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Low poly survival game assets: a starter asset list
Resources, tools, shelters, crafting stations: a practical asset list for a low poly survival game, and which pieces to generate first.
3 min read
Quick answer
What assets does a low poly survival game need?
At minimum: resource nodes such as trees, rocks and bushes; the dropped resources themselves; basic tools and weapons; a crafting station and storage; shelter pieces; food and cooking items; a few creatures; and environment dressing. Build the gather-craft-build loop's assets first, then add variety once the loop works.
Build the loop first
A survival game is a loop: gather → craft → build → survive. Every asset either feeds the loop or dresses the world around it. Make the loop's assets first, get it playable with them, and only then make the world pretty. A beautiful forest with no working axe is a screenshot, not a game.
Tier 1: the core loop
Resource nodes (things you hit):
- Trees, two or three shapes. See 3D tree models for games.
- Rocks and ore rocks, with a colour change for ore.
- Bushes or berry plants.
- Optional: a depleted state for each (stump, rubble, empty bush).
Resource items (things you pick up):
- Log, stick, stone, ore, fibre or plant, berries.
Tools:
- Axe, pickaxe, a basic weapon (spear or club), torch.
Crafting and storage:
- Workbench or crafting station, campfire, storage chest.
Shelter:
- Wall, floor, roof, door, in one material to start.
That's roughly 20–25 assets for a playable loop.
Tier 2: survival pressure
- Food: raw and cooked meat, fish, a cooking pot.
- Creatures: one passive (deer, rabbit), one hostile (wolf, boar).
- Water source: a well or a pond edge.
- Bed or sleeping bag.
- A second material tier for tools and walls (stone after wood).
Tier 3: world dressing
- Grass clumps, flowers, mushrooms.
- Fallen logs, stumps, boulders.
- Ruins, an abandoned cart, a broken fence.
- Landmarks the player navigates by.
- Variants of everything above.
Which to generate, which to build
- Generate well: tools, weapons, the workbench, chest, campfire, cooking pot, resource items, rocks, stumps, ruins, carts. Solid, single objects.
- Build or source: modular shelter pieces (they must snap to a grid, so model them to exact sizes), grass and foliage (cards and alpha, not generation), and animated creatures (they need rigging). See AI 3D props for indie games for why.
Keep the set consistent
Survival games have lots of assets on screen at once, so mismatched styles show. Before generating, write style words and reuse them every time: "low poly, faceted, flat-shaded, earthy palette". Re-texture everything to one palette texture. Consistent art style across AI assets and texture low poly models with a palette cover it.
Technical notes
- Pivots at the base for everything placed on terrain.
- Tools pivoted at the grip so the hand socket holds them.
- Simple colliders: boxes and capsules.
- LODs for resource nodes, because there are many.
- One shared material where possible, for mobile and draw-call budgets.
Mixing in free packs
CC0 low poly packs can fill Tier 3 quickly. If you mix them with generated assets, unify palette and facet size. Free low poly 3D models lists sources.
A simple production order
- Greybox the loop with cubes.
- Make Tier 1 assets and make the loop fun.
- Add Tier 2.
- Dress with Tier 3.
- Add variants last.
Starting a survival game? Generate your Tier 1 tools and props in Vi3W, and get the loop playable this week.
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