‘Good artists copy; great artists steal.’ Or, in what seems to be the actual source of that aphorism:
“One of the surest of tests is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest.” -T. S. Eliot
Back when we were all posting what the ingredient reminded us of, several people mentioned Dr. Who’s TARDIS, including Onno. And here, we see that this wasn’t solely a passing thought: he has stolen at least one element of that iconic ship: the chameleon circuit (and ‘red box’ isn’t far from ‘blue box’, either).
I doubt we are in for genuine Dr. Who fanfic with this entry (though I wouldn’t mark it down if it was!) But we see here Onno’s choice to wear his influences on his sleeve, reminding me of my own choice to steal ‘rezrov’, ‘throck’, and ‘igram’ from the (extended) Enchanter series.
It’s a risk! I’m reminded of a review of ‘Ready Player One’ that said something like “It’s a bold move to make a core part of your aesthetic ‘hey, remember better movies?’” You make promises when you steal from something beloved, and invite comparisons to the original. The key, I think is right there in the Eliot quote: you have to be “better, or at least different”. With a grand total of five days to completely implement a whole game, I would assume that ‘better’ is probably off the table (it certainly was for me!) But ‘different’ is achievable.
And it’s not just pop cultural references you have to watch out for. I remember after I posted something about my dish in my episode, one of the judges said, “Oh, that reminds me of Sub Rosa,” and I immediately thought, “Oh, crap,” because I had not played that game, had no time to play that game, and now my own game was going to be judged in comparison to something beloved by the community (hi, @Joey!). Here, both chef’s games are almost inevitably going to be compared to other games that have similar ‘moving through time and space’ vibes, like the Little Match Girl series or First Things First. You put your game on a spaceship, you’re going to be compared to spaceship games; you put your game in London, you’re going to be compared to Trinity (aiee!).
So you just have to double down on your vision. Unless your goal going in is to be ‘better than X’, you’re not going to be better than X, and you’re going to have to instead just be different. And the best way to do that is to… be yourself? Did I just write five paragraphs to end on that old chestnut? Ah, well. It’s still true! Steal liberally, and then make it your own. And I think the key to that last bit is just confidence. Yeah, people liked what you’re stealing from. You did too; it’s why you stole it! But it’s your vision that people are here for. And that’s enough.
An Improbability Drive? Bistromath?