suicid3Panda Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Hi! I'm in the process of making a visual novel, but being one person, I'm obviously in need of some help. I already landed some character and CG artists, but now I'm concerned about the background art. My question, what is the common consensus about using such art? Is it seen as a cop out? Is this something that is already done commonly, and I just haven't realized it? I've found a person who makes various high quality backgrounds and sells them to anyone for use in VNs. He's foreign, so his work isn't already being used in a ton of other games, and its appearance in my VN would be relatively unique. I know how people get flack for using royalty free music in games, but I haven't heard about any stigmas around using royalty free art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radi Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 If its going to be commercial I wouldn't use free backgrounds. I don't know if its ilegal (I doubt it) but in my opinion if you are going to charge money from people you must have original assets. If it's going to be free, sure, why not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asonn Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Does those background fits the scene and ambiance of your VN? and is the art style close enough to the one of the CG artist. In other words if it fits, sure go for it if not.. you might want to spend some more cash on a background artist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suicid3Panda Posted February 16, 2017 Author Share Posted February 16, 2017 The backgrounds are not free. Just copyright-free, meaning that I pay the artist, and I am licensed to use his work commercially. It's almost like commissioning him for custom art, just that other people can use the same work. It's like buying an asset pack from the Unity store or something. It's a pretty common thing. Being this is the first time I would ever attempt to make money, I don't have the largest budget, or pool of resources (connections to artists.) I would like to hire an artist to make original art, but I can't find a quality artist who would work with a nobody like me for an affordable price. Also, yes, the backgrounds I found do match my game. I'm not making any concessions on that front. I looked at it the way a director would scout film locations for a movie, and made sure to find what would fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radi Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 7 hours ago, suicid3Panda said: The backgrounds are not free. Just copyright-free, meaning that I pay the artist, and I am licensed to use his work commercially. It's almost like commissioning him for custom art, just that other people can use the same work. It's like buying an asset pack from the Unity store or something. It's a pretty common thing. Being this is the first time I would ever attempt to make money, I don't have the largest budget, or pool of resources (connections to artists.) I would like to hire an artist to make original art, but I can't find a quality artist who would work with a nobody like me for an affordable price. Also, yes, the backgrounds I found do match my game. I'm not making any concessions on that front. I looked at it the way a director would scout film locations for a movie, and made sure to find what would fit. If the artist gets a bit of profit seems fine. I thought they were completely free, my bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronopolis Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 This shouldn't be a problem. If it fits its good. It might be a cop-out if say you ran a kickstarter and hand funds for that, but for your average indie developer, who cares. If it fits that's all that matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suicid3Panda Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 Sweet! Thanks for everyone's feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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