Bombshell Logo - need crits
polycounter lvl 10
So I talked with the team to be, we came up with a new name,
"Press to Jump" or "Press _ to Jump" though we won't fill in that gap as it would associate use with a console when we intend to develop for many.
Here is the new design, My first time using Illustrator!
We've also thought up how to animated it, I just need to make it frame by frame to see how it looks, It will be the button pressing down and when it pops back up it becomes lower bit, whether just the arrow or not we'll decide after a quick comparison.
Just for anyone who wants to know about the earlier discussion on this topic, I left the original Original Post below.
Well I'll get straight to the point I'm a game developer,
I'm hoping if I manage to get off the ground with one of my games I can start to build up a team going by, "Bombshell Games" or "Team Bombshell" etc. etc. I've been planning this for a while... probably planning too long.
Anyway this is the bombshell logo, I plan on having it make sneaky appearances in every game I develop.
-SNIPPED YOUTUBE CLIP-
As you can see its kind of flat and boring, I am working in blender and it took me a while to get the lighting and the sphere material the way they are.
Please crit and help me with how I can make it a bit more... dynamic.
Thanks for reading,
Bombshell
"Press to Jump" or "Press _ to Jump" though we won't fill in that gap as it would associate use with a console when we intend to develop for many.
Here is the new design, My first time using Illustrator!
We've also thought up how to animated it, I just need to make it frame by frame to see how it looks, It will be the button pressing down and when it pops back up it becomes lower bit, whether just the arrow or not we'll decide after a quick comparison.
Just for anyone who wants to know about the earlier discussion on this topic, I left the original Original Post below.
Well I'll get straight to the point I'm a game developer,
I'm hoping if I manage to get off the ground with one of my games I can start to build up a team going by, "Bombshell Games" or "Team Bombshell" etc. etc. I've been planning this for a while... probably planning too long.
Anyway this is the bombshell logo, I plan on having it make sneaky appearances in every game I develop.
-SNIPPED YOUTUBE CLIP-
As you can see its kind of flat and boring, I am working in blender and it took me a while to get the lighting and the sphere material the way they are.
Please crit and help me with how I can make it a bit more... dynamic.
Thanks for reading,
Bombshell
Replies
as for the name, I went by some random names and eventually set on Bombshell when I got more serious. Not much background to it, I got the idea from a powerman 5000 song I heard on Evolution... I love that film.
I did try some other designs, but whenever I came up with a good one it was too... generic. A Bombshell seemed too basic.
TL;DR? (sorry I tend to rant)
The symbol has been with me since I was 10 while designing games, its nice to have something that has a personal value to represent you.
The name I've been using since I decided to be serious with game development, they may not be the most obvious pair together but I feel they stick to the mind well enough.
I guess I mis-phrased it originally, but the crits I wanted were on the presentation of the logo, the logo itself I intend to keep.
I'm not sure how I could make a flashy, eye-catching animation including it. I tried moving a light around it but it had little to no effect. I've atm stuck with the spinning scythe, because its easy to animate and it doesn't look so bad.
If you want to keep the logo, you could always integrate it with an actual bombshell. Plant that logo on the back of an artillery shell crashing to the ground and let your logo and your team name be revealed after the dust settles. There are plenty of dynamic options out there.
I'll post again later and edit the first post with a few animations. I may also post a few fonts if I can figure how to make them.
The elements are all good. The logo has a strong presence, the name isn't bad, though it has a few meanings that could go that way, but they don't go together and so don't stick in anyone's head but yours.
Bombshell as a name.. The good side of things is that a Bombshell of a girl is hot. A bombshell of a game or movie, is not. Its synonymous with flop... so you may want to take that into consideration.
Secondly the logo spin thing is. well a spinning logo. Its simple and doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look good either. In fact the motion takes away from the logo. The viewer doesn't have time to figure out what they're looking at.
If you want something really dynamic then go for something REALLY dynamic that isn't a spinning 3d cutout. Have the hammer hit something, have the scythe cut something, or at least swoosh, bring attention to the screen then bring focus the logo.
If something really dynamic is beyond your ability, or time constraints, stick with something simple. A nice fade in. False lighting effects from behind the logo, integration into your name somehow, or just plain simplistic lighting effects.
Simple is better than mediocre.
Grab a 2d video editor of some sort. A LOT of the really flashy logo intros are mostly post process effects.
also for inspiration
[ame]
I can sympathise with you. The name Vailias has stuck with me since I was very young also. I've tried to work it into my personal branding, had it as my URL for a while, and tried to come up with acronyms that would work as game idea titles, but there's only one place I've kept it.
