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Free Game Dev Assets

A curated public catalog of free and commercially usable assets, libraries, and tools for game development and related interactive work.

This repository indexes and documents sources. It does not rehost third-party binary packs. Every entry points to the original publisher so licenses stay authoritative at the source.

Contents

Website

https://tmhsdigital.github.io/Free-Game-Dev-Assets/

The site is generated from catalog frontmatter on every push (GitHub Actions → Pages). Add or edit one file under catalog/<category>/<id>.md and the browse UI, filters, and counts update automatically.

Local preview:

node site/build.mjs
npx --yes serve site/dist

Browse the catalog

Category Focus Index
3D Models, scans, PBR textures & materials catalog/3d/
Environment HDRI, terrain DEMs, geodata catalog/environment/
2D Sprites, UI/HUD, icons, palettes catalog/2d/
Characters Generators & modular humanoids catalog/characters/
Audio SFX, music, foley, impulse responses catalog/audio/
Animation MoCap databases & character clips catalog/animation/
Shaders & VFX Shaders, particle/FX resources catalog/shaders-vfx/
Fonts OFL and commercial-ok typefaces catalog/fonts/
Tools Editors, pipeline, TTS, Godot add-ons catalog/tools/

Master index: catalog/README.md

Quick start

  1. Use the website or open a category folder (or the master index).
  2. Prefer entries with status: active and commercial: true.
  3. Follow the source URL and re-check the live license before shipping.
  4. Keep attribution / notices files for anything that isn’t CC0.

If you’re prototyping under a tight deadline, start with the safe starting points.

How entries work

Each source is one markdown file with YAML frontmatter plus short notes. Add new ones from catalog/TEMPLATE.md.

Field Meaning
license Short license name as stated by the source (CC0, CC-BY-3.0, SIL OFL, custom, varies)
commercial true / false / unknown
attribution_required Whether credits are mandatory
formats Common download / interchange formats
verified Date of the last license spot-check (YYYY-MM-DD)
status See legend below

Status legend

Status Meaning
active License spot-checked; suitable to evaluate for production use
needs-review Useful discovery — verify the live page before shipping
deprecated Kept for history; prefer alternatives

Aggregators (OpenGameArt, itch collections, Poly Pizza, font indexes) are usually license: varies. Treat each pack or file as its own review.

Safe starting points

High-signal CC0 / clearly permissive sources that cover most early production needs:

Need Source Entry
Modular low-poly 3D / UI Kenney catalog/3d/kenney.md
Rigged low-poly characters Quaternius catalog/3d/quaternius.md
Atlas-optimized kits KayKit catalog/3d/kaykit.md
Seamless PBR materials ambientCG catalog/3d/ambientcg.md
HDRIs / calibrated env Poly Haven catalog/environment/poly-haven.md
Extra PBR + SBSAR TextureCan catalog/3d/texturecan.md
UI icons (brand-free) Lucide catalog/2d/lucide-icons.md
Hand-drawn 2D vectors Glitch archive catalog/2d/glitch-archive.md
Input prompt icons Xelu catalog/2d/xelu-input-prompts.md
Pro SFX dumps Sonniss #GameAudioGDC catalog/audio/sonniss-gdc.md
Attribution music Incompetech catalog/audio/incompetech.md
Pixel / terminal font Departure Mono catalog/fonts/departure-mono.md
Localization fonts Noto Sans catalog/fonts/noto-sans.md

Licenses & provenance

Read docs/licenses.md, docs/provenance.md, docs/high-risk.md, docs/ai-assets.md, and docs/trust-score.md before mixing packs into a commercial build. Research drafts: docs/research-index.md (R01–R04). Short version:

  • CC0 — safest default for closed-source games; attribution not required
  • CC-BY — commercial OK; keep credits
  • CC-BY-SA — commercial OK with caveats; prefer extractable asset bundles over encrypting SA files into the binary
  • CC-*-ND — generally unusable in games (interactive sync/remix = derivative)
  • SIL OFL — preferred for fonts embedded in games
  • ODbL / OSM — game binary usually OK as a Produced Work; credit OSM; watch redistributed geodata
  • Marketplace “free” (Unity / Fab / Unreal) — often commercial in-engine, no redistribution, sometimes engine-locked
  • Trust the supplier — skip anonymous mega-dumps and known traps (MB-Lab, default Shadertoy, Maps scrapes)

Catalog metadata in this repo is CC0. Linked assets remain under their own licenses.

Godot-oriented stack

Research-backed shortlist for Godot 4 projects (Kenney industrial/tech kits, Sonniss/Freesound audio, Phantom Camera, Input Helper, Dialogic, GodotSteam, Mod Loader, etc.):

→ docs/godot-budget-stack.md

Scope

In scope

  • Free asset libraries, packs, and aggregators with a clear free tier
  • Tools useful for creating or processing game assets
  • Sources usable in commercial games when terms allow

Out of scope

  • Rehosting or mirroring third-party ZIP / model / audio dumps
  • Paid-only marketplaces with no meaningful free content
  • Guessing licenses — use unknown / needs-review instead

Contributing

PRs welcome for new sources, license corrections, dead links, and clearer notes.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the entry checklist and verification steps.

Repository layout

.
├── README.md              ← you are here
├── CONTRIBUTING.md        ← how to add / verify entries
├── LICENSE                ← CC0 for catalog metadata & docs
├── docs/
│   ├── licenses.md / provenance.md / high-risk.md / ai-assets.md
│   ├── trust-score.md / research-index.md / godot-budget-stack.md
├── site/                  ← GitHub Pages source (build scans catalog/)
│   ├── build.mjs / config.json / public/
└── catalog/
    ├── TEMPLATE.md
    ├── 3d/ environment/ 2d/ characters/
    ├── audio/ animation/ shaders-vfx/ fonts/ tools/
    └── README.md

License

Catalog metadata and documentation in this repository are dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0.

Third-party assets linked from the catalog remain under their original licenses. Always verify terms on the source site before use.