A large part of my current job is to work with developers to encourage and help them create apps and or games. Many developers do not have the necessary skills to create quality artwork for their app or game. The obvious next choice is to scour the internet looking for something that might work. Unfortunately not all artwork on the internet is free from restrictions in order to use it in your app.

A colleague of mine, Sara Summers, recently put together a slide deck that pointedly details which licenses are ok to use, the restrictions that are placed upon them and how to uphold the license in your app. I have reproduced that content here for you to review.

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clip_image002[10] http://creativecommons.org/licenses

clip_image002[12] http://creativecommons.org/licenses

clip_image002[14] http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Marking/Users

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clip_image002[22] http://lunar.lostgarden.com/labels/free%20game%20graphics.html

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Free from around the web

Icons

Metro Studio – 600 free metro style icons from the cool folks at SyncFusion.

The Noun Project – Hundreds (if not thousands) of icons for just about anything you can think of, all free. These icons will download in Scalable Vector format (SVG) and will need to be converted to PNG at the size of 48 x 48 pixels. Either InkScape or Expression Design can be used to do the conversion.

BRKR Design Icon Pack – This pack costs $20 but it includes 350 of the most commonly used icons already sized and ready to go. This single package includes all 350 icons for Windows Phone, iPhone and Android.

Free from around the web (cont.)

Images

Every Stock Photo – Search thousands of images, many of which can be used in apps and games.  Click on advanced search, then click the Licenses dropdown and check ONLY the boxes for Public Domain and Custom Free.  When you find the image you’re looking for, be sure to follow the search result back to the original site and read the license to make sure it can be used in your application.

Open Clip Art

Clker

Funplosion

Iron Star Media

Jesse Freeman’s Game Artwork

Free from around the web (cont.)

Sound Effects

Soundjay – Hundreds of sound effects that are licensed for use in apps and games. Most (if not all) of these sound effects should play as-is on Windows Phone. You can use a tool like Audacity to convert any sounds that don’t play into ones that do.

Freesound – Thousands of free sound effects. Carefully check the license for each sound effect because not all sound effects can be used in commercial applications. Some sound effects may also require you to give attribution (credit) to the author. Not all sound effects on this site can be played on Windows Phone. You can use a tool like Audacity to convert sounds that don’t play into ones that do.

Audio Microhas a free music and sounds tab on their home page.

Bfxr

Free from around the web (cont.)

Sprites

HasGraphics Sprites – 10 sprite sets free for commercial use. Some require attribution, some do not.

Video Game Sprites - Actual sprites from original games, not able to use in commercial games

Lost Garden – Game graphics, asks for acknowledgement.

Open Game Art – Graphics, sprites, icons and sounds. Asks for donations.

Free from around the web (cont.)

Textures

CGTextures – Amazing, pretty exhaustive collection of tillable textures that can be used for free in commercial games. Attribution is appreciated but not required.

HasGraphics Textures – Two large tile sets free for commercial use.

Max Textures Tiled/seamless textures

Free from around the web (cont.)

‘Roll Your Own’ Graphics

2D Game Art for InkScape

Let's Make Games

Now, go forth and use artwork and media assets you find on the internet in your apps and games responsibly.