Crowdfunded games–Florida-based developer Epic Minds has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Midora, a top-down 2D action adventure game that takes its cues from classics like Secret of Mana and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
Despite the campaign only being started a few days ago, Midora has already amassed some $12,000 USD on Kickstarter as of the time of writing, some 20% of its funding target. It seems that its throwback style both in terms of gameplay and graphics has charmed many gamers looking to revisit the classics on the 1990s—but some have observed that homage may be turning into plagiarism.
Discussion of the game’s Kickstarter campaign in a forum thread on NeoGAF soon turned to debate as to whether or not the game plagiarized art from the Legend of Zelda series, specifically the 2004 handheld entry, The Minish Cap. Being that the developers have been very vocal about taking inspiration from such game, it’s a difficult call to make—of course the resemblance is there, by design, but at what point does it turn into full-fledged infringement?
The jury is still out on to what extent Midora borrows from other games. Its Kickstarter campaign will run until July 14, with a DRM-free copy of the game being available for a pledge of $10.