Hi! Sutorcen here. Besides our tutorials there are tons of free resources out there. Well free is not always that simple and not always really free. Don’t know where to start? I’m here to help. After months of testing and using many sites here is a list with the best free resources and information in my humble opinion. The list will be checked for dead links every few weeks and will be updated whenever I find something new and exciting. For friends reading this list I must apologize beforehand if I forgot to mention someone.

Know a cool resource, tool or article then please sent us an email or message on facebook.

Entries with an * at the beginning denote the latest additions to the list.

Modelling and Sculpting tools:

Simplygon – the most popular LOD generation tool. Now it’s completely free.
blender – the best free 3D modelling and animation tool out there.
MeshLab – an open source system for processing and editing 3D triangular meshes.
Wings 3D – an advanced subdivision modeler that is both powerful and easy to use.
fragMOTION – a 3D modeler used for the creation and animation of characters.
MakeHuman – a free and open source software to create realistic 3d humans.
TerreSculptor – a hightmap editing software, similar to World Machine but free.
L3DT – a Windows application for generating terrain maps and textures.
Tree It – an easy to use real time 3d tree generator.
Autodesk FBX Converter – a tool to quickly convert OBJ/DXF/DAE/3DS files to an FBX format file.
SketchUp – free and easy 3D creation tool.
ngPlant – open Source plant modeling suite.
Arbaro – tree generation for povray.
terresculptor – a free and open source terrain creator tool.

Free resources from the Unreal Engine community:

Epic Games – Monthly Sponsored assets.
Epic Games – Free assets from creators.
Luos – free rocks and caves.
Hourences – tutorials, books and more.
Tom Looman – Unreal Engine resources, tutorials and experiments.
Elhoussine Mehnik – Unreal Engine game templates and more.
Orfeas Eleftheriou – C++ Tutorials and more.
StormGS – a plethora of models,material and other assets.
SeJonF – A regenerative Health/Shield system (models and blueprints).
PolyPixel – freebie pack a modern urban environment.
Dave Watts – some free Models.
Hevedy – PurpleprintKit for Unreal Engine.

UE Community Projects:

Learning Resources by eXi. Link
WIP Weather & Ocean Water Shader. Link
Material Function – World Aligned Texture/Normal With offset & Rotation. Link
A.I. Templates – Bot, Car and Flying AI. Link
Full Game Jam project. Link
Procedural Rope Bridge. Link
More content and projects can be found on the UE4 forums. Link

Animations & Motion capturing:

Motion Capture Database. Over 2500 free human motion BVH files. Link
MotCap.com – free motion capture, bip, bvh animations.
Mixamo – a free collection of high quality animations.
DragonBones – an open source animation solution.

YouTube Channels:

Unreal Engine Official YouTube channel. Link
Allegorithmic Official YouTube channel – Everything Substance related. Link
GDC Official YouTube channel – Inside the world of game development. Link
Virtus Learning Hub YouTube channel – Tutorials for almost everything game dev related. Link
Tesla Dev YouTube channel – Unreal Engine 4 tutorials. Link
Blender Guru YouTube channel – A great place to learn about blender and 3D modeling in general. Link
Jay AnAm YouTube channel – Tutorials for Unreal Engine 4, Unity and Blender. Link
Moize Opel YouTube channel – From simple tutorials to complete games tons of videos. Link

Publishers, Distribution:

Disclaimer: We haven’t tested the services of the mentioned companies, use at your own risk.
Sony Interactive Entertainment – Partnership Registration.
Nintendo – Developer Registration.
Microsoft ID@XBOX – indie Developer publishing program for Xbox and Windows 10.
mergegames – an independent video games publisher.
Koch Media – a leading independent video games publisher.
Focus Home Interactive – a French publisher based in Paris.

Models:

BlendSwap – a community of blender artists that share their work under creative commons licenses.
CG Trader – 3D models for AR/VR, gaming, advertising, entertainment and 3D printing.
Share CG – 3D models, tutorials, scripts, textures, books everything covering CG.
PinShape – not game oriented per se but still a source for 3D models.
Nobiax – 3D assets, textures, plants, environmental objects and more.

Texturing Tools:

Online Texture Generator. Link
Online Normal Generator. Link
free assets and tools for all Substance apps. Link
xNormal – an application to generate normal / ambient occlusion / displacement maps.
Handplane – a full baking tool with export settings for most game engines.
Wood Workshop – a free texture editor that specializes in the creation of seamless wood textures.
Jsplacement – a free texture generator.

Imaging Tools:

Krita – image editor and painting program.
Gimp – image editor and painting program.
IrfanView – the Swiss army knife of media files processing.
SpaceScape – create a skybox to dress your space scenes.

Textures and Materials:

Textures.com – formerly known as CG Textures.
Texture Haven – Free and high quality textures under the CC license.
HDRI Haven – Free and high quality HDRI images under the CC license.
Materialize – a stand alone tool for creating materials from images.
Sharetextures – 250+ Free 4K Texture Sets.
Material Study – A helpful guide to materials.

Audio and Sound Tools/Resources:

Audacity – a free audio editor.
Garage Band – (Mac only) free, complete music composing tool.
Bfxr – 8bit online sound FX generator.
Freesound.org – a collaborative database of Creative Commons Licensed sounds.
FreeSFX – free sounds and SFX.
99Sounds – free sound effects.
Sounimage.org – free Music, Sound Effects and Images for Your Projects by Eric Matyas.
Sonniss.com – Yearly, huge free sounds collection.
Sonniss.com – Yearly, huge free sounds collection.
Incompetech – Royalty free music by composer Kevin MacLeod.
filmmusic.io – Royalty free music.

Special FX:

Luos Arts – special effects for Unreal Engine 4.

2D Assets:

Glitch the Game – original post mortem assets.
David Hellman – original assets from the game Braid.
Backyard Ninja Design – various art assets.
Toke Game Art – free 2D art.

Articles and Blogs:

Lost Garden – a rare treasure trove of information on game development.
80.LV – Everything game dev related, one of the best sites around.
How to Assemble an Organized and Effective Press Kit. Link
Why Your Game Idea Sucks. Link
The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Troubled Five-Year Development. Link

Special thanks to the following contributors:

Vaind Staaz
Igor Gebien
Ajwad Imran
Krad Nave

Last checked and updated: 11.02.2023