Free Game Graphics

While I feel that the best way to get art for your game is to make it yourself (or get someone else to make it for you), there are some situations where free art just fits the bill. If you can't draw, you can't afford an artist, or you don't have enough of a history to convince someone to do it for free or for *cough* "royalties" *cough*, these sites might have just what you need. Though, quite frankly, free game art is generally free for a reason. But hey, maybe you'll find that perfect little gem (figuratively and not) you needed to polish off your indie title. Good luck and happy developing.

Lost Garden
The first site that pops into any indie developer's mind when free game art is mentioned. Danc, a brilliant artist and designer has been offering his quality assets to the development community for free for a good while. Why? For the betterment of the art of game design I suppose. Anyway, this is definitely worth a look, and if you have some time left over, be sure to read through some of the archives from his blog. He's got some pretty interesting things to say.

Sheep RPG Character Kit
I get the feeling that more was planned for the future when this page was set up, but for now you can find an excellent RPG character construction kit with tons of outfits and accessories that you can add or remove. If you are making an RPG and this is the art style you're going for, do yourself and favor and click that link up above.

Nuvorm Explosion Generator
Need unique, good looking explosions for your shoot 'em up? Look no further. Nuvorm has managed to create one of the coolest generator's I've seen. Just keep clicking render until you find something you like. When I first came across this site, I sat for a good ten minutes just cycling through random explosions, ogling over their brilliance.

SpriteLib GPL
Somewhat dated looking and specific, but I'm sure they'll find a good home in a welcoming developer's arms.

Molotov.nu
Tons and tons of low-res, RPG-appropriate tilesets and sprites. The graphics that weren't made by the site-owner have their licenses intact, and everything appears to be pretty open. Making a graphical rogue-like or a top-down 8-bit RPG? There's probably something here you could use.

Reiner's Tilesets
Tons of 3D-rendered isometric sprites and environment elements. Everything's a bit toony looking, but if that fits with your vision, this site's wide array of offered assets are sure to please.

GameBeep
Some paid, some free, lots of varied 3D and 2D art assets with some audio thrown in for good measure. Medieval, scifi, pixel art, textures, tilesets, etc. Definitely worth a look.

Ironstar Media's Free Assets for Indie Developers
I just came across Ironstar Media's offering while compiling this list and I'm definitely excited to look through what they have. Click click click!

Charas Project
Another great resource if you're putting together an 8-bit top-view RPG or something similar. The generators are pretty nifty, too.

TIGSource Assemblee: Part 1
Here be the remnants of an old game-art competition run on TIGSource. Lots and lots of cool assets if you're willing to sift through the threads.

Incompetech Royalty Free Music
After all those sprites, I thought I'd top things off with a nice music site. Everything here is free to use and royalty free (double free!), and the music isn't half-bad.

There are tons more sites out there offering free graphics. Just try a Google search for "free game assets." I listed here some of my favorites, and some that I thought might be hard to find with traditional search methods. I also only linked to legitimate sites, not spritesheet rip sites like www.panelmonkey.org. Anyway, I hope this list helped. I'll try to keep it up to date and the links alive.

Until next time, in the Land of Dinosaurs,

-Isaac

P.S. If you just can't find art that fits your needs, read this and rejoice in Danc's wisdom.

P.P.S. Gah! I almost forgot! Take a good long look at OpenGameArt.org and be pleasantly surprised. Then weep at the momentous occasion that you discovered such a treasure trove of awe and wonder.