Ilias Sounas claims that the developers plagiarized his artwork and provides examples

http://www.sounasdesign.com/plagiarism-of-sounas-artwork/

came across this on a Steam forum discussion

http://steamcommunity.com/app/297590/discussions/0/540744937504103530/

Wow, those comparison shots are pretty damming.

Edit: I'll recant my statement to say as others have, that while it at first seems fairly similar, the art style is so derivative of many games out on the market already that laying claim to it does seem misguided.

Their designer is a buttperson. I figured this was the case though, the programming seemed not great and the writing was basically stolen from Adventure Time.

Destroy it.

I disagree. This art-style is uber-generic in the smart phone world. A lot of games kinda look like this. Angry Birds, for instance. I think this dude is full of himself and his oh-so original art.

What a shame, from quick look game seemed like it had a lot of originality and charm. So sad that such a clever game will carry such a stigma now.

Well that sucks. I wonder if vinny will do anything to address this (since they just did a 40 minute QL of it)

I do doubt that they are direct copies though. Most of the stuff looks easy enough to recreate vs straight up steal them. I notice some slight differences between the assets that are compared.

Personally, looking at his own comparison graphic, I see almost no similarities at all other than the basic art style which doesn't seem at all unique to Sounas' work. That's your basic post-Dexter's Lab art design.

@corruptedevil: How do you know if the programming is not great?

@chronicthehedgehog: Characters just kinda slide around instead of moving in a natural manner.

Feels weird this is just coming about now though, it looks like these art assets used are the same ones used to promote the kickstarter, which cleared its funding goal significantly. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sleepninja/monsters-ate-my-birthday-cake

What @atomic_dumpling said. This "style" is nothing new. There have been a billion games/TV shows/movies that have used some variation of it, going all the way back to some early Mario games. That guy didn't invent this, by any stretch.

That art style is extremely derivative, but I see nothing I would call stolen assets. Not to mention that the original author's style appears largely derivative of Craig McCracken's landscape style.

Some people on steam are saying Sounas may have "stolen" this from the designs of someone else from 2004, this whole thing may be chasing shadows for the most part. What we are seeing may only be 10% true.

Well, I guess that makes sense. It's just upon first inspection both games have extremely similar specific visual landmarks. Although, I guess it's entirely possible to say there was no conscious plagiarism, but rather like the both of you said it's a visual aesthetic that's so simplistic it's bound to draw similarities.

Yeah, kinda hard to get angry about it when, apparently, the artist making the claim has done the same thing with the same artwork.

It's kinda weird, actually.

Looks pretty close. Never played either so wonder how the gameplay differs?

@i_stay_puft: MonstersUp is pretty much a clone of Doodle Jump and for the most part you just see the same environments.

If this is what constituted plagiarism in videogames the majority of games out there would be considered using plagiarized art.

I like how the artist points out that skull, which looks completely different - just that there is a skull. I think this guy is stretching a bit far - the styles are pretty close, but meh calling it an outrageous ripoff is going overboard.

Exactly.

Are we looking at the same images? To me it looks like a similar art style that is all and you really can't lay claim to an art style... especially not something as generic as that.

Like I said above to a couple other duders...

Well, I guess that makes sense. It's just upon first inspection both games have extremely similar specific visual landmarks. Although, I guess it's entirely possible to say there was no conscious plagiarism, but rather like the both of you said it's a visual aesthetic that's so simplistic it's bound to draw similarities.

Heavily inspired? sure; stolen? no.

Stolen, no. Copied, remixed, reworked, yes. Easy to see.

Yeah, no stealing here unless they actually used the assets. Just a generic "artsy" art style being used. Islands that shape have been used ad nauseum and skull shaped mountains, totally original stuff there too...

If this artist plagiarized Sounas, then Sounas almost certainly plagiarized some other cute monster-themed games. As others have pointed out, he seems to have taken direct inspiration from other past games in the genre.

And to me, that's okay. I don't think Sounas plagiarized or the artist of Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake plagiarized. At least, not from the comparisons being made. These are all people working in a very similar, simple style, but that they seem to be riffing off of one another is not plagiarism. If I made a cute monster-themed game, I'd probably look at other cute monster-themed games, and frankly, the result might even have some apparent similarities like this.