My forum identity.
Because its meaningless to anyone other than me, and however cool I think it sounds, sticking it anywhere else was always an imperfect fit.
And yeah the spinning logo I didn't like... was the reason I started this topic. As for names the only other aliases I've ever gone by are "crazy kid" and "crazy king"
If I were to pick a new name I'm not sure what I would pick. There is also the matter of checking whether or not the names are being used... as sad as this may sound I spent hours surfing and using all different search engines to make sure "Bombshell Games", "Bombshell Media" "The Bombshell" and other variations of the name weren't already binded by copy right.
TL;DR?
I'm stuck between changing my name or my logo. But my logo holds more worth to me. So if I must, I'll have to think up a new name.
THIS, I like the first one better.
It ramps up and then down as it spins and that is the default animation you get when you set keys.
jeremiah - point of the topic was to replace the spinning animation :P
One suggestion I can make is to plan your company name with the idea that it is an independent entity. (because it is) Your company name may come from you, but its not about you.
The more you succeed the less you are your company. It becomes its own entity composed of the creative force of you, your employees, and to some extent the culture of your clientele.
So here's both a name suggestion, and a presentation suggestion. Keep the hammer-scythe. Its a strong logo. To me, the hammer and scythe have a strong soviet connection, but more than that they keep the "land of the worker" idea that was the reasoning behind the hammer and sickle of the old USSR. I played with a few words and structures and remembered the word "Rabotat". It means "To work", and is the basis for the word robot. We do love the robots in this industry, and as much as a labor of love the art and science is, it is definately labor, work. This carries a strong positive message about just what you do at your company, and ties in with your existing strong logo.
I made one version in the colors of your current logo, and a red variant.
so if you like this, take it as is, or springboard off onto something else, or discard it entirely if you hate it.
Btw
Is it about 70's ?
Make sure all sign and symbol into your logo mean something ^^
variations btw.. taking out the fancy to make sure it still works.
(Please pardon me for playing with your art.)
... wow. A small look into what a 8 year old design could mean and I've found myself researching ethics and morales.
BIG EDIT: I was a bit ignorant to not get the full story of communism before commenting about it.
I can see why its frowned upon and why it is a rather broken ideal. The idea that people who have worked harder in there life and achieved more through doing so, get the same amount as those who choose not to, is rather very broken.
I intend to look more into this now... damn you know theres something wrong with someone when a bit of curiosity turns into a major interest in less than an hour XD
I've seen people mentioning communism as its known is not what its original plan was and that it never had the right conditions to show what it was truly capable of... Intriguing and I shall pursue for an elaboration.
I'd see more something like this lol ....
Communism as a theory and ideal works just about as well as any pure theory. In groups of about up to a few hundred you can hold it together, but at a certain critical mass of humans, our less than idealistic traits come to light and tend to trash the ideal system into something ugly. So the system has to be altered, or mixed with a compensating system of ideals to balance the negative traits expressed by the main system.
Pure capitalism left unchecked begot debtors prisons, 18+hour workdays, and assorted forms of human slavery and child labor.
Its not often said that the first colony on American soil was a communist system, ages before Marx. Eventually enough people decided to not work that the system failed, but the idea of produce and share for the community isn't a bad one.
Its often important to draw a distinction between communism, socialism, and marxism also. Marx's communist philosophy included regular violent revolution, and a lot of classist envy. The communist label is frowned upon because in current parlance it is synonymous with the political philosophies of the former USSR and.. to a degree China. Though their current organization is more of a bureaucratic socialist hegemony paying lip-service to the communist ideals of the common man being in power, etc.
In relation to your logo, I don't think the negative aspects of old governments are any reason to change it.
The reasoning behind the choice of hammer and sickle was valid. The tools of the common man put into national importance. Recognition that agriculture and manufacturing are the basic backbone of any advanced civilization. They still are, though we have largely mechanized those industries world wide. We have replacing legions of farm workers carrying scythes and sickles with combines and trucks, and replaced iron-workers and their hammers with computer controlled presses. We have roboticized our rabotat. (heh)
However there's nothing wrong with keeping the old symbols of a days work alive. The hammer and scythe are some of the oldest tools we have for creating our world and way of life, going back 32000 and 2600 years respectively.
Apparently the original concept to communism, which is more commonly called Marxism, which is from what I understand, where everyone gets their labors worth and everyone gets what they need. Government is run by people in the interest of all people and not run by a single group or a single person. Its appropriately seen as an evolved state of society where everyone is in control of what how they work and that works worth...
TL;DR?
