarrow) in future update. Also experimenting with how to showcase them - not fully satisfied from that still. Here are all the tools - 6 types, clean, damaged and broken variants (24 models in total).
In Blender’s viewport:
Wireframe of one:
And made a little scene with all of them and some other models:
And last, but not least - in game engines:
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Subsurface scattering looks good on low poly candles
Working on lighting props… almost at the end of modelling… just a few categories left after that: statues, church and (optionally) few extra models for sidewalks/paths/roads… so close…
Aah, btw. here are some of those candles in blender (very old render from 2020 - did them for a small project that is basically an inspiration for the whole asset pack):
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In the spirit of hype train of Brackeys being back and making Godot tutorials, I’m making limited time discount on Low Poly Nature. 80% OFF just for 1 day!
Link: https://vertexrage.gumroad.com/l/lowpolynature/BrackeysIsBack
It does work in Godot:
Edit: I should probably tell more about the ‘hype train’… See this:
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Almost all lighting props done. Before I prepare proper update - a quick sneak peak of a lamp and brazier from inside Blender:
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I’m not expert on HDRP lighting in Unity 3D, but I’m quite satisfied how the new low poly lamp posts look in HDRP:
Edit: Couldn’t help myself and had to check how they will look also in UE:
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looking good 
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Thanks!
Time for “proper” update. I added a few categories of ‘lighting related props’. Now aside from candles, there are grave lanterns, lamp posts, torches and braziers. Here are how they look in Blender’s viewport:
Candles and candle holders:
Torches:
Braziers:
Lamps parts:
Do note that lamp posts are in principle modular. There are 2 bases (clean, two damaged variants and broken variant), 3 set of chains and 3 types of lamps. Aside from adding some color variations those parts can be used for creating quite a few variants. I made just 6 as examples.
One of the models for checking out wireframe:
Models in Unity (URP)
And in Unreal
A few ‘showcase’ images (aside from the one below all posted already, but I’ll repost them here for completeness), starting with a new one from Unity/URP:
And that video showing lamp posts it in Unity/HDRP:
And last, but not least - UE5 map with lamp posts:
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A little interjection by going back to Low Poly Nature pack… Just tested it in Unity 6. I’m seriously impressed by GPU Resident Drawer. I am not very trusting towards “1 click to solve your problems” solutions, so I didn’t expect much… but this one seems to be actually working. Just check for yourself:
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