Make Games Logo

EvanGreenwood

Make Games needs a cool logo, which would go some ways to defining the style for this website (If it needs to be changed, I'm definitely prefering the happy cyan and white to the old hacker black and green)<br><br><div style="text-align:left">Here's what we've fiddled together in white and black...It's rough, it'll hopefully look like folded paper.<br></div><p style="text-align:left;clear:both"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pTB6lzMeqxk/T-OnJ-Pzb6I/AAAAAAAAAEk/hB7IjzpWXf8/s1600/makegames.jpg" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em" target="_blank"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pTB6lzMeqxk/T-OnJ-Pzb6I/AAAAAAAAAEk/hB7IjzpWXf8/s400/makegames.jpg" border="0" height="215" width="400"></a></p><p style="text-align:left;clear:both">We
had another idea for the logo. To have each letter like an object and
made in 3D... Little Big Planet style... but it would be a lot of work
to concept out so we rather thought we'd show you guys an example and
see if there is interest.</p><p style="text-align:left;clear:both"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ZM6IAtMv74I/T-OnchoWgQI/AAAAAAAAAEs/6tBtqOl1y3g/s1600/MakeGamesLogoIdea.png" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em" target="_blank"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ZM6IAtMv74I/T-OnchoWgQI/AAAAAAAAAEs/6tBtqOl1y3g/s1600/MakeGamesLogoIdea.png" border="0"></a></p>If anyone has some comments on these ideas, or has other ideas for a logo, please make suggestions!<br>

Rigormortis

I like things neat and simple, so I really like the first one that looks
like the folded paper. I think I would like it more if the words were
next to each other instead of on top of each other though. <br><br>I wanted to upload an idea(not a very good one mind you) but couldn't figure out how to insert images.<br>

LexAquillia

I'm also in favour of the paper design. I think the seperate objects is too busy, but that's just me

dislekcia

When designing logos I tend to like defining patterns. The idea being that it's the pattern of arrangement that is the recognisable part, so that the logo itself can be "implemented" in a bunch of different ways.<br><br>A great example would be the way Blizzard's logo changes colour and animation depending on the game it's visible in. QCF's logo is a pattern as well, even though we haven't gotten around to any specific implementations other than the candy-button one. Also this would allow lots of artists to take stabs at the logo at different times.<br><br>So what elements would be important in the Make Games logo? Basically all I'd add to the requirement of "Make" and "Games" would be a "South Africa" somewhere there so that googling it would lead back here productively instead of to some random other site.<br>

edg3

Well, I was going to bring this up some time soon as well, glad someone else did though :P I kinda roughed this up just toying with ideas (and reminding myself why GiMP makes me want to cry a little).<div><br></div><div><img src="http://i46.tinypic.com/2hrg9du.png"></div><div><br></div><div>I am happy with anything as long as it is up beat and bright.</div>

Elyaradine

<p>I didn't make these. <em>"These are sucky as finals; they are only ideas to make you think of better ones :P I was just playing around :P"</em><em><br></em></p><img src="http://www.makegamessa.com/uploads/FileUpload/11/58b71693087efae7672c60ba11e514.png">

AngryMoose

Controllers always make me thing of *playing* not *making* games :P

edg3

Perhaps something like how Unity's logo works where it blends the stages of going from concept to final project?<br><br>I imagine something like a mario-esque character with the left half being a hand drawn sketch of sorts and the right side being coloured and such and they blend together in the middle? Could use simple colours and make the MGSA part inside it using negative space? Though Im hesitant to agree with MGSA as MGSA is a common acronym.<br>

ShadowBlade

If I can just chime in here, the one thing I'd like to see is a dark site. I really do not like bright, white backgrounds; nasty on the eyes :(<div><br></div><div>Logo-wise, I like the idea of a pattern-based design(so you can change the colour and style with ease), as @dislekcia suggested.</div>

edg3

@ShadowBlade well, it can be bright and upbeat while not being white (think dark grey with pastel colours for links, text, etc, which is how my Visual Studio is configured)

dislekcia

I dunno, personally I prefer high contrast sites and light backgrounds with dark text just feels a lot more professional to me. Still just opinion though, I'd have to look for studies to show which sort of design was better perceived given the site's goals, but seeing as we don't have a committee to make that sort of decision yet, I'm kinda holding off on that level of debate ;)<br>

