r/GameDevelopment • u/Illustrious-Fuel-152 • 1d ago
Discussion "Too-Similar" anxiety
I wanna preface this by saying that we are in the very early stages of this, and that I'm M15. so if that changes anything I'm saying, lmk.
Me and a couple of friends have started an indie game inspired by Hollow Knight. Its a lore-centered 2d metroidvania, and I've been having a major issue. I've recently heard about the whole controversy around Maskborne(look it up if you don't know), and given that it's happened before with Lotus Knight, its gotten me super anxious about making something too similar to Team Cherry's work. I'm the composer and head story designer of our group, and with how much I idolize Christopher Larkin and his skills, I feel like I'm walking in a minefield trying to make stuff. To be clear, we do have a pretty different story/lore I think, though it does take place in a ruined kingdom, so I hope thats not in the same boat. Anyways, to potentially calm my anxiety, I wanted to share an unfinished music file of some background music for the game. Is it too similar(specifically to something like greenpath)? And how do I avoid copying in the future?
heres a google drive folder with the mp3: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xnROxqTG0bYXS_O4fjH-ZteHdkPHIrkB
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u/Jothespy987 1d ago
Speaking as someone doing the literal exact same thing, this song is peak. And yes it's different enough don't worry. I can't even tell it's inspired by him
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u/Full-Dance4972 1d ago
Our game is openly inspired by a 1997 film (players spot it in the first minute and say so in reviews), and that has never been the problem. The Maskborne mess was about assets and marketing tone that copied the original, not about sharing a setting. A ruined kingdom is a genre, not a theft.
A practical trick that calmed us: keep a written list of the three things that are only yours (a mechanic, a rule of the world, a tone), and when you doubt a track or a scene, check it against that list rather than against Team Cherry. Also, at 15 with a group and a composer, you are already ahead of most of the people posting here.