Best Free to Play Animation & Modeling Games on PC

Microsoft Maquette

Very useful app for development, creation, ideation and creative expression. Finally feel like I found the app that works with my brain to explain my thoughts and ideas quickly and more effectively than paper.

Great user tools like snaping, precise movement, copy and paste. The basics are great but it also has SUCH a good UI that it makes the user experience very pleasing.

One of the few VR creative apps that has a save button too. Which is reassuring because while it’s a great app there are some crashes that occur but the app recovery and saving means you won’t lose much work if you are diligent like in any other project based software you use.

– Real player with 84.5 hrs in game

Read More: Best Free to Play Casual Games.

This is my go to first port of call for spatial design as a full time VR Designer, when I am working out the fundamentals.

It will spark new ideas, make you test your asssumptions in situ and I can’t imagine life without it anymore. Being able to grab stuff from poly lets you work up a high fidelity version of what you’re making right off the bat in most cases, avoiding the need to really model much from scratch.

The Major downside, the one that will prevent widespread industry adoption until it’s fixed is that you can’t really export stuff reliably. I can’t think of a situation where I won’t be using a mixture of elements from Poly and things I’ve made myself, and you can only export the models right now as the Google poly colors don’t export. This doesn’t make it very good for getting buy in on your ideas or giving somebody a flavor of the end result by delivering a worked up concept. you obviously also can’t communicate much of your visual design without color either.

– Real player with 16.4 hrs in game

Microsoft Maquette on Steam

Fuse

NOTE: This is a review for version 1.0 of FUSE (though I’ve been toying with it since its initial release)

TO POTENTIAL BUYERS:

In truth this product is a mixed bag of nuts. Mixamo is trying to do something truly great here and if they adjust their approach to customer management and marketing with this product they just might build a very powerful indie-focussed tool to quickly build out a cast of characters on a fairly reasonable budget. There is certainly a market for this, and with enough customer buy-in they could become an industry staple in this regard. With that said, the tool isn’t there just yet.

– Real player with 248.2 hrs in game

Read More: Best Free to Play Character Customization Games.

First of all - almost all the negative reviews I see here are wildly misinformed! You should know what you’re getting with this software (unlimited free character models with textures - and 2 free rigs a week) - and it is an ENORMOUS time and money saver for those who need custom character models on a budget.

Let me clear a couple things up:

1. You can ABSOLUTELY export your characters as OBJ files and load them in anywhere

2. If you want to rig/skin your characters for animation you upload them to Mixamo - and get 2 free per week.

– Real player with 236.8 hrs in game

Fuse on Steam

Mocap Fusion [ VR ]

Motion Capture Fusion [VR] is an immersive roomscale mocap sandbox for artists and animators who wish to create and export motion capture animations_, or create live content_, using conventional VR hardware. With as little as a single VR HMD and two controllers users may create mocap on their own avatars. Advanced users may create more detailed motion capture including full body tracking and can be combined with other sensors (eg. Apple IPhone Truedepth sensor and Oculus Quest 2 optical finger tracking) to connect avatars to simultaneous inputs. This fusion of multiple sensor can combine many layers of motion capture in a single take; including: full body tracking, face capture, lipsync, gaze tracking, optical finger tracking.

Highlights

The term “getting into character” may apply here as literally connecting one’s self to an avatar as completely as possible and seeing them selves in a (VR) mirror while acting out a script.

Users may include their own completely custom characters (avatars) and use the same avatar throughout the production workflow. This eliminates the need for retargeting and ensures the mocap data always fits 1:1 without causing any offsets in the final results.

One of the unique features of Mocap Fusion is that it has the ability to export motion capture data and reconstruct the scene in Blender, making it available for final rendering in minutes .

Compatible Headsets (VR HMDs)

Valve Index
HTC Vive (and Vive Pro Eye).
Oculus Quest (1 and 2).

Optional Tracking Hardware

SteamVR Vive trackers.
IPhone Truedepth sensor (facecap and eye tracking).
Oculus Quest 2 (full optical finger tracking).

Capabilities

Export mocap and create scenes in Blender™ instantly.
HTC™ Vive Trackers (Up to 11 optional points) full body tracking.
Ability to record, playback, pause, slomo, scrub mocap in VR.
Customizable IK profiles and avatar parameters.
SteamVR Knuckles support for individual finger articulation.
Quest 2 optical finger tracking app for individual finger articulation and finger separation.
Vive Pro Eye blink and gaze tracking support.
Sidekick IOS Face capture app (Truedepth markerless AR facial tracking).
User customizable Worlds, Avatar and Props may be built for mocap using the APS_SDK.
Compatible with existing Unity3D™ avatars and environments.
Supports custom shaders on mocap avatars.
DynamicBone support for adding hair, clothing and body physics simulation to avatars.
Breathing simulation for added chest animation.
Add/Record/Export VR Cameras for realistic camera mocap (eg. VR Cameraman effect).
Optimization for exporting mocap (.bvh) data to Daz 3D.
Placement of “streaming” cameras for livestreaming avatars to OBS or as desktop overlays.
Microphone audio recording with lip-sync visemes and recordable jaw bone rotation.
Storyboard mode, save mocap experiences as pages for replaying or editing later.
Animatic video player, display stories and scripts, choreograph movement.
Dual-handed weapon IK solvers for natural handling of carbines.
Recordable VTOL platform for animating helicopter flight simulation (eg. news choppers).
VR Camcorders and VR selfie cams may be rigidly linked to trackers.
VR props and firearms may be rigidly linked to trackers.
Ghost curves for visualizing the future locations of multiple avatars in a scene.

