What constitutes an asset flip, and is it necessarily a bad thing?

Konfess

I am working on my own games, plural.  I plan to release the single player and multiplayer games first to establish the IP and help fund the following MMOs.  I have a single IP that I am developing across three time periods: past, present & future.  The thing is I reuse assets across all games.  These are self made assets that I own the rights to out right.  

I was unaware until recently the feeling the public had towards "Flipping Assets."  Once again these are assets made in house that I own out right, most of the discussion is about bought or possibly misused assets.  I worry that seeing the same assets in a series of games, may garner unfounded assumptions of my intent.

I am not commenting on other developers or their actions.  I am worried about how I could be perceived.  What is the everyone's opinion of a developer using the same art, models, animation, sound, and music across a series of games all in the same world, but at different times in history (say 200 - 2000 years apart)?

mmoguy43

It's going to be yet another derogatory term/phrase to call developers "lazy" by ignorant gamers.
I don't think too much of art assets being recycled when in moderation but if you are making multiple games that span 5+ years then I think you owe it to you fans to mix it up more, granted you have the revenue of course. The more you can afford to give players a new experience whether it's what they see or hear, the better.

That said, if you make some really amazing assets that are very iconic and original for your IP and at AA-AAA quality I don't think players will care as long as the gameplay differs between the games.

waynejr2

Konfess said:

I am working on my own games, plural.  I plan to release the single player and multiplayer games first to establish the IP and help fund the following MMOs.  I have a single IP that I am developing across three time periods: past, present & future.  The thing is I reuse assets across all games.  These are self made assets that I own the rights to out right.  

I was unaware until recently the feeling the public had towards "Flipping Assets."  Once again these are assets made in house that I own out right, most of the discussion is about bought or possibly misused assets.  I worry that seeing the same assets in a series of games, may garner unfounded assumptions of my intent.

I am not commenting on other developers or their actions.  I am worried about how I could be perceived.  What is the everyone's opinion of a developer using the same art, models, animation, sound, and music across a series of games all in the same world, but at different times in history (say 200 - 2000 years apart)?

Well, you can make your games the way you want.  I highly encourage that.  If the game is a big success, you can do an update to those assets later!  Why do triple the work?

Don't worry if people say it is lazy.  If you are going to be a game dev, you need to not take those things personally.  Have your vision and stick to it!  Also, expect a ton of comments that may be negative so you can take that into account.  Also, don't let the praise get to you either.

Cleffy

Re-using assets is perfectly acceptable in my view. Why make a new HDRI sky, or new rocks, or new trees when they fit the game? It's a waste of time.

Cname

I do not consider your reuse of assets across a series of games all in the same world a bad thing.

I feel it is practical and given your game settings as I understood it to be, totally understandable.

As a developer your standard practice would be to reuse code and  program libraries across your games, do you not?
So your concern here really is what your potential customers can SEE and EXPERIENCE while playing. I think you would have already consider remixing your visual and audio assets to give some variety across your games.  Having stone-age era weapon and combat mechanics in one game versus futuristic game play in another, for example, should also help to differentiate.   

Don't to be too concern about what others think - you can never please everyone even if you offer them the world.

Finally, best of luck and I wish you great success in your game creations.

Konfess

I want to thank @mmoguy43, @Stizzled, @waynejr2, @Cleffy, and  @Cname for taking the time to respond.  Thank you for all your positive feedback.  I was expecting more negative responses, I suspect people reserve those for work that truly deserve it.

When I first started to research the latest controversy, I thought to myself here is the newest dirty slur to come to the industry.  We just have to wait and see, with any luck it won't catch on.

The idea of an asset flip never came to mind.  My first worlds had a single tree, now I have a variety of trees.  I wanted a sense of nostalgia in the player.  So I built a road, the same road seen in all my games.  But the world had to look different in a medieval / fantasy time period.  Followed by an industrial revolution / steam punk setting.  Then ending with a futuristic science fiction world.  They must remember the first time they walked down this road, and each subsequent time they must be struck by how much the world have changed.  

Do I reuse code?  If I had a super hero name it would be "Copy-N-Paste."  Look up in the sky, it's "Copy-N-Paste."    Thanks everyone for the encouragement and best wishes.