Clearly the artist of this new game got rather close with the island and skull, but Sounas is kidding himself to suggest that he somehow owns the vision of a generic island shape like that and evil skull mountain. He does have reason to make it clear that he did not work on the game, as I wouldn't have been surprised to hear he had, but in my opinion, this artwork does not appear to be plagiarism. As an artist, I get why it might bother him, but he should recognize the difference between strong influence and plagiarism.

Dude doesn't really have a case. Apparently he thinks he owns copyrights on 'cartoon-styled landscapes and objects.'

I'm not seeing plagiarism here. There are similarities in the art styles, yes, but not plagiarism.

Well I extend that to any form of visual art. It is pretty bold to claim plagiarism on things that look at most inspired by their works.

I would say the map design and layout are similar, as are the little touches, the mountains and streams and such but the actual vector art and style itself isn't plagiarism, otherwise the whole vinyl toy market would be fucked. I'm sure somewhere in every modern graphic artists portfolio theres that type of vector monster design, like look at Domo, simple shapes comprised together, this style is really popular -



I actually prefer the Monsters Ate my Birthday Cake art, it's way my colourful and vibrant.

no

Its a bummer, but its a pretty common practice given the confluence of design and internet. It seems especially bald-faced in the mobile game arena.

I'll copy and paste this from that steam thread. seems like a good response.

Sounas is a hypocrite. He copied his "happy land" (Monstersup) from Moshi Monsters.

Moshi Monsters Map:

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7900000/moshi-map-moshi-monsters-7917143-2560-2051.jpg

This screenshot are of hills and some of the monsters in Moshi Monsters:

http://www.cooneenbydesign.com/CooneenByDesign/media/CooneenByDesign/Licences/MoshiMonsters.jpg

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https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/5780964352/hAC075671/

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http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130526193118/moshi-monsters-mm/images/8/8b/Hab_liberty_(1).png

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Moshi Monsters & Monstersup (Sounas) comparison:

http://snag.gy/6mAFN.jpg

So the guy is whining about artwork that he took from another game and didn't give credit for.

also this

Both games seem highly derivative of other well established cartoony art styles. I highly doubt that one is copying the other directly.

There are tons of cartoon shows with that exact same art style, and im sure if you take a look you can find very similar object from them. At first glance the map looks similar because of the layout and the skull mountain in a similar place, but other then that they are both just islands that are bound to have things that look similar when using the same art style.

Dude has no case, it would only be something if they used his EXACT assets like what happened with the Olly Moss borderlands thing.

Every game with stick figures plagiarized drawings I made as a small child. A circle for a head? Two dots for eyes? Each limb is a single thin line? With all those similarities, that shit could hardly be a coincidence.

@tdot said:

also this

Seems like Yoshi's Island is always relevant.

@tdot said:

also this

Pretty damning comparison. Look at the hills, the mountains, the water..

Actually, nevermind. This fellow just seems to be blowing steam.

Yeah, this is one of the really shitty things about the illustration industry, sadly. It's one of the many reasons I quit (I was freelancer for several years after uni). No, it's not plagiarism. Yes, developer of Birthday Cake probably did (maybe (might very well have (or not))) yank and repurpose major tenets of this other fellow's art style. However, all of it is just different enough to where Birthday Cake is its own thing and is in no way guilty of IP theft in this case. Derivative, crass, rude, downright low; but legal.

There is supposed to be a sort of gentleperson's agreement amongst illustrators not to do this to each other because it creates a hostile field for everyone involved. Some people choose to be dicks. That is the way of things.

Guys, guys, there was an evil Skull Mountain in Ni No Kuni. And cute monster collecting...

Plagiarism!

*shrug* they all remind me of happy tree friends. I 'unno.

I'm gonna go with "no" on this'n. If anything was plagiarized, it was the Adventure Time style of writing, and even then, there's not exactly a case to be made there unless Pen Ward has a copyright on "strange/cute turns of phrase".

For a moment there I felt horrible since I'd just bought the game, but then I followed the link and saw the actual comparisions, and as others have pointed out, I don't really think Sounas has a case here.

There's a really good documentary on this called Everything is A Remix. Basically, he points out that many creators have no problems with plagiarism, unless it's their own work that is being plagiarised. Seems like the case here.

I'm with everyone else here that's sayin nope.

NOPE!

Having a very similar style ain't stealing. Also, yea. Skull... not THAT original. What he's sayin is going on in his words do not line up with what's going on in the pictures. It may be a copy of the style but it sure as shit ain't stealing.