Here’s Why Donut County Has Such a Simplistic Look

When comes to Donut County, one of the things that instantly stands out is its distinct look. Earlier this week, Donut County creator Ben Esposito explained how he landed on the minimalistic style via a Reddit AMA. It boiled down to personal taste and practicality, in terms of development time:

I’ve done a lot of art for Arcane Kids games, and I really like the rough edges and stuff, but Donut County comes from my personal aesthetic. Before 3D, I was really into illustration & color and I tried to bring my style to 3D.

[With respect to] low poly, I really like the constraints of low poly (and I have a particular love for PS1 era 3D graphics). It’s also a matter of efficiency— I knew I would be making the 3D art alone, so it was useful to come up with constraints on poly count and texturing early on so I could actually make it across the finish line

There’s something automatically cute about this low-poly aesthetic. It’s an artistic direction that some might find charming. Donut County looks retro, modern, and distinctly indie all at once.

It took six years to develop Donut County, and there were plenty of struggles along the way. But the game is finally available now for the PlayStation 4, PC, and Apple iOS. We certainly think it’s worth picking up.

[Source: Reddit AMA]