I would, and I don’t think there’s any shame in it.
I’ve never really understood the stigma around using free assets in game development. Sometimes, people talk about them as if downloading a free model or sound somehow makes the rest of your work less valuable.
But why?
For anyone unfamiliar with the term, assets are the individual things that go into a game: trees, buildings, characters, sounds, animations, textures, and so on. Making all of those takes time, and creating a game involves much more than making its individual parts.
If someone offers a useful asset for free and allows others to use it, I see that as an opportunity.
Free doesn’t mean bad.
The price of an asset doesn’t tell you whether it looks good, works properly, or fits your game. A paid model can be unsuitable for your project, while a free one can be exactly what you need.
Some creators choose to share their work because they want to help other developers. Kenney, for example, makes its game assets available under CC0, allowing people to use them without requiring credit. These resources are offered for a reason: so people can build with them.
There’s nothing embarrassing about accepting that help.
Your time matters, too.
Imagine you need a simple chair for a room in your game. You could spend days learning how to model it, give it the right surface details, and get it working in the engine. Or you could find a suitable free chair and spend that time improving something the player will actually do.
Neither choice is automatically wrong. If you want to learn how to make furniture, creating the chair yourself makes sense. If your goal is to finish a playable game, using an existing one might make more sense.
Personally, I don’t think developers should feel pressured to spend days proving they can make an ordinary chair when their game needs attention elsewhere.
That time could go towards a better mission, smoother movement, clearer menus, or fixing an annoying bug.
A downloaded asset doesn’t build the game for you.
This is probably the part that gets overlooked most often.
Downloading a door doesn’t make it open. You still need to decide how the player interacts with it, whether it needs a key, what happens when it’s locked, and how it connects to the rest of the game.
Downloading trees doesn’t create an interesting forest. You still have to build the space, create paths, place things thoughtfully, adjust the lighting, and make sure the game runs well.
The person who made the asset did valuable work. The person who turns it into part of a playable experience also does valuable work.
Using someone else’s model doesn’t erase everything you built around it.
You can use the same pieces and create something different.
Two people can cook with the same ingredients and make very different meals. I think game assets work in a similar way.
The same house model could become a peaceful home in one game and an abandoned building in another. Different lighting, sounds, surroundings, and events can completely change how that place feels.
Custom artwork can certainly help a game stand out. But a game’s identity also comes from its ideas, its atmosphere, its story, and the way it plays.
Every rock and table doesn’t need to be exclusive for the overall experience to feel personal.
Free assets help you find out whether an idea actually works.
An idea can sound amazing when you write it down and feel completely different once you try to play it.
Having models, sounds, and animations available lets you reach that playable stage sooner. You can test a mechanic, try a different layout, or discover that something needs changing before spending months making everything yourself.
And if a free asset still works well in the finished game, why replace it purely because it was free?
I’d rather replace something because it doesn’t fit or causes problems, not because I feel guilty about how much it cost.
Not everyone has a studio’s budget.
A solo developer might be handling the gameplay, environments, menus, sound, testing, and writing. That’s already a lot for one person.
They may not have the money to hire people for every task, or the years needed to become good at every part of development.
Free assets make it easier for people to learn and give their ideas a real chance. They can also leave room in the budget for things that need special attention: perhaps an original main character, music, or an important location.
Using free resources where they fit can help you afford custom work where it matters most.
Of course, you still need to choose carefully.
I’m not saying every free asset belongs in every game.
Some won’t match the look you’re going for. Some might slow the game down or take too much effort to adjust. You also need to check what the creator allows you to do with them and give credit when required.
And you should be honest about your contribution. Using someone’s model is fine when you have permission. Claiming you made that model yourself is a different issue.
Those are fair things to discuss. But none of them makes using free assets shameful.
Judge the result.
If a game looks messy, runs badly, or isn’t enjoyable, those are fair criticisms. Explain what isn’t working.
Simply saying “that’s a free asset” doesn’t tell me what’s wrong with the game. Paying for the same object wouldn’t suddenly make the gameplay better.
For me, the question is simple: does this asset fit what I’m making, and does using it help me move the project forward?
If the answer is yes, I’m happy to use it.
I respect people who create everything themselves. I also respect people who know where to spend their time and use the resources available to them.
So yes, I would use free assets in my game. Why should a useful resource become something to be ashamed of just because it didn’t cost money?