I want to tell you but, I want to see if anyone can figure out what the obscure game is that I got inspiration from. I will give you hint. It was an unlicensed NES game. It also had a built in level editor. Something burned into my brain from childhood.
after the jam ends I'll see if I can find some screen shots and some videos. I do a lot of my art style in the form of 90s windows games as well so that could be where some of that's come from too.