We came up with them over many play-throughs. We like the basic loop of the game: get resources, trade resources, build stuff. So we eliminated the parts that were not fun.
I guess it reflects a difference in philosophies that I would have just said “Screw it, there has to be a better game than this” and put Catan out to pasture.
Not so different, I think. It’s just our better game happens to use the pieces of Settlers.