Relationship between Sunless Sea & A House of Many Doors

[pixeltrickery]

Since this topic has been brought up twice now, I thought I'd create a pinned thread to address it.

Firstly, Failbetter Games (the developers of Sunless Sea) have not only given me permission to make this game, they've also funded half of its development and for the last year I've been working alongside them in their offices.

Secondly, HOMD is obviously influenced by Sunless but it's also very, very different in a lot of ways. It has turn-based combat, no roguelike element, procedural poetry generation, many smaller mechanical changes, and of course a completely different setting and story! Surely when comparing two games which focus so heavily on narrative, that means a great deal?

I didn't write nearly half a million words of branching story and lore in order to create a cynical clone of another game. That would be a very bad use of my time. HOMD is its own dark, weird thing, and I put all my soul into it. Please give it a chance before you discount it as just a "rip off" - I hope that after you play it, you'll feel very differently. :)

[Mich-666]

Sunless Sea ripoff?

Is this Sunless Sea ripoff or what?

[Hishiro Nishiro]

Looks like it

[pixeltrickery]

Failbetter (the developers of Sunless Sea) are part-funding the game and have helped me a lot over the course of its development. They will also be helping promote the game and will receive a return on their investment from its sales.

HOMD is obviously influenced by Sunless but it's also very, very different in a lot of ways - turn-based combat, no roguelike element, procedural poetry generation, and of course a completely different setting and story! Surely in games which focus so heavily on narrative, that means a great deal?

I didn't write nearly half a million words of branching story and lore in order to create a cynical clone of another game. That would be a very bad use of my time! HOMD is its own dark, weird thing, and I put all my soul into it. Please give it a chance before you discount it. :)

[Mich-666]

If this is true, you should probably clearly state it in the game description, together with some quote from Sunless Sea original creators.

Edit: Ok, nevermind, I already noticed it's there. You should probably make some QA sticky in the forums.

[pixeltrickery]

Yep, that's a very good idea! I've made a pinned thread, thanks for the suggestion.