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{"id":8853,"date":"2022-06-29T14:37:25","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T14:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/06\/29\/the-game-makers-who-found-careers-as-asset-store-creators\/"},"modified":"2022-06-29T14:37:27","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T14:37:27","slug":"the-game-makers-who-found-careers-as-asset-store-creators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/06\/29\/the-game-makers-who-found-careers-as-asset-store-creators\/","title":{"rendered":"The game makers who found careers as asset store creators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/23132771\/asset-store-game-developers-unity-unreal<\/a>
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When Jonathan van Immerzeel goes on vacation, he packs a decidedly unusual suitcase. In addition to sunblock, swimming shorts, and a passport, the intrepid creator takes a drone, green screen, and audio recording equipment. This is so that he can document every aspect of his surroundings, usually untouched wilderness, in as much high-fidelity detail as possible. <\/p>\n

He does so in the name of research, seeking inspiration for his next hit shader, essentially a program that renders graphics, which he then publishes on the Unity Asset Store. In fact, van Immerzeel, maker of \u201cStylized Grass Shader<\/a>\u201d and \u201cStylized Water 2<\/a>,\u201d says that creating these tools for game development, understanding the minutiae of nature, and translating that into virtual form, has helped foster an appreciation for the actual great outdoors. \u201cMy eyes and ears have to be open to new information, paying attention to what many people would consider the weirdest things,\u201d van Immerzeel tells me over Zoom. \u201cThat\u2019s just part of the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the past five years, van Immerzeel has made a living creating tools<\/a> for the Unity Asset Store<\/a>, an online marketplace for users of the Unity game engine. It\u2019s jam-packed with thousands of virtual objects, some beautifully made, others less so, thrust together as if a high-end department store and thrift shop occupy the same beguiling online space. You\u2019ll find 2D and 3D models as well as tools, scripts, and shaders (what van Immerzeel makes) \u2014 essentially anything you can think of that brings a video game to life. If you\u2019ve never checked out an asset store before, it\u2019s worth spending a few minutes perusing its virtual aisles. You might begin to imagine, for example, a group of Elden Ring<\/em>-esque undead characters<\/a> roaming an idyllic Japanese street<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before you realize, your dream video game will resemble a Frankensteinian monster of tropes \u2014 derivative, sure, but unique, charming even, in its own cobbled-together kind of way. <\/p>\n

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MapMagic.<\/figcaption>Image: Denis Pahunov<\/cite><\/p>\n

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Admittedly, few game makers create games entirely from the material hosted on Unity\u2019s asset store, lest they face the wrath of players labeling their work an \u201casset flip\u201d (as was common a few years ago<\/a>). Instead, such assets are used for a whole host of reasons: hobbyists mess about with them to learn the ropes of the engine; professionals use them for quick-fire prototyping (indie open world hit Sable<\/em> began<\/a> life as a premade hovercraft and sand dunes). Occasionally, these assets and tools form the polygonal bedrock of commercial titles (the primordial terrain of sci-fi gliding game Exo One<\/em><\/a> was created using MapMagic 1<\/a>). In the case of publicly available games, the makers of these tools are sometimes credited but often they\u2019re not. According to Denis Pahunov, maker of MapMagic 1, this isn\u2019t a problem. As far as he\u2019s concerned, \u201cThey already paid me so why should they then advertise the assets?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pahunov and van Immerzeel both began their careers in the modding scene, for Morrowind<\/em> and Unreal Tournament,<\/em> respectively. While the games could scarcely be more different, Morrowind<\/em>, an epic, fantasy RPG, and Unreal Tournament<\/em>, a high-octane sci-fi FPS, modding allowed both creators to peer into the proverbial guts of these titles. Pahunov likens it to dismantling a toy to see what\u2019s inside, only to reassemble it with exacting precision. Van Immerzeel remembers opening Unreal as a 12-year-old and realizing that a skyline he\u2019d been staring at for hours was simply a flat piece of geometry with a picture stuck on it (as opposed to a horizon filled with models of 3D buildings). It was a \u201clifting of the veil,\u201d says van Immerzeel, an \u201cenlightening moment\u201d that revealed the extent of the smoke and mirrors video games employ. <\/p>\n

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