Free assets
Your game looks a lot more professional straight away with good sprites, sound effects and music, and it doesn’t have to cost you anything. Below you’ll find the best places to look for free assets, neatly sorted by category.
Sprites & tilesets
- Kenney.nl: The absolute favourite. Kenney makes hundreds of sprite packs, tilesets and UI elements, all released as CC0 (public domain). You don’t need to credit anyone and you may use everything in commercial projects too. Start here.
- OpenGameArt.org: Big community with sprites, tilesets and animations in all kinds of styles. Do check the licence per asset: some are CC0, others CC-BY or CC-BY-SA. Filter by licence so you don’t get surprises.
- itch.io free game assets: Lots of indie artists put free packs on itch.io. Quality varies, but there are real gems in there. Always read the licence text on the maker’s page.
Sound effects
- Freesound.org: Huge library of sound effects from all over the world. Filter the search results on “Creative Commons 0” to see only CC0 sounds, then you don’t have to credit anyone.
- Kenney audio packs: Kenney also delivers ready-made CC0 packs for sound: retro sounds, UI clicks, explosions, everything in one download.
- sfxr.me: Generate your own 8-bit sound effects in the browser. Click a category (laser, explosion, powerup…), adjust the sliders to your taste and download the
.wav. No licence worries: you generate it yourself.
Music
- Incompetech: Kevin MacLeod composed hundreds of tracks in all genres, from chiptune to orchestra. The music is free to use under CC-BY: you simply mention “Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)” somewhere in your credits or README.
- Pixabay music: Tracks released as CC0 or under their own free licence. You don’t have to credit anyone and you may use it in any project.
Fonts
- Google Fonts: Thousands of open-source fonts you may download and use for free, in games too. Want a retro look? Search for “pixel” or “monospace” for fonts that work well in Pygame (
pygame.font.Font).
Licences explained
Not all “free” assets are the same. These are the three licences you run into most often:
| Licence | May you use it? | Attribution needed? | Commercial use? |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC0 | Yes | No | Yes |
| CC-BY | Yes | Yes, mention the author | Yes |
| CC-BY-NC | Yes | Yes | No |
Practical advice: If you’re in doubt, use CC0. You don’t need permission, you don’t have to credit anyone and you never risk breaking the rules by accident. Kenney.nl is your best friend.
See how we document assets in this project on the Asset licences page.