In many ways, making a game is sort of like cooking. You take elements of gameplay, theme, and art, and try to mix them together to create a tasty end result. But you can't just throw anything together! Some ingredients naturally go well with each other, while others don't combo nicely. Still others might seem like they wouldn't fit, but actually taste amazing. And don't even start on the controversial foods (pineapple on pizza anyone?).
For many people, the combination of our cute art style with the theme of cannibalism might seem odd. Looking at the whole dish though, you see how it works. The lighthearted art style fits with the fast paced arcade gameplay we wanted, the bright tropical setting, and the humor of the game too. But then, why pick cannibalism as a theme anyway?
In short, the cannibalism aspect offers the chance to add a bit of variety to the traditional cooking game. The fact that you have to hunt tourists makes for a clear new addition to the gameplay feedback loop along with combat, but it’s also about many small things that it allows us to do in terms of locations, story, and so on. Plus, the idea of cannibals running a kitchen also just seems funny.
The cartoon style allows us to have combat and cooking bits of people without it getting disgusting or shocking. We chose an evil god to be the one you had to feed rather than having actual human 'customers' for similar reasons. Cartoon violence has a long history, and we draw from that with the exaggerated way tourists literally turn into body parts for cooking.
You can share your thoughts on the art style (and more!) on the forums. It'd be great to hear from you all!