ShadowBlade

I really like the dark styling of interfaces, for example, in UDK, FLStudio and ZBrush. Looking at the light backgrounds is just unpleasant to look at for too long :( A good, dark interface creates an environment you'd want to be in for extended periods.<div><br></div><div>Here are just a couple examples of website colouring I really like:</div><div><a href="http://cghub.com/">http://cghub.com/</a>;
</div><div><a href="http://store.steampowered.com/">http://store.steampowered.com/</a>;
</div><div><a href="http://www.cgsociety.org/">http://www.cgsociety.org/</a>;
</div><div><br></div><div>Use it, don't use it, whatever :P</div>

Elyaradine

<p><em>Controllers always make me thing of *playing* not *making* games :P</em></p><p>I thought about this a bit, and it's, like, what do we think of when we think about making games anyway? :D Writing, spreadsheets, tablets, keyboards and late nights? (How the heck would all that fit in a logo? :P)<em><br></em></p>

skinklizzard

a coffee mug perhaps ?<br>

Elyaradine

I like that. :D

Karuji

Someone give @skinklizzard a coffee mug.<div><br></div><div>Think of which I might actually get some mugs printed if the logo is cool.</div>

Nitrogen

@<span class="Author"><a href="http://www.makegamessa.com/profile/38/ShadowBlade">ShadowBlade</a> I agree, I prefer darker sites (with low contrast mind you) for extended reading...<br><br>If we can do it, @edg3, is there a way to allow users to choose their own theme for the forums?<br> </span>

edg3

@Nitrogen 
It is definitely not impossible. The themes are typically built as plugins for the forum (they  override the default CSS defintions of Vanilla), so a theme could extend the functionality of the forum to allow you to switch from one to another (so a blank theme with no actual styling that has some code to select a theme based on a user specification and just loads a theme within itself, which would most likely just be differing CSS files, shouldnt be too difficult to do). 

ShadowBlade

@Nitrogen @edg3 That'd be nice, yeah. So long as I can have me a nice, dark, low contrast theme :P

Cyberninja

Hey guys. Here's a logo I designed for the site. Let me know your thoughts. :)<div><br></div><div><div><div><br></div></div></div>

Karuji

<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">@Cyberninja those are totally rad. In the most professional way possible ;)</font><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">The colour scheme does make me thing of Google though, but still totally rad.</font></div>

dislekcia

@Cyberninja: I really like the nod to the SA flag's colours. Is there a shape that's more indicative of game development though? It feels like the gear is a little played out... Maybe split it into quarters to represent the different aspects of game development (off the top of my head: code - gear, design - thought bubble or flowchart arrows, art - mesh or paint and musical notes, business - tentacles)?<br>

raxter

<font face="Arial, Verdana"><font size="2">Any possibility of having the south african flag imposed onto the gear? Distorted slightly so it looks like it has 3 symmetric partitions? Also that way we can have the code/design/art split without tentacles grasping for money :p</font></font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 10pt; "><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 10pt; "><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">so like these but more with the red/blue/black parts more symmetric (and the whole thing more gear like)</font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31xJl1MzJPL._SL500_AA300_.jpg"></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/60395/60395,1281255117,1/stock-photo-round-south-african-flag-with-circle-of-people-illustration-jpeg-58629775.jpg"></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana">and more symmetric like this</font></div><div><img src="http://www.visualfractions.com/IdentifyCircles/circle.gif"></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">(my 2 cents...)</div>

Cyberninja

Thanks for the feedback guys. :)  I'll make some changes and upload a few more designs later today. 

Cyberninja

A few more variants of the logo.

edg3

I like the third one, it makes me think of a DPad

Karuji

@raxter life needs more tenticles ;) I mean the Anonymous man with a Cthulu head (or just tentacles) would be amazing, actually I have an idea for a new desktop wallpaper.

@Cyberninja I agree with @edg3 that DPad looking one is great. Though I have to say I am partial to that last one, but I am no idea what the 5th part would represent; I mean we already have betenticled businessmen.

Pomb

Hey hey, wasn't sure if it's an open session to just plonk in designs, but here's my stab at it: the four spikes were supposed to represent the four things that @dislekcia had mentioned, one broken because making games is a hard business or something... something else, maybe.

Denzil

@Cyberninja I quite like the the gear shaped one and the pentagon shaped one as well. I like the fact that it's so simple and clean. Overly flashy things always put me off.

Elyaradine

Great work, guys! \:D/

edg3

@pomb those would make really awesome t-shirts! :O I think the detail is a bit high for a logo for the site though (unless the header was made to take up 1/3rd of every page for my screen.

