Unity’s asset store is a wonderful place full of content/scripts/sounds/plugins, just about anything you can imagine.
You can quickly loose money if you keep buying everything you see on the asset store, and depending on your team you may not need to buy many of the things in your wishlist.
This post is basically a checklist to make sure you are confident with your purchase (some assets are up to 250 dollars, and that price is usually per seat). I’ll be honest, most assets you get on the asset store won’t give you any trouble at all, but there’s always going to be a few that don’t fit in your game, or some description that you misread/misunderstood, or some part of an asset that you overlooked (like a tilt-run animation).
Also if you have posted something to the Unity asset store, 1-you are awesome, 2-check out this list and see if your asset passes.
After reading this checklist you can check out my own asset store picks here: https://www.pinterest.com/willrteixeira/unity-asset-store-picks/
Checklist
Is this package available for my version of Unity?
If you are using Unity 5. Unity 5 is a major revamp of the graphics pipeline, so any shaders/effects should mention unity 5 compatible somewhere.
If it doesn’t mention Unity 5 and you are using Unity 5, send them an email and ask.
When was the package last updated?
Art may not be an issue here, but complex systems can be.
What is the average user rating?
Why is it low?
Why is it high?
If it is non-existent then be sure to check everything else in this list thoroughly. And please give them feedback and rate them.
How good is their online documentation?
For complex systems this is super important. Especially if they don’t give out the source.
Do they have YouTube videos showing off using the tool/asset?
Watch those videos, the tool might do more than you expected it to. It also helps to learn the tool if you see someone else use it.
What other assets of theirs do they have?
If its their only one it isn’t a big deal
If they have others, check them out real quick
If you’ve purchased some of their other content, then ask yourself how cool that content is (since you own that one).
Is this something I could make really quickly with my skill set?
Some simple scripts are a bad idea for programmers to buy, but if nobody on your team is a programmer then it could save you a great deal of time.
That same idea goes for art and sound.
Would the other people on my team be comfortable using this asset?
Does the tool look like something your teammates could pickup fast?
Ex: Don’t buy a sound system plugin without consulting your sound guy first.
Can Unity do this thing out of the box?
Some assets on the store have been there since Unity 3. Unity has added a TON of new features with each version of the engine. Some of these features were implemented via asset packages before the features were implemented in the engine.
Does Unity do it better?
Or does Unity do it good enough for your game?
Is the price reasonable for me, my team, my game?
It’s easy to keep hitting the buy button. But some things could wait until your next paycheck.
Specific Checklist
Specific to each category (art, sound, scripts, shaders)
3D Models
What is the poly count?
How big are the textures
Is it rigged?
Do you need it rigged to biped?
Do you need it rigged?
Are there any visible UV seams that would be noticeable in my game?
Is it close to my game’s aesthetic?
Close means you can edit it to make it match your game’s look/feel.
Is it editable?
FBX is okay, but source .max/.ma files are good to have too. (a few little things are lost in fbx export)
Does it have LOD’s?
Does that matter for my game?
If it doesn’t and I need some, can I make some out of it quickly?
Is it using atlas texturing? (Do I care?)
Animation
Is this supported through mechanim?
Can I see the animations? (YouTube video link)
Do they match my game’s aesthetic?
Cartoony, realistic, serious, fast paced.
Will this fill all the missing animations I need?
Audio – Music
Hear it, does it match my game’s mood/aesthetic? (most have a soundcloud or something similar where you can preview the whole thing)
Is the quality of the sound file good enough for me? (be sure of bitrates and all those things that you can google)
If I’m using this for 2d, is it a stereo song? Do I care?
Audio – SFX
Hear it, does it match my game’s mood/aesthetic? (hopefully a soundcloud link or similar)
Is this in a good format for what I’m using it for? (mp3, wav, ogg)
Do I need midi for this too? (Do you need to detect the beats for your game?)
Editor Extensions
How much time would this save me?
Is there a video demonstrating someone using the plugin?
Was there an upload for my version of Unity? (editor extensions can break between minor versions of unity depending on their complexity)
Particle Systems
Is there a mobile variant?
Does this come with an object pooling system? (don’t expect it from everyone, but if you aren’t pooling effects you should be)
Scripting
Will this do all I need?
How much do I need to modify this to bend it to my game?
Shaders
Can I see it in action? (video or a before+after image)
Was it uploaded for my version of Unity?
Textures
Textures tend to be what you see is what you get, but there’s a few things to watch out for
Are these textures “power of 2”? (power of two textures have better compression, mipmapping, etc)
Do these come with the raw psd files too? (It can be helpful, especially for UI)
Do these textures support the PBR workflow? (getting it wrong means it looks like plastic or something weird)