638 replies to this topic

[FredFredrickson]

YoYo Games has opened a tentative line for suggestions to the new Game Maker logo. As suggested by Smarty, I'd like to open up a topic for constructive recommendations for the new logo. If you have a change to suggest that will help try to make the new logo more palatable, please post it here. Visuals are welcome.

As stated by Sandy, your suggestions must conform to the following rule: Evolution vs Revolution - your proposal must be utilize the elements in the new logo (smiley, cog). Complete revisions are not welcome in this topic.

As well, I would like to keep the discussion to a minimum in this thread. Do not make idle remarks about how much you dislike the new logo . Many of us do not like the new logo, and that has already been made known to YYG. This topic is for trying to fix the new logo, and to try to deliver the community's suggestions to YYG in the least convoluted way possible.

If this topic goes astray of these goals, I will close it, and we will lose our chance at making helpful suggestions on the GMC. If you cannot follow the rules, then simply do not post. Thanks, and I hope we can generate some useful suggestions here.

Edit 1: Please do not post just to say that you like / dislike something. If you don't have a suggestion or contribution to the topic, then don't post. Let's keep this nice and clean!

Edit 2: This topic will be closing this weekend, at which time I will be compiling a summary and sending it to Sandy. Though there are no guarantees that our work here will be used, it will be taken into consideration by YYG and hopefully we will see some positive changes to the "new" logo. If you want to get your say in, please do it soon, and if you submit artwork, please post the source file as well (PSD, AI, SVG, etc.). This will help your fellow GMC members contribute positive changes, as well as help YYG use your artwork if they need it.

As with the logo design competition, any logo or work submitted here that YYG happens to use will likely become their property, so please do not post something here that you are uncomfortable parting with!

[supermariomaster]

The following comment earned supermariomaster an increase in warn level and 3 days of mod preview.

>constructive recommendations
ANYTHING THAT IS NOT THAT AWFUL FACE

Oh I'm soooo sorry, that was sooooo rude of me, let try this post again...
>constructive recommendations
http://indy.idhost.kz/logo/2.jpg <- That

dang I got it wrong again! One more time

>constructive recommendations
Everything about it is bad
- no caps is a no
- stupid face is a no
- gear is a no
- colors are a no

Basically everything about it is bad

Edited by FredFredrickson, 02 December 2009 - 10:15 PM.
Hammer to the face

[Kendaichi]

I Can see that FredFredrickson and the other Mods are getting tired of the constant asking for a different one, so ill try to post what i really think of it:

The smiley is very well made, the quality is superb and the overall design is very well managed, its very bright and colourfull, and gives a message of excitement and fun, it appeals to many younger kids by giving them a warm logo, its a great logo which is simple, and effective.
But, for gamemaker, people may think this is not a good logo, gamemaker is Game making program which appeals to a giant variety of ages, for people who think of gamemaker as a fun application to make simple fun quick games will find this logo very well suiting to Gamemaker.
People who take pride in thier skills to Code, sprite and compose for their game and want to amaze people with thier finished game may think the logo is bad and doesnt match up to gamemaker at all.
So there are two sides to it, its either people love it or hate it.

One way which will please both parties is that when Gamemaker 8 is released with the smily logo , keep an old gamemaker icon file with it so that people change change it to their hearts desire.

As for the logo itself, the design is great and well made, if i could change anything, it would be that i would tone it down a little, the mouth is a little too happy and exagerated, it looks a bit silly, if the mouth was smaller or less happy like and more of a grin it would work well.
As for the eyes, people say it looks like the logo is crying, i really dont think it looks like that, but i do admit it looks very silly with that mouth, if the eyes were fixed and more circular it would look much better, (as shown in the other posts).
I Think this logo work well, but its not going to stop the people who take gamemaker seriously from bashing the logo from time to time, its a fresh new start to gamemaker, and i already want to see whats next for gamemaker 9!.

Thanks,

Sorry FredFredrickson for my first post here.

EDIT:

This Im Sure Was Done By dadio, Brilliantly Reflects yoyogames & gamemaker


This Was Done By ChaosKnighT, I Really Like This Design, The Pacman Idea Is Really Good

Edited by Kendaichi, 03 December 2009 - 05:29 PM.

[Sindarin]

Like in the other topic, I suggested that the logo needs some contrast to the outlines of the eyes,

right now it looks like it's crying.


And also I believe the logo would look a more "sane" and better with black eyes and shines on top like,

Finally, the "k" character of the font they used looks like an R.

That's all I have to say.

