A while ago I needed an arrow in one of my 3D hobby projects, I think it was for Starbug Thruster but can’t remember. Anyway I was surprised that I couldn’t easily find such a basic 3D shape, so made one myself and put it on Turbosquid (see it here). Other arrows do exist of course, but have a high poly-count (not good for games) or are expensive, like this one which seems a bit steep at $8.
Anyway over a year later my arrow has been downloaded over 19 thousand times, and I received this really nice email from someone who used it:
Hi, David,
I’ve used your excellent green arrow pointer for two projects so far, and really appreciate your model!The first was for a game wherein my flying protagonist, racing through a city using anti-gravity, can find his way to the next set of rings he must pass through at a speed exceeding any competitor’s. The two arrows, positioned far apart onscreen, both pointed to the ring. Because of the arrow’s crisp 3D shape, the player can easily decide where the target must be in 3D space by projecting along the rays the two arrows are indicating. Perfect! I haven’t published that game yet.The second is for an unfinished split-screen game (which genre I helped invent back in the early Apple days) wherein the fire control system of the antagonist shoots at the seemingly distant arrow, which is placed on the point where the antagonist’s projectile and the protagonist must meet if the protagonist continues straight ahead at a constant velocity for the projectile’s time of flight. Meanwhile, the arrow is pointing at the hard-to-see protagonist, a flying man, who may be hundreds of meters away from the antagonist and anywhere in the sky. Again, a perfect application for your arrow!Good work! Thanks so much!Loren Logic
Here’s a link to LorenLogic’s games on Kongregate.