Long story short; I want to make a spiritual successor to Downwell.

However; not only for legal reasons but also for ethical reasons I want to make my game different enough from the original where it's not a copycat.

What makes a game a spiritual successor and what makes it a copy cat? Also should I make a video showing off all the game mechanics since the Pre-Alpha isn't done yet? Just so I'm able to know if I made it too similar to the original or not.

Edit: forgot to note, a spiritual successor is something that's not made by the same company nor the same characters but the same energy/ similar style of Gameplay, an example being Mighty Number 9 being a spiritual successor to Megaman.

I'm not sure. A spiritual successor to me is one that build upon the principles, characters and lore of the original while also innovating in its own way, whereas a copycat directly rips them off and just changes things around a little bit without introducing anything new.

An example that comes to mind is the 'clash royale' knockoff which copies the exact same layout, pretty much the exact same cards (but with different art) and even similar menus. A spiritual successor meanwhile would introduce meaningful changes to distinguish it from the original, yet have some similarities which can be discerned if you pay attention.

Generally I think of spiritual successors as:

• Continuing the plot or worlbuilding of the original, but Downwell is an arcadey game with no such things, so there's nothing here for you...

• Bringing up the gameplay, visuals, design notions etc up to modern standards, or reaching potential that the original series has been wasting for years (cough cough Stardew valley >>>> Harvest moon cough cough), but Downwell is a modern and very well made game that does not need to catch up to any modern standards...

• Provides a way to relive an experience that is no longer available, usually because the games that offered it have become abandonware, again doens't apply to Downwell.

• Evolves the gameplay in a new direction, like Pizza tower did to Wario Land. This is the hardest and requires the most talent and dedication. It's truly a feat if you succeed in this method.

You've set a tough task upon yourself... Downwell of all games hardly needs a spiritual successor, I'd say.

Not that it needs it; that it'd be a fun challenge.

I think your attitude towards the game that inspired you and the dev(s) that made it counts, too. If you're open about your influences, respectful towards the devs that inspired you, and gracious to the fans of the original, I don't think a lot of people will have a problem with you making a derivative product - you might even get support from them.

Also, the answers in this thread that say a "spiritual successor" builds on the characters and lore of the previous game are incorrect. You can't use those (at least not in an original, commercial product) because they're copyrighted. If you make a game using someone else's characters, you're making a fangame, which is a (similar, but) different beast.

So true. Using the same characters and lore makes it an ACTUAL successor, not a spiritual one. Assuming you have the rights, which, 99% of people don't, in which case it's a fan game.

I wasn't referring to lifting the characters of the original, because that of course would be copyrighted. But you can develop them further without necessarily directly referencing them. For an example of this, take the game "War of Eustrath", which was considered by its fans to be a spiritual successor of "Battle of the Youstrass". The gameplay is similar; the characters are reminiscent of the original, but differ significantly; the campaign extends the original, although they are also rather similar overall; and lastly, the dev team that made WoE consists of many of the original members who made BotY.

I've never heard or played of "Downwell", but I can definitely relate to wanting to make spiritual successors to my favorite games.

Unlike what most people have said, a spiritual successor does not include characters, plot, or lore from the source material that you want to be a "spiritual successor" of. That would be a legitimate successor and would be illegal for you (to some extent) to create. I say "to some extent" because as long as you're not making money off of it nobody would really care--unless it got stupid famous, which in that case the actual owners of the IP may say something.

(Fun fact, some guys back in the 70's got hired by Atari for modding some of their stuff--can't remember if it was a game of the system itself. They were told they would either be sued, or they could avoid a legal battle by just joining their company and continuing their work under the Atari company. This can happen to you, but that's only if what you make is legitmately awesome and the company sees you as a legitimate asset.)

But to really answer your question about what makes something a spiritual successor, I think really a spiritual successor is very close in concept to what it's trying to replicate, but has to stand alone on it's own at the same time and have it's own identity. The first example that comes to mind is that game "Back 4 Blood" that people called the "spiritual successor" to "Left 4 Dead."

Both games are in the same genre (3rd person shooter games with co op and zombie apocalypse story.) Except all of the characters are different, and I'm sure there are different power ups and perks that are unique to each game that set them apart from each other.

I think you just have to evoke the same emotions as Downwell, have similar gameplay but have features not found in Downwell, and perhaps have characters and a tone similar to Downwell, but obviously ones with their own unique stories and identities. The overall story to the game might be able to be similar, and that's very possible due to how much you have to probably stick to the same genre and such. But that's okay, a lot of stories are similar but manage to stand on their own because usually the execution is never 100% the same across different projects.

I hope this doesn't constitute necro bumping but I did finally get around to posting gameplay of the spiritual successor to Downwell I am designing.

Gameplay - https://youtu.be/cfzK0UIKA8A

Ngl the visuals are pretty bad for the project and I do have some other elements I could slap together some levels and post the pre-alpha on here.