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I don't believe I expressed well the title for my question so if you believe you can change it for a more suitable title please do so or drop me a comment.

Currently I am starting a 3D game with C# but I don't have a designer yet nor any images or anything or any money to invest on it.

  • I would like to develop it using some sort of placeholder or whatever to fill the graphics so I can make at least the basics of it and later simply switch for the real thing. What tools should I take into consideration for this job that are non-commercial and/or that won't limit me once I have the game ready to release in terms of paying the 3rd parties for extra resource or whatever?

  • Should the place holders be actual sample images or can I use for example a ball to represent a body (what will be the impact of it later when I switch to the actual body it self) ?

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I made a few corrections, the most notable replacing "graphs" with "graphics" which is what I believe you meant. Your question is still not entirely clear (e.g. regarding your concern with "maintaining physics for later") and might be answered by the numerous other questions asking for free art such as: gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/20/… gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/3541/free-maya-3d-model gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/3234/… – Ricket♦ Sep 13 '10 at 16:25
Thanks Ricket, by "maintaining physics" i meant for example if i use a ball to represent a body that will later be replace with the actual body... if it was an fps game i would have to have some sort of "actual body size with that ball that represents it" or something alike i belive... I've added this to the question. – Prix Sep 13 '10 at 16:40
For whoever negativated the question, drop a comment otherwise negativating it will be of not help other then showing a coward like person that can't make a point out of it. – Prix Sep 13 '10 at 17:32
If you hover over the down symbol it gives you the default reason people vote down questions. "This question is unclear or not useful". – Tetrad♦ Sep 13 '10 at 20:33
If i hover over it i will think that most people downvote out of bad faith in most cases those who have a reason will most likely say something not leaving you in the dark ! – Prix Sep 13 '10 at 21:58
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1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote accepted

The easiest placeholder graphics are those that you just whip up in code. For a 3D game, write something code to generate a plane, a box, a sphere, a cylinder. Bam, now you have enough stuff to make a game!

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Thanks for the reply, that is what i was thinking of. Like using a box or a sphere to represent a body or something alike but what I am really concerned here is about the later conversion from whatever I used as placeholder to the actual graphics. For example using a box to represent a person's body what will I have to consider later when I convert it to the actual body, etc. – Prix Sep 13 '10 at 17:33
I don't think you would have to consider anything, as long as you treat the box as a body rather than a box. – The Communist Duck Sep 13 '10 at 18:19
@Prix - later you just put in different visuals and update the collision model if it becomes important for some reason. Don't worry about later, though; software can be changed. – dash-tom-bang Sep 13 '10 at 20:48
@dash i got the point i just didnt wanted to have to work it all over once it is done... – Prix Sep 13 '10 at 21:59
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Quick add to this: if your whatever-game-object has moving parts, go ahead & toss a box/sphere/whatever in there for that, too, so you can code-up the movement. So, for example, you might make a person with a sphere as head (that rotates to face another direction), 2 box-arms that go up & down, and 2 box legs that move back & forth, or whatever. Point being, if "make walk motion" or "nod head" are parts of your game, it's good to be able to see representations of that. Later, you can replace all your models with "nice" ones, and get the desired effect. – Olie Sep 14 '10 at 18:53
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