While I agree that this dev should have made more of an effort to differentiate the main character from Don't Starve, this artwork as a whole all appears to be original work. Don't Starve's art style is distinct but it isn't unique. Artists gather inspiration from everywhere. An artist rarely, if ever, truly owns a style, they own the artwork they create in that style. Picasso for example, is even credited with inventing cubism but he was hardly the only artist to paint in that style. And before cubism, Picasso painted in other artists' styles.
Exactly. And I've played played plenty of Don't Starve and that wasn't even my first thought when looking at the art. It has only a passing resemblance to Don't Starve's art, if you could say even that. The colour pallet is way brighter and the lines don't have much resemblance. Even if it did have the exact same art style, which it doesn't, it's not as if every fermium game has very similar art. Yet no one mentions that. I think the people complaining that the art looks like DS's haven't actually played DS.
I don't think anyone is accusing this game of stealing artwork or anything, it just seems kind of lame to mimic Don't Starve's main character and art style so heavily. However, the truly crazy thing about this thread is the many many many people defending this practice, the same kind of people who would normally jump on any Escher-esque game as "a cheap Monument Valley ripoff" or chastise any game that looked similar to Minecraft or Crossy Road. It's the inconsistency that bothers me the most about this thread. If a game is cheap and fun, then this practice is okay, apparently. If it's a shitty free to play game, then people bring out the pitchforks and torches. Crazy.
Well, I've never done that so no hypocrisy here. I play games I enjoy. I honestly don't think it's lame at all to use inspiration from other games, including artwork, provided that it isn't stealing and it isn't a complete copy of gameplay. Kind of like not having a problem with the original Kill the Plumber artwork. It was a parody with gameplay that was different "in reverse". The ones that sicken me are the direct fakes like Minecraft 2. Or when Vlambeer's Ridiculous Fishing was more or less stolen for Ninja Fishing. That bothers me. This doesn't appear to be either of those. If complete assets were stolen, yeah, I'd have a problem with that too.
From the first few minutes of Toucky's video at the top of the thread you can see that you get to make your own character so that image isn't of a protagonist just advertising art. And as for the art, if they are similar in any way it because it looks like this game takes the sketchy artwork from Don't Starve and finished it with more detail and better shading.
Are you serious? No one is denying that the artist had seen Don't Starve's art and was heavily inspired by it. But they've clearly done their own thing here. The colour pallete, shapes, lines are all different. Pull up some Don't Starve gameplay screens and this game and compare. Also if you look closely on the App Store you'll find that most of the art is inspired by other games in their respective genres. You do this for a living, I'm sure you're aware of this. As long as they're doing significant work of they're own, which they clearly have here, and not directly ripping assets or trying to trick people in to thinking their game is a competitors, then it's fine. You can't expect every small developer on a tight budget to completely reinvent the wheel everytime.
I'm not so sure that's NOT what they're doing. Obviously it's a thing as practically everyone's first impression of this game is "it looks like Don't Starve." If they aren't trying to ride the coattails of a more well-known and successful game, then why didn't they draw their own character? This is a very dangerous line of reasoning. MOST iOS developers are very small with tight budgets, that doesn't mean it's open season on copying.
Can you tell me specifically what they copied other than "it sort of looks like Don't Starve"? If you look closely, the pallete, lines, shapes any everything else is different. On the App Store, almost every game does this. The only reason this one is getting so much criticism is because so few games have tried to use a similar style to Don't Starve because it's much harder to do. So do you think doing this sort of art is a 5 minute job? Have a go at it and come back in a couple of years when you get anything that resembles the art in this game.
Is there a reason you're taking this so personally? All I'm saying is, as a fan of Don't Starve, if I see this in the App Store there's a very strong chance I'd think it was related to Don't Starve. Can you really argue that?
Not taking it personally. I hadn't even heard of the developer until today. You obviously haven't actually played the game. That's just the cover art, but in the actual game you customise your character and doesn't look like that. Even if it did, which to be clear, it doesn't, they did not directly rip assets. Now, seeing that you seem to think that that Don't Starve totally invented a new art style: (2005)
It sure seems like you are, you're getting very riled up. Kind of ironic for someone named zen mode. Anyway, no, nowhere did I say Don't Starve "invented a new art style." I am literally saying the main character in Greedy Cave looks almost identical to the main character of Don't Starve. Type of game and overall style don't matter to me, I agree they're somewhat similar but nothing crazy. But these main characters ARE a problem, ESPECIALLY since it's the customer-facing promo art for Greedy Cave. Which leads me to believe they'd really like some poor sap to come along and think their game is related to Don't Starve in some way. The fact that you don't grasp this concept is troubling, as if your goal is to rile up the people that run this site rather than have an actual common sense discussion of this topic. "You obviously haven't actually played the game" and "Have a go at it and come back in a couple of years when you get anything that resembles the art in this game" tell me you're more interested in starting shit. If that's the case, then just buzz off and stop wasting our time.
I am NOT trying to start shit, but a friend told me once, if you're going to steal something steal from the original. In this case it's clear that both games have taken their artistic inspiration from the same place.
It's cool, the developer is small and working with a tight budget http://appshopper.com/games/cute-the-rope-megic-tricks
Hah no, I just happened to see it while I was scrolling through Appshopper and this thread was going on. Although, I wonder if it WAS the same devs if that would change anyones mind Hmmmmmmm
From a branding point of view you have a point. I'll agree they may have created promotional art to get people to notice the game. From what I'm reading in the thread and seeing in the videos, that's pretty much where the similarities end. I personally think the art here is better than Don't Starve's and the art is why I bought Don't Starve in the first place. I've been a long time fan of Tim Burton's artistic style and both of these games appeal to that interest. Let Eli know, if he needs a place to stay while he's off world, I have a few friends I can hook him up with. #
Yeah that's sort of the thing, is that this game is really cool and unique and doesn't NEED to trade on another game's popularity. The fact that a lot of people are bringing up the similarities is a shame.
