Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, and no? I work in professional spaces as an engine/graphics programmer for some 7 years now. But I've also been doing stuff on the side. Nothing serious tho, so no links to show you. Thing is, the kind of game I want requires some competent art and at this point I think it's better for me to learn that. So while (very very slowly) planning my game and learning knowledge professional, I want to do some classes in…
Did you consider using placeholder art, or paying a real artist? I don't think the prices would be exorbitant if you don't need gigabytes of art.
Unfortunately, that is indeed the case. Think action adventure game with a moderately sized over-world and a few dozen types of enemies (I DON'T want it to be open world, but from a technical POV it will probably have similar challenges).
I certainly can greybox some of this, but a lot of the feel will depend heavily on some good VFX, and likely some minor environmental deformation. I definitely can't put all that off into late development.
I will inevitably have to pay for a few artists, but Ideally I'd wouldn't be asking for concepting more so than polish and giving a cohesive direction to it all.