The Debate Over Mongoose Rodeo’s Crowsworn and Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight
What is “originality?” Merriam-Webster describes it as, “the quality or state of being original,” or “the ability to think independently and creatively.”
That is a standard definition, but since everything we do is a derivative of past experiences and actions, is anything truly original?
This question was inadvertently asked when a teaser for a new game, Crowsworn, was released.
The game carried a similar aesthetic as a popular game launched in 2017, Hollow Knight. That game earned overwhelmingly positive reviews and awards such as Best PC Game in Destructoid’s 2017 Game of the Year Awards, and Best Platformer in In-Game Names (IGN) Best of 2017 Awards, to name a few.
With all the people who eulogize the game, it makes sense that people would become defensive when they assume that another game is copying it.
Crowsworn, a game that is still in development, was announced in April. The only reason that it was mentioned at all was because the developers needed to fund the game by using a site called Kickstarter that allows random people to donate money to any game in development that they choose.
Once the game was teased, people immediately tried to ravage it by insulting the art style of the game. The art that could take years to conceptualize and finalize was torn apart by people online, just because it looked like their favorite game Hollow Knight.
This brings us back to the main point: What is originality? Is it possible to “copyright” an art style so that if someone mimics it, there are legal ramifications?
Certainly not, and it would not make sense from an ethical or logical viewpoint either.
Art is an abstract amalgamation of a person’s perspective of reality and their own experiences, meaning that it is bound to be influenced by any and all things within a given space.
If someone were to copyright an art style, that would deny someone else access to their creative freedoms and inspirations.
Games can be freeform and comforting, or even rigid and jarring like certain horror games. The point of games is to offer new experiences to your life.
When a game developer puts all of their effort into a game, they pour a piece of their soul onto a screen for you to experience. They take abstract experiences from their life, stories that they hear and they compile, and mold it into a comprehensive visual for people around the world to discover for themselves.
As long as the feeling of that game developer’s soul is able to be understood by others, isn’t that what is important? Isn’t that what originality is all about?
Offering an experience that can be interpreted in a plethora of ways so others can obtain themes and morals for themselves should be the purest form of originality.
So, who cares if one games’ assets or art looks similar to another game. If the experience that you get from completing the games feels new, then what else matters?