EDIT:

Oh I'm soooo sorry, that was sooooo rude of me, let try this post again...

http://indy.idhost.kz/logo/3.jpg

Guys, I love that logo as well but they have already decided not to switch the current logo with something else, so instead let's respect that and actually try to improve the current one as much as we can..

Edited by Sindarin, 02 December 2009 - 09:26 PM.

[Andy]

The eyes definitely need to be fixed in my opinion,

note YoYo Games may use the above edit without crediting me, I have a higher quality version for Albert if he wants to use it. He can call it his own.
I don't like the full black style eyes,

on version 3 and 4. The white coming up from the bottom is strange to me personally.

I made another version of your idea frankpiet, hope you like it:

The second cog I sloped up on a bit. I should have made a new one instead of squeezing the old one down.

ChaosKnighTs and Tryces logos warm my heart, I love them! I want them over my idea.

Edited by Andy, 02 December 2009 - 10:48 PM.

[frankpiet]

This is mine(bit rushed)

I think it outlines the original image, and makes it more game-ish(eg pacman and the cog)

I have tried as much as i could to keep the original style(grandient in every colour area) but changed the eyes as I thought they were bad.

[Nxzfreak]

Generally if you're going to use a smiley, in this case this one gives too much of an awkward impact, I mean, sure, it gives an impact, but it's not necessarily a good one, I think you should make the face itself less awkward / clumsy / stupid and replace it with a less clumsy face that still expresses happiness or ease.

edit: pacman in the cog is a good idea, though i would abolish the smiley altogether in that case.

Edited by Ilim, 02 December 2009 - 09:24 PM.

[Aqua Dragon]

I'm not a huge fan of this logo, and I really wish something a bit better could have been picked.

Now with the mini-rant aside, might as well make the most out of this as possible.

My first and probably biggest suggestion is to fix those creepy eyes. The logo would at least be half-decent if it didn't look like it died and rolled over.



This is from the interview with the creator. The second to the right is much better then one with pupils, simply because that is how most emoticons function. If it has pupils, then there will always be some white surrounding every side, but that is not the case with this and it just looks creepy.

The second suggestion I have is to decrease the size of the smiley and make the circumference bordered by more gear. I feel like the smiley should only be half of the focus, but because it's the emphasis it is a confusing logo for a Game Maker.

Third criticism I would have to direct would be to just downsize the smile just a tad bit. Again, it just adds to the creepiness factor of the thing as a whole.

And my final suggestion is to perhaps put a finishing glossy look onto the logo, as most modern logos have nowadays. It would make it fit better with people's desktops.

I really wish that it didn't undermine the power of Game Maker so much, but whatever. We'll see what happens.

[Zee]

Since a complete revision is out of the question, than might I suggest at least redesigning the face itself. Firstly, the very large mouth and the upturned eyes have me immediately associate that graphic with this one. I do not feel that is the association we want to make. To further critique the image, it seems very similar to Yahoo's common logo, like we're a part of the sinking ship that is Yahoo. While it may be appropriate in a few years when Yahoo has finally died off, it is not appropriate now as it's dying.

The lowercase logo text does not aid our efforts to validate Game Maker as more than a children's toy. I would recommend something with a bit more strength in the letters, like Trajan Pro. There is nothing to say that a more sophisticated font would hurt people's impressions, while this graphic seems to. I've shown this to many, and even a professor at my university who currently uses Game Maker in the curriculum for his initial class (while it is not the focus, it's a good beginner's tool) has made the point of he does not like the direction Game Maker seems to be heading in now if this is their new attitude.

I'm sorry, but surely the sheer volume of complaints from the active user base should make them reconsider their decision entirely.

In fact, the controversy over this would easily spark a new interest for another such contest, one that we could implore to make something better than 'that other logo'. I don't mean to disrespect Yoyo's decision, but in this case it should be obvious by the outcry that we're not happy with it and something needs to be done more than simple touch-ups.

I mean this with all the respect I can muster, and no insult to Zak or Sandy or anybody, but this is clearly a problem.

[SuperLightning]

The following comment earned SuperLightning an increase in warn level and 3 days of mod preview.

If this logo were a beautiful woman, i would marry it. (JK)

Edited by FredFredrickson, 02 December 2009 - 10:40 PM.
Hammer to the face

[RekNepZ]

It may look pretty good if the smile wasn't so big.
Maybe about 25% 50% of the current size

Edited by Recneps, 02 December 2009 - 09:37 PM.

[Jürgen]

edit: I love this one...
by dadio



don't take mine... lol!!!