Pomb

@edg3 totally, looked at them with fresh eyes this morning and there's just too much!

raxter

@cyberninja those are looking sweet! like the two 5-sided ones (simply because they are all 5 colours of the flag ... except white ... though the background is white :p)

also, I submit to the tentacles ... err ... the picture of them, in any case

also also, yes, what would the fifth thing be, we have design, art, code/tech, business(tentacles) and ... fun? ... hard work? ... time? ... coffee/energy drinks? ... kittens

Elyaradine

Design, art, programming, production and marketing?

Cyberninja

I think those elements change, depending on the person/team/project. :p

Personally, I view the five elements as: Game Design, Programming, Art, Music and Storytelling. Granted, not all games need those elements. But I think they're important building blocks, when it comes to designing games. Heck, I'd even add a sixth one: Testing. Which I think is another vital component.

Aequitas

I kind of like the idea of having different quarters be different things, so here's a non-artist take on things (yes, i stole all those image bits). Now someone with talent go make this :P

edg3

Is there any update to which logo we should put up? :P

shelton

Insert coin()
Return my 2cents.

Lol.
I had an idea that in my mind is pure gold. You know how the ctrl, alt, del is totally played out. Mugs, coffee sugar tea tins to even scatter cushions. I thought we can do the same with the gamer keys, colloqually known as W A S D. And a good place to put that in would be the logo. Now if I can put my finger on it(pun blatantly intended).

EvanGreenwood

Tuism

That was SO awesome, thanks for sharing :D It's like the logo + title sequence design handbook in AWESOME MAJOR :D

BTW, here's my MakegamesSA logo, as discussed in the other thread, inspired by passion, pixels and a predictable pandemic propagation of our purpose :)

edg3

That logo is win!

TheFuntastic

That logo is cool and gets my vote, but if it get selected please tidy it up a little. The pixels not sitting exactly on the grid is driving me nuts ;) You'll probably have to go down to pixel lvl in photoshop and make sure the pixels are sitting nicely on whole pixel numbers

Edit: I'm not talking about the blocks fanning out, i'm talking about anti alias artefacts and the grid getting lost near the middle.

dislekcia

Still love @Tuism's logo. Seconded on the pixel perfection needed ;)

Tuism

Actually the grid is worked out to be full pixels ight next to the heart, reducing in size as the become further - that did create a funny anomaly where the diagonally further pixel actually looks closer but is smaller... But that's not what you're talking about :)

I made it in illustrator and pasted a raster in photoshop, so it may not be pixel perfect, but logos are usually made in vectors first. If we make any digital applications (like for the site?) I'll try and pixel perfect it.

Right now it is what it is cos it ain't applicated on anything :)

TheFuntastic

I would say lose the lack of gaps on the pixels near the middle, so you have a consistent gap of 1px (or however much) between the bulk of the blocks to set the rhythm of the grid and then fade off the blocks on the extremities.

And yeah, understand it's rough and ready at this stage, wouldn't expect anything more... good to hear you're working in vector at least.

Tuism

You know what, I agree :) Will make those changes for application.

Speaking of which, if everyone's keen, should we work on applicating the logo to the site? To be honest, as part of that roadmap we spoke about in that other thread, we should have a makegamessa badge on every site that we can have. We all have... something, right? It's time this place started being an association and not just a chatroom, and it's gotta start somewhere, you know? :)

Like a "I'm part of MakegamesSA" badge or something.

EvanGreenwood

I like the heart badge. Heart South Africa in pixel art is a nice concept. The pixels getting smaller to the top right and bottom left made it slightly hard to read for one person here (though I got it straight away).

I know it's rough and ready, but do you think the typography will be improved? (not sure what the plan is so sorry if I'm mentioning the obvious)

I'm keen for this site to get a logo :)

Tuism

I agree the typography isn't quite there yet, it was mainly a function of not having mich time left and needing to fit a long width thing into the business card layout and still keeping it one line and with a www. AND .com.

My feelings are that the www. doesn't need to be there, most people will be able to identify an URL by the .com.

And I've played with breaking the type into
make
games
SA.com

to make it more flexible, but some people might struggle with legibility.

Playing with pixel fonts is also a tough one - I think keeping it not pixel will be easier to read and engage with.

It's tough one!

Landman

Awesome! I'm definitely going to contribute towards this in the coming week. Check out some of my other work on my portfolio

Cyberninja

I really like that logo Tuism. I agree that the font/text needs some tweaking, but that visual is great. It's very memorable. :)

shelton

I really like the idea of a badge. Also awesome progress @Tuism