Gameplay

The experience depends on the user’s PC and the tracking hardware used. The recommended SteamVR headsets are the Valve Index or the HTC Vive. A Quest HMD may also produce reasonable results. It is also possible to use the software without an HMD (eg. when livestreaming). Full body tracking is only available when using feet and hip trackers (and optional elbows, knees, chest). Users may achieve more realistic tracking results when using body trackers. Body trackers are optional and standing mocap is supported. Further realism my be achieved on compatible avatars by also enabling face capture or using a Vive Pro Eye for gaze and blink tracking.

History

Originally this was designed as an intuitive way for users to create virtual training videos and presentation in an immersive VR environment for added realism and then export their animation for rendering. The project was made available to a community for beta testing and since has received feedback and many feature requests which has helped add to the utility of the software for a verity of different creators.

Read More: Best Free to Play Video Production Games.

Mocap Fusion [ VR ] on Steam

Lords of New York

I’ve been waiting for this game for years, and finally now that it’s in Early Access and I’ve had a chance to play it a bunch, I am really enjoying it. It’s basically a game about cheating at poker, with a bunch of other poker cheats. It’s your standard Texas Hold ‘Em, only each character has different abilities that help them get an edge. These abilities are unlocked and “level up” as rounds of play go on, but even from the first deal, you’re able to manipulate the cards, your opponents, and of course, make the usual decisions like call, raise, or fold. It’s a great new take on poker, and the game for the most part seems pretty balanced, despite each character having a different set of abilities. It always feels good to win a hand of poker, but it’s even more fun playing when you have these extra tools at your disposal to make the cards go your way, or get a peek at your opponent’s hand.

– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game

just bought because of sale, but i liked the idea about the different powers the charactors have i wish there was a story mode hopefully there will be. If there is that update then it could be the best poker game on steam just maybe but only with that story mode complete please finish the game please.

– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game

Lords of New York on Steam

RPG World - Action RPG Maker

Where to begin? Diablo meets Disney, Never Winter Nights meets Legoland. This game is great on so may levels.

Whether you like playing action RPG’s or you like to craft worlds/scenarios for your friends to enjoy, Single player, multiplayer, PVP, World editor.

I can honestly say I’ve not found a game that appealed so much in a long, long time. Mostly it is FUN. Fun to build, fun to play. Challenging if you’re a serious mayhem seeker, entertaining if you just like to explore.

Since I wrote the above the game has received a steady stream of upgrades in terms of new buildings,props, collectables, choosable theme music, new npcs and enemies, a brilliant character creator so you can build your own npc’s and enemies from a huge range of body parts and AI’s, upgrades to questing making it much easier to control the flow of play. The dev’s have been seemingly tireless in their dedication to fulfilling the game’s early promise.

– Real player with 1783.3 hrs in game

NOTE: This review is written while the game was in Early Access at 25th of april.

You know, I’ve always been a person who likes to build stuff. That’s why I LOVED to play with LEGO. I used to build all kinds of stuff. Cars, buildings…whatever I preferred, as long as I knew how the pieces connected to eachother. Because how hard is it to build a tower when you don’t know how your tools and bricks work? That would be a mighty challenge even for master builders…

The hobby of building things kind of continued when I started playing video games, so I bought a game like MyWorlds before called Fight the Dragon. That game had an amazing level editor with lots of tools to play with, including a lot of ‘‘invisible’’ mechanisms like triggers and such. Unfortunately that game is suffering a slow and silent death due to lack of players, which brought me back to the quest of finding a game where I could express my fountain of imagination.

– Real player with 228.8 hrs in game

RPG World - Action RPG Maker on Steam

Bloodsports.TV

Full stop, this game is D..E..D Dead. You can find some random games every now and then but there should be no expectation to join random lobbies as the game died off years ago. You should only aim to purchase this title if you have friends that will be playing with you. I do check randomly for games but they are typically locked or just a 10 wave.

That being said you should add this game to your Wishlist and grab the 5 pack bundle when it goes on Sale. I think this game is worth 25 bucks for the 5 pack and it is a steal if your group of friends like these survival wave based games. This game is best enjoyed in groups of 4 or 5 in my opinion. Three is a decent time but you won’t be pushing as hard as it is harder to cover map objectives on the harder difficulties.

– Real player with 137.4 hrs in game

A year or so back I purchased the Fatshark Bundle for myself and a friend. At first glance all the games looked entertaining and the reviews were good. Letting the game run for cards it unlocked one achievement and in doing so dropped my overall percentage score, it is because of this that I have played this game a lot sooner than I was planning.

Before I get into the details of why you shouldn’t purchase this game let me tell you what’s good about it first. The game itself looks good and runs smoothly at 60fps. The gladiators/arena remind me of Borderlands with it’s wise cracking commentator and post apocalyptic atmosphere. It shares the same universe as Krater, so if you wish to find out more details about this world you can do so if you please. Your character’s upgrade system although improperly balanced is fairly fleshed out, allowing for a wide variety of customisation. It’s got achievements, trading cards, a cloud save, and cooperative play, all of which work perfectly.

– Real player with 123.1 hrs in game

Bloodsports.TV on Steam

Green Fairy VR