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[dreaddagorath]

My game features a realistic geology model where stone occurs in layers (Sedimentary, Igneous, Metamorphic).

The attributes and colors of stone change based on the type of the stone. Items built from stone inherit the properties and color of the stone type.

You can even grow Cave Wheat in the game.

I definitely want to allow the player to be able to play as a dwarf, but that isn't working yet. This game is a "just a for fun" project that I have been working on.

https://www.commonwombat.com/blog/

[Duuvian]

Looikin good

[Jopax]

Are the graphics/UI final?

I hope not, because that looks like a pretty blatant rip of assets from Stardew Valley :V

[dreaddagorath]

Are the graphics/UI final?

I hope not, because that looks like a pretty blatant rip of assets from Stardew Valley :V

There are no SDV assets in that screenshot.  The SDV HUD in the upper right hand corner is entirely different aside from displaying the time and date.

Yes, obviously, my game is also based on SDV.

I drew all of the assets that you see there.

SDV dirt is yellow. My dirt is brown. SDV fences are different. SDV stone is all grey. SDV trees and bushes different. SDV main character is shorter and more child like, and the main character animations are different. SDV doesn't have a ability bar like my game. My game is set in a world of High Fantasy. SDV is set in small town USA.

I could keep listing the differences ...

[AlStar]

No need to get defensive, dude.

For what it's worth, I also thought the game gave off some very Stardew-esque vibes, especially how you've got your UI elements laid out. Some of the tools also look very similar; but you're working with a limited amount of pixels, and there's only so many ways to draw a pickaxe.

[dreaddagorath]

No need to get defensive, dude.

For what it's worth, I also thought the game gave off some very Stardew-esque vibes, especially how you've got your UI elements laid out. Some of the tools also look very similar; but you're working with a limited amount of pixels, and there's only so many ways to draw a pickaxe.

Sorry, I overreacted to the term blatant rip. It's an expected reaction to think that it is a copy of SDV, when honestly a lot of the gameplay from my game is copied from SDV, which copied 90% of it's gameplay from Harvest Moon.

Yep, my pickaxe is closer to the Minecraft pickaxe. But the SDV pickaxe is 80% similar to the Minecraft pickaxe.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Yes peeps on the forum tend to be uh ambivalent towards fan projects,

ANYWAYS, it is lookin good! and...

[Starver]

[...]when honestly a lot of the gameplay from my game is copied from SDV, which copied 90% of it's gameplay from Harvest Moon.

Yep, my pickaxe is closer to the Minecraft pickaxe. But the SDV pickaxe is 80% similar to the Minecraft pickaxe.

...and Minecraft was _{*mumble mumble*}% inspired by DF!

(I have absolutely no experience of SV. It looks like decent graphics[1], along the lines of most 'compromise map-tiles and sprite-tiles view'. As long as it can't be tagged as a (maybe hue-shift) direct copy, down to the textural dither-noise, you should be Ok. As mentioned, there's limited ways to use a limited group of pixels, and still illustrate a common item in a similar theme. There's going to be superficial similarities, and nobody can complain about those without the 'original' probably equally falling foul of the same degree of suspicion w.r.t. something else. )


[1] I'm a little concerned with the character-sprite. There looks to be a vertical 'cut', or maybe slice-out[2], to the RHS that affects the face, shirt, maybe trousers[3], but lets the hair, hand and shoe poke out. I don't know if you can put a pixel or two more skin on the face[4], but definitely some more 'rear' arm[5] poking out

[2] Only the highlight of the hair belies the possibility you lost an entire column two pixels in from the rightmost shoe pixels. Possibly from an inconvenient near unity, but not quite integer, rescaling/resampling.

[3] There's a border/outline there, which is missing in the shirt.

[4] Without making it look like Pinocchio, but cheek (if not nose) over some of the hair, which might give you other problems as it covers the slightly bright hair-highlight that stops the hair almost blending into that ground-colour (but not enough to concern me).

[5] Maybe a heavily vertically-axial backward dihedral stance (i.e. both shoulders well back and chest proudly forward) would explain the lack of it. But it looks odd to me. And can I just say at this point that I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so quite probably I'm not properly understanding from this sole screenshot what may look entirely contexualised by its active animation if you have it walking around (this is just an unortunate snapshot moment).

[dreaddagorath]

[...]when honestly a lot of the gameplay from my game is copied from SDV, which copied 90% of it's gameplay from Harvest Moon.

Yep, my pickaxe is closer to the Minecraft pickaxe. But the SDV pickaxe is 80% similar to the Minecraft pickaxe.

...and Minecraft was _{*mumble mumble*}% inspired by DF!

[5] And can I just say at this point that I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so quite probably I'm not properly understanding from this sole screenshot what may look entirely contexualised by its active animation if you have it walking around (this is just an unortunate snapshot moment).

Yes, the angle of the chest means that the shirt border on that side would not be seen.

16 pixel tile pixel art is a form of deception and compromise. In that 16 pixel space for the head you really have an area of 4 x 6 pixels to include the entire face: eyes, eye brows, nose, mouth and chin. The character sprite is definitely a work in progress, as is much in my game.

Interesting and perceptive analysis. I must say for lacking all artistic bones in your body, you have some seriously artistic insights.

[Sharp]

Sorry, I overreacted to the term blatant rip. It's an expected reaction to think that it is a copy of SDV, when honestly a lot of the gameplay from my game is copied from SDV, which copied 90% of it's gameplay from Harvest Moon.

