Donut County

Lore & Background

Donut County was developed by indie game developer Ben Esposito in his free time while developing The Unfinished Swan. The core concept was prompted by a game jam based on video game pitches from the Peter Molydeux Twitter account, a parody of game designer Peter Molyneux. Esposito made a game called The Pits from a pitch where the player moves a hole around an environment. The game grew to work as a 'reverse Katamari': instead of a ball that expands upon touching items, the Donut County hole expands upon swallowing items. Esposito described the game as a 'whimsical physics toy'. The game was originally called Kachina, based on Native American 'spirit beings that personify nature', and inspired by Hopi doll sculptures. After a blog post criticized his treatment of Hopi culture, Esposito changed the title and abandoned the theme. Other inspirations included indie game Windosill's art style, Los Angeles's high density of doughnut shops, and locations from Bruce Springsteen songs, such as Asbury Park and the New Jersey Turnpike. A demo was featured at IndieCade in October 2012, and the game was a 2015 Independent Games Festival finalist in the Excellence in Visual Art category.

Reader's Guide

Donut County received 'generally favorable reviews' according to Metacritic on all platforms. Critics praised the charming narrative and world, the novel challenges each level brought, and the world design and Trashopedia. The game won Apple's app store 'iPhone game of the year' for 2018. In 2018, French mobile game company Voodoo released Hole.io, which features many similar mechanics to Donut County. Voodoo was criticized for developing a 'clone' of Donut County. Polygon directly called Hole.io a 'Donut County lookalike'. Donut County creator Ben Esposito called Hole.io a 'cheap clone' via Twitter, saying its 'core mechanic' was stolen from Donut County trailers. Voodoo stated that 'our developers, whether internal or external... freely interpret existing gameplays as it is the custom throughout the profession where all developers feed off each other's creations... for instance, Donut County and Hole.io are two games with similar gameplay but with different interpretations that each bring a unique game experience'. Kotaku also criticized Voodoo for its surplus of 'free mobile game(s) that ape the unique gameplay mechanics of a beloved indie'.

Did You Know?

• The game was originally called Kachina, based on Hopi spirit beings, but the title was changed after criticism of cultural appropriation.
• The core concept came from a game jam based on pitches from the Peter Molydeux Twitter account, a parody of Peter Molyneux.
• The game's release on Android was in December 2020, over two years after the initial launch.