Communism is an evolved state of capitalism where the people are the government, everyone is in control of their work and by extension in control of their worth and everyone helps everyone, get what they need when they need it.
It is often mistaken for Stalinism because Stalin advertised his governing as communism when it was in fact a dictatorship used for profit.
Back onto subject this has given me a wider view on what my symbol might be perceived as a symbol of, and by all means, everyone should be in control of their work and their worth. Though not the initial idea, I think I could give the Scythe and hammer a bit of positive symbolism when in comparison to the hammer and sickle.
I'm off to bed for the night... well its day but I'm pretty much nocturnal! so I'll do some brainstorming later, maybe modify the logo a bit and post up any developments.
Thanks for the help guys,
and thanks for reading,
Bombshell
yes the Idea of Marxism is great but it wouldn't work in anything but a Utopian society, since it is human nature for lots of people to be greedy, and find a way to get more power than the next person.
also look at unions, in the odd case it helps the worker, but in most cases it makes the worker do the bare fucking minimum, and slowly bankrupts the company which is killing the job security they say they want.
I'm personally tired of seeing the "Wet Floor" effect everywhere and the spinning animation is off-center.
I know that it's difficult, but every creative person needs to be able to take a step back and look at their work as others would see it. To be a good artist, game designer, musician, etc. you can't get too attached. You always have to be able to start again if something isn't suitable. I'm not saying to sell-out and only do what other people want, but its easy to get too sentimental about ideas/work.
You seem to have mistaken game designers with graphic designers, pal.
JMT - well it isn't intended to be a controversial branding, but I do see your point. Its what I thought when it first got pointed out that it is comparable to the hammer and sickle.
But the design is pretty old and was little more than a doodle when I made it, there is no thought its just what it is. The reason I don't want to get rid of it is it has a sentimental value for me and my game design.
And this topic was meant for me to get tips on how to replace the wet floor / spinning animation.
To everyone:
I am far more likely to change the name before I change the logo, I know the spinning animation is crap, thats why I made this topic. The symbol was not designed as anything controversial, no thought went into it, its just got a strong correlation to when I gained interest in game development.
All the talk of controversy I'm thinking I'll need an animation to draw people from that conclusion, probably someone using the weapon itself.
something like this.
as for the animation, think ww2 carpet bombing, then zoom into three of those bombs, fade out the rest of the scene, stylize the bombs, then a final series of explosions underneath the symbol where the words "bombshell studios" appear. then fade out after 2-3 seconds.
Here's your problem:
Zakhar2 - a logo shouldn't just be a well thought out design, it shouldn't be something intelligent it should be something symbolic. Just as a quick example, The Bungie studios logo, "The seventh column" is of value to them personally, it is their lucky number, it is a good luck charm if you will.
That symbol is the oldest thing I have to do with game developing and designing, it seemed a good symbol not because of what people may see in it, but because of what I see in it.
Regardless, after all of the controversy thats come up relating to what it reminds people of, and the common opinion. I'm more than likely to change the logo now, it would probably be selfish of me to start a team with something that represents myself anyway.
I'll update some time later when We've come to a conclusion, I'll have the name and the logo. But after that, changed to the logo I'll want to keep to a minimum. This topic should become about its presentation.
In the mean time I'll be finishing the engine... as a fair remembrance I think I'll call the engine the Bombshell Engine. It wouldn't be so selfish as at the moment I am the only one working on it.
Thanks for your comments people, and thanks for your suggestions.
I'll be back later with some development,
And thanks for reading,
Bombshell
2. You could also do the UAV effect from battlefield bad company 2. Have a look at the powerman 5000 offical video for Bombshell. Look at the effect at 12 seconds in the video.
You could also try somthing with 40's style font mabey incorporate a woof whistle for fun lol.
And for making the animation, after effects is a pretty good tool; you can get a 30 day free trial from adobe and there are a huge number of tutorials on the internet.
so I'm not a game developer, and yesterday while working on the prototype for this game I'm developing I ended up with this really tedious task. So like all productive people, I took a break and hit the web. Thats when I saw this post and realized that working on this guys logo was the perfect way avoid my long term goals. Inkscape vectors are way more fun then the other kind I've been dealing with.
We will now call ourselves "Press to Jump" or "Pres _ to Jump" though the gap would not be filled, its best to avoid direct association with a console, when we intend to develop for many.
Here is the Logo:
We've also thought up how to animated it, I just need to make it frame by frame to see how it looks, It will be the button pressing down and when it pops back up it becomes lower bit, whether just the arrow or not we'll decide after a quick comparison.
Can't say I disagree. The last thing polycount cares about are fancy logos.