Now that Goatlings is shutting down is it a safe time to talk about how they totally ripped off one of my item design submissions and never credited me even though credit was literally the only thing any of us wanted lmfao
Edit: Finally found my old pics. Anyway, they were asking for Summer token game submissions as well as specifically lucky box submissions, so I submitted a concept for a mini kettle BBQ lucky box that would drop a random Australiana BBQ item when opened (top) including the "Shrimp on the Barbie" Battle Pet. Never got selected or heard anything back, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Then mysteriously a "mod design" is released (bottom) which is a mini kettle BBQ that drops American BBQ items when opened lmao
"Official staff member design" by sugarbear:
For context, on this site, redrawing or reinterpreting user-submitted designs was completely normal. That way, even users who weren't great artists could still submit ideas. I actually really like the staff member version, especially the goat horns and ears on the kettle. It's just that when a mod redraws or reinterprets a user-submitted concept, that original user is supposed to be credited in the item description alongside the team member who redrew the design.
I never posted about it because I knew at the time I would just get dogpiled and told it was a coincidence etc - which I don't personally believe; in my opinion (as someone who has professional experience in this field) they saw my concept and liked it, but wanted to completely Americanise it, despite saying how badly they wanted more designs from other countries/cultures. But even if it was a coincidence, it set a precedence for mods to just be allowed to completely yank user-submitted concepts and redo them themselves with priority/preference. When multiple users submit their own versions of the same concept, it's easy to see who got there first. But if an art mod says "oh trust me, this was my own design behind the scenes, I came up with the idea way before you," we have no way of knowing if that's true? So even if it were a coincidence, it would cost absolutely nothing to simply shout-out the user who already submitted the exact same concept? Otherwise, what would stop site artists from chewing through user submissions for ideas?
That was far from the only issue I had with the way the site overall handled user-submitted item concepts and designs and the subsequent redrawing of them, but it really soured my whole experience on a site I had been really enjoying and was pretty active on, especially since I didn't feel anyone would listen to or believe me if I tried talking about it - again, even if this was a coincidence, I still think a joint-credit protocol for user VS mod concepts should've been established - but if I can't air my grievances now on its final day, then when can I lmao
Like I understand that this is about a booboo baby pixel game about digital goats. But Goatlings always had the veneer of being user-driven and community-oriented, and that the site mods and users had a mutually-beneficial relationship of bouncing off and acknowledging each other, and it just stung to keep feeling like that was never true lol