Yep, my pickaxe is closer to the Minecraft pickaxe. But the SDV pickaxe is 80% similar to the Minecraft pickaxe.

I don't think you've copied assets from Stardew Valley, but you have definitely copied the style with the UI elements and placement which I think is what Jopax was talking about.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Like I appreciate that it's all inspired by Harvest Moon anyway and the gameplay will have a lot of similarities which is fine, but currently with the way the UI looks it's like a Stardew Valley knock-off. I think re-working the UI to move things around would help avoid that. Maybe have different styles for the energy bar so instead of a bar it's a gauge like a fuel tank. Or even have it as horizontal bars (and for health), maybe copy a bit of Kingdom Come Deliverence UI style or others just so it looks a bit more unique and less UI of SV

Also I think the name "Stardust Island" also gives it a knock-off vibe sorry.

I don't want to pee in your cereal though, good luck in it, will be interesting to try it out especially with abilities and seeing the high-fantasy life.

[Jopax]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with drawing inspiration or paying homage to something, but the issue here is (in my opinion at least) is that a quick glance at a screenshot or two doesn't make me go "Oh this is inspired by SV, neat", but instead makes me go "Oh, is this some sort of mod of SV?"

Like, there's limited ways to do certain things, sure, and a pickaxe will always be a pickaxe, but the UI seems like a carbon-copy with the minimal changes introduced just to be able to say that it's not at all the same thing. And I know that UI design isn't the easiest thing to pull off well, and it generally requires tons of playtesting and feedback, but I'd reckon getting trough that is going to be easier than having to constantly justify and defend against accusations of being a copy or a rip-off of a massively popular game that has revived the farming genre in the last several years since it came out.

And to further clarify, it's not necessarily that each individual element of the UI, the graphic style and the assets themselves being super similar is an issue, that'd be fine if pretty much all of them weren't so similar. If you'd pulled from several different sources for inspiration and reference. Just look at the several upcoming farming sims, each draws heavily from SV and HM but each looks and feels like a distinct game of its own, be it due to the assets, the UI, the setting or any number of things that work to differentiate it.

And again, don't take this as me being negative just to shit on the work you've done, it's clear that effort has been made and it looks and sounds pretty good so far, I'd just hate to see the thing buried under a pile of accusations that it's a rip or a copy before it gets off the ground, which has a very real chance of happening considering how well know and liked SV is.

[Sharp]

Just want to say, read the blog

Price Balance and Taxes. The farming portion of the game will have a dynamic and evolving pricing model.

Diminishing returns: the more you sell of an item the less it is worth.
Price fluctuation based on shop owner relationship.
Random daily price fluctuation.
Seasonal price influence.

Are amazing ideas, stuff that I would love to have in Stardew Valley.

[dreaddagorath]

Sorry, I overreacted to the term blatant rip. It's an expected reaction to think that it is a copy of SDV, when honestly a lot of the gameplay from my game is copied from SDV, which copied 90% of it's gameplay from Harvest Moon.

Yep, my pickaxe is closer to the Minecraft pickaxe. But the SDV pickaxe is 80% similar to the Minecraft pickaxe.

I don't think you've copied assets from Stardew Valley, but you have definitely copied the style with the UI elements and placement which I think is what Jopax was talking about.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Like I appreciate that it's all inspired by Harvest Moon anyway and the gameplay will have a lot of similarities which is fine, but currently with the way the UI looks it's like a Stardew Valley knock-off. I think re-working the UI to move things around would help avoid that. Maybe have different styles for the energy bar so instead of a bar it's a gauge like a fuel tank. Or even have it as horizontal bars (and for health), maybe copy a bit of Kingdom Come Deliverence UI style or others just so it looks a bit more unique and less UI of SV

Also I think the name "Stardust Island" also gives it a knock-off vibe sorry.

I honestly don't care if people view it as knock-off. This is something I'm doing for fun. As my blog indicates there are a ton of setting, theme, features and game play differences from Stardew Valley.

If someone can see all of the differences and still label it a knock off, it makes zero difference to me. At that point those people are just mindless fan boys of no regard.

You might try reading the blog that I posted above. There is no official name for my game. "Stardust Island" is a placeholder.

Here's another link to the blog:

https://www.commonwombat.com/blog/

[dreaddagorath]

I think re-working the UI to move things around would help avoid that. Maybe have different styles for the energy bar so instead of a bar it's a gauge like a fuel tank.

The energy bar in my game is temporary, and yes copied from SDV.

I don't like the Stardew Valley energy bar that grows and takes up a large amount screen real-estate. I'll probably have a dual Vitality and Energy bar display in that location, which won't grow and shrink based on the max amount of Vitality and Energy.

[dreaddagorath]

I don't think you've copied assets from Stardew Valley, but you have definitely copied the style with the UI elements and placement which I think is what Jopax was talking about.

Take Factional Alliances for example. That is a major game play feature that is in Dwarf Fortress, and I'm working on including it in my game. I created Coke and Charcoal in my game, just like Dwarf Fortress. So yes, theoretically I could have a Elf faction that you could upset if you try to sell Charcoal to them, just like Dwarf Fortress.

Factional Alliances don't exist in Stardew Valley. From a role playing perspective Stardew Valley is about as simple as you can get. There are monsters and villagers, and the two don't even interact.

My game is fundamentally more complex in just about every regard that Stardew Valley.