Thread by @gif_not_jif

How To Sell Pixelart Online (Fast)
[ THREAD🧵 ]

0⃣.1⃣ Welcome 👋🐸 !
If you're a pixelartist and want to sell pixelart game assets online, this thread can help you !

Please note that the following is based on my personnal experience (I do not have a master in Marketing or Art) 😇

Anyway, enjoy !

TL;DR : it's tryhard 💪

0⃣.2⃣ Btw, I'm not an English native, but "Omelette du fromage, oui oui, croissant 🥐 " native. Please be indulgent with my grammar 🤓 .

1⃣.1⃣ What're ya sellin' ❓
Part of the success comes from passion, ofc, but it's not enough. You need to understand how the market works too 📈📉 .

Since you're (probably) a solo-artist 🖍️ we're aiming for indiedev market, where buyers are solo-gamedev and smalls teams 🎮.

1⃣.2⃣ Your objective is to establish what those buyers are looking for when browsing game assets markets ( Unity-asset-store, itchio, ...).

✅ My current answer is : they need a collection of thematic asset packs, plug-and-play, with variations to customise their game.

1⃣.3⃣
✅ Thematic : could be a forest, city, interior area, fire dungeon, ...
✅ Plug-and-play : assets must be ready for game-engines (package for Unity, tilesets for RPGMaker, ...)
✅ Variations : assets must have color, shape or orientation variations for customisation

1⃣.4⃣ Moreover, a gamedev wants many biomes, environments, characters, animations... So you MUST provide a collection/bundle to satisfy them.

✅ A full bundle will communicate a lot in your favor, showing that you have everything a developer needs to build a game !

1⃣.5⃣ Here are some examples of assets packs collections from itchio, browse them !
✅ @penusbmic : itch.io/s/64357/the-da…
✅ @Namatnieks : itch.io/s/26851/fantas…
✅ @jamiebrownhill_ : itch.io/s/53364/world-…

2⃣.1⃣ Find your category & style 🎨
As an assets artist, you need to find a category of game to start with.

✅ These categories can be anything from puzzle platformers to dungeon crawlers to RPGs.

Personally I've choosen top-down RPG since the demand is quite high.

2⃣.2⃣ Pixelart style is, of course, quite a personnal choice 😊. Every artist has his/her own preferences so it's up to you.

✅ In my case, I choose to merge Pokemon ~vibes with medieval fantasy worlds.

2⃣.3⃣ When it comes to creating game assets, tile resolution is a big productivity factor. You can go from 8x8 to 48x48 pixels per tile, say. However, high resolutions take longer to draw !

✅ I prefer 16x16 since it gives that GameBoy ~vibe and quick to create.

2⃣.4⃣ Color limitation is recommended when drawing pixelart, and I would say it's even more important with game assets. With a color palette, you will easily be able to draw multiple environments that match together.

✅ Take a look at lospec.com/palette-list !

3⃣.1⃣ Train to become a Super Saiyan 💪
It's always good to learn from others, so take the time to practice ! I encourage you to follow tutorials from various artists.

3⃣.2⃣ Tutorials :
✅ @PeterMilko : youtube.com/channel/UC7OO8…
✅ @saint11 : saint11.org/blog/pixel-art…
✅ @brullov_art : lospec.com/pixel-art-tuto…
✅ @cyangmou : lospec.com/pixel-art-tuto…
✅ @RhlPixels : lospec.com/pixel-art-tuto…

3⃣.3⃣ Moreover, Here are some of the websites I browse to find assets references :
✅ @Pinterest : pinterest.com
✅ @TheVGResource : spriters-resource.com

3⃣.4⃣ Finally, to get more involved in pixelart, I also find it really useful to work on community-driven pixelart projects 🤗 such as (for example) :

✅ @IllusionOfMana : #hyruleredrawn
✅ @PokemonRedrawn : retroredrawn.com/johto/
✅ @PokemonRedrawn : #KantoRedrawn

3⃣.5⃣ I've progressed a lot thanks to those communities and it's a good way to explore different styles and meet pixelartists !

