Hmm. A few things.
1. Nice photoshop job.
2. I guess I see what you mean. I am aware Mark is making a magnet game, though I didn't even think of referencing this for my design. I chose a more minimal approach due to the time limit (though it didn't really stop me from fussing over some details like animation). The "green checkerboard" is my attempt at minimalist greenery that grows on walls, though I might need to revise it should I choose to develop on the game further.
3. How in the world did you find a level that almost seamlessly merges with mine?
As creators we are ALL inspired by what is around us, consciously or subconsciously. If I tell you to create an original fantastic creature from scratch that doesn't exist anywhere, I think you simply can't, your brain will pick body parts, colors and basic shapes it has already seen somewhere. Cthulhu is just an octopus and centaurs some man-horse, pegasus = birdhorse etc...
You were certainly influenced by Mark's videos, above all if you like the guy and his content, like I was influenced by the mario 64 eel , In fact my game will probably never exist if mario 64 wasn't.
I literally hate Photoshop, I think it's way too overkill for making pixel art and indie stuff, my digital art professor in school also traumatized us with what is supposed to be a good workflow on this piece of alien tech. The reality is you don't need Adobe for making gorgeous art : MS paint can be enough.
I prefer using the built in editor of my engine, for the more sophisticated stuff I use Paint.net and GIMP in the last resort. The side by side montage literally took me, I think, less than 1 or 2 min to make with Paint.net.
Import magnet level > import charms level on a new layer > scale the smallest layer to match the edges of the biggest one > erase the top layer at ~50% to give that smooth transition effect. > FINISH
You do have a point. I have seen many familiar elements in many games. It's just a matter of putting your own spin on it to make it your own instead simply taking the idea and using it without really understanding how and why it works.
I used to use Photoshop, but not lately. I mainly use Procreate (for hobby art) and Pixaki (for pixel and game art).
Seriously though, your montage looks like a pretty cool crossover between my game and Mark's. It's actually pretty neat thinking about how my work or anyone's could interact with someone else's. Of course, we do have Super Smash Bros. as a shining example.
Like Antoine Lavoisier (one of the father of the modern chemistry) said : "Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed ". And I agree, you can't escape all the obvious plagiarisms, inspirations and references that are absolutely everywhere, and as a dev you even try to dodge this too obvious things you can put on your game ! I wonder what the creator of the original Snake would think of that : https://itch.io/games/tag-snake .You can't even reach the bottom of the page, and I suppose someone has already made what we had made here, in a way or another, and that's pretty terrifying...
I never heard about Pixaki before, so you making art on a Ipad ? Crazy. Aseprite seems also very loved by the indies here.
An untitled charming game would be awesome for sure, seriously imagine a magnetic field snake, just with that the possibilities are endless, that would make a good crossover, and I will buy it ! I don't know if you guys realize the marketing potential of what you have here ? Some people would spend money on that if it's cool and completed, I'm pretty sure...
SSB is like the Marvel Avengers of video games to me, and I can't stop seeing this game as gigantic fan service bait sadly, some kind of playable ad and a box that Nintendo had to check to say : hey we have a versus fighter game too ! But I'm maybe wrong. And neither the fan service or gameplay worked on me, even if the design is very well made, for sure.
I chose Pixaki because it had a lot of features (animation, rotation of layers, etc.) and it's on iPad, meaning I can draw wherever. Same goes for Procreate. Although, I do want to get into Aesprite, which could pair well with Pixaki as the latter can be exported into Aesprite. Plus, the newest version includes the power to make tilemaps like Pyxel Edit.
The crossover you described would be pretty cool. We just first need to actually finish the games (Though I have no doubt he'll finish it well). I wonder if this post will somehow reach Mark one day.
Well, if you only care about making tilesets, Pyxel Edit should serve you well at $9 USD. But, if want to get more out of your pixel art, definitely consider Aesprite. But, if $20 USD is too much, there other alternatives you can find.
Aw, I'm really touched you found my small jam game worthy of your collection. I'm currently expanding on a different game, so I'm not sure when I'll expand on it, but I will consider the possibility of a bigger game. Thanks :)