I've made a quick edit!
Can you see the hammer eating code...


http://img694.images.../i/gmlogo3.jpg/

Edited by Jürgen, 03 December 2009 - 10:19 AM.

[That guy behind you]

Guys, I think it should be clear by now that Sandy is getting rid of the hammer.

I made a slightly more sane version... I think...

Edited by That guy behind you, 02 December 2009 - 09:39 PM.

[Aertcz]

The suggestions below generally meet the requirements aforementioned for a realistic logo revision.

-------------------------------
Suggestion 1:
Well maybe someway to kind of revise the "smiley face". Perhaps it wasn't a smiley face, but some sort of face. Perhaps make the face sort of cartoon-ish along with the cog? When I mean cartoon-ish, I mean along the lines of the same graphic style from "The Thing 4" (I believe that's the name of it).

Maybe the head could use the cog over it's head like a halo? Perhaps the halo-cog is slightly tilted?

--------------------------------

Suggestion 2:

Making the smiley face different. Perhaps putting some shades on it, then instead of a big wide open mouth grin, you give it a closed-mouth smirk.

--------------------------------

Suggestion 3:

Making the forehead of the smiley semi-transparent and removing the cog. Then you can add in smaller cog pieces into the semi-transparent forehead.

--------------------------------

[Amorphous]

I personally don't mind the smiley, but right now its expression and placement on the logo seem rather forced. The eyes look unnatural, and the mouth seems too big to portray any notion of fun (which I believe is the original intention).

The eyes shouldn't probably be that long, and the pupils, as stated before, should be moved. Also, I think the facial expression might be more natural with eyebrows, as long as they don't seem to be overpowering or oddly placed.

As for the mouth, I'd like to see a version with a closed mouth. The open mouth right now just looks silly, and a closed mouth can also imply happiness. If the mouth is to be left open, then it should probably be made smaller.

Altogether, this facial expression isn't working for me. It's too generic, and inconsistent in terms of mouth and eyes, and doesn't really portray any meaning. If a more natural-looking and fun expression was given to the face, it might work better. But that's just me, and I am not really good at logo design, so I don't know how this could be changed too much.

[Tryce]

The winning logo, as it is now, it really generic in pretty much every aspect. The grey cog, the yellow smiley -- there's not much going on. I think it's possible to tweak the logo and add a lot more "umph" to it without changing the concept. Here is a little something I made to illustrate my point: It's just an example of how a bit of tweaking can help, but I think the logo expresses more fun and creativity than the winning logo does right now. And it's still a smiley inside of a cog.



So my suggestion, I guess is to tilt it a bit. Give it some life. : )

[ChaosKnighT]

ok, I guess my last submission is not ok? I had a gear... well, here's a smiley too

Edited by ChaosKnighT, 02 December 2009 - 10:47 PM.

[yodudez]

The winning logo, as it is now, it really generic in pretty much every aspect. The grey cog, the yellow smiley -- there's not much going on. I think it's possible to tweak the logo and add a lot more "umph" to it without changing the concept. Here is a little something I made to illustrate my point: It's just an example of how a bit of tweaking can help, but I think the logo expresses more fun and creativity than the winning logo does right now. And it's still a smiley inside of a cog.



So my suggestion, I guess is to tilt it a bit. Give it some life. : )

I love that! The only thing I would change is to make the cog a little thicker.
EDIT: I meant Tryce's...

Edited by yodudez, 02 December 2009 - 10:34 PM.

[weckar]

It would help if the smiley, or whatever emoticon YYG decides to use, was a bit less expressive, and did not seem to have a sugar rush...

I'd prefer a shyer happiness and joy from the character, getting the attention more in the direction of the cog. The impact of both elements needs to be balanced. Right now the overall experience is alot like this:

[dramatization]

WHOAH!!! ADD KID!!! DUCK!!!

oh, wait, he's in a cog too.
[/dramatization]

[Destron]

I really think that the only real issue with the logo is the expression of the smiley face, it really should be reworked somehow, just not sure how. Right now it looks like it's crying, and actually a little demented. Overall, I don't really mind the change though. I really like the green one over the yellow though, I think the green would fit better than yellow.

Another bit of food for thought, I'm sure that smiley/cog part would be used for the GM icon, so it should stand out just a little more so it does not get lost on the desktop.

I also think you guys really need to get over this logo thing, seriously, it's a logo. It does not change what the program does or how it works. You guys are breathing to much in to this. It reminds me of when Nintendo unveiled the real name of revolution and everybody went around spouting that Nintendo was doomed because the name of their console sucked. It would not matter if it was called revolution or Wii , its still the same thing despite the name.