Here, take a look ☺️ :

credits :
@huttaburger.........................@zaebucca
@LiamCuthbertArt..................@sukinapan

4⃣.1⃣ Try, test and explore 🎮
Once you have a bunch of assets, it's mandatory to test them before deployment, so download Unity, Godot or GameMakerStudio and try !

Be aware that each game engine handle assets differently.

4⃣.2⃣
✅ Godot needs specific formats for autotiles.
✅ RPGMaker has different resolutions / tilesets constrains depending of its version.
✅ Unity requires to configure a tile palette & pixel perfect camera

5⃣.1⃣ Choose a web platform 🌐
I suggest you to sell your assets on itch.io instead of Unity asset-store, at least for your first experience. Reasons :
✅ Low tax (default is 10%, customisable)
✅ Fast assets pack deployment & updates
✅ Web traffic analytics

5⃣.2⃣ Secondary platform
If you start to grow and build a small community, you can think about adding a ko-fi.com webpage to your links, where people can support you directly. There you can also build your own shop, take commissions...

✅ Twitter : @kofi_button

5⃣.3⃣ Secret bonus
Yes, it is possible to sell game assets on Steam, but only for the RPGMaker engine (count as DLC). Please mind that it's through Degica publisher.

✅ Submission thread : forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?thre…

5⃣.4⃣ I only have a small experience with Steam, but it kinda works. To be clear, I manage to make 500$ in the last 6 months.

Tax is quite high tho, so don't focus on this platform until you have a bunch of packs to provide.

✅ Sample : store.steampowered.com/app/861732/RPG…

6⃣.1⃣ Organise your work 🧑‍🏭
Since I'm only a part-time artist, I have so little hours per week to work on my assets (8h to 10h/week).

✅ Due to this restriction, I need to know exactly where I'm going, that's why I end up writing to-do list with notion.so (free).

6⃣.2⃣ Organise your assets

✅ Organise them in atlas/tilesets/spritesheets (.png files).
✅ Classify and tag them for easy usage.
✅ Separate them in dedicated forlders depending on game engine.

7⃣.1⃣ Itchio deployment 🛍️
Important task so mind the following :

✅ Shiny thumbnail
✅ High discounts
✅ Redirect to bundle
✅ Describe your pack clearly
✅ Lot of screenshots
✅ Reply kindly to comments
✅ Deploy on weekend (higher traffic)

Sample : gif-superretroworld.itch.io/dungeon-fire-p…

7⃣.2⃣ Review traffic

Here is my total 2021 traffic. I can conclude a bunch of things :

✅ Separate assets pack deployement (1/week max)
✅ Give a pack for free (higher traffic)
✅ Try to build a free demo (Browser plays) that redirect to your packs (gif-superretroworld.itch.io/demo-pack)

7⃣.3⃣ Review referrers
Here are my referrers for the last 30 days :
✅ most comes from itch.io (75%) front page
✅ My profile page is visited thanks to Twitter
✅ 3rd entry is my free pack (higher traffic)
✅ 4th is the free online demo (embedded redirection)

7⃣.4⃣In depth analysis
To go further, my SO made an app on the Play Store to analyse itchio payment datas : itchio Stats.

✅ Helps me a lot to analyse shopping habits : buyer countries, sales by pack/day/hour... Great tool, give it a try (free, no ads) !

play.google.com/store/apps/det…

8⃣.1⃣ Spam Social media 🐦
When it comes to market your product, focus on one social media. I prefer Twitter, these are some of the rules I follow :
✅ Catch attention ("Hey", "Look")
✅ Red emojis
✅ 2 #hashtag max
✅ Be direct (<100 char)
✅ Use medias
✅ Add link in reply

8⃣.2⃣ General rules if using Twitter :
✅ Be consistent posting art (once a day)
✅ Interact with other pixelartists (fav, RT, comment)
✅ Tweet 10 times a day
✅ Stay ~30min on the platform after posting (improve visibility). Don't drop & go.

9⃣ Conclusion
Waoh, you've reached the end, congratz ! I hope this thread helps you understanding the steps I went through and maybe you can reproduce.

You don't have to be amazing to start, but you have to start to be amazing. Have a good day !

Cover art by my friend, @Noiracide 🥰

oops, forgot some tags :

#pixelart | #gamedev