New logo

[Quintus]

With ticket #92 being decided, it is time for a new logo. A delicate task, and I would appreciate suggestions from multiple people we can then vote on.

Valete, Quintus

[ciro589m]

:p

[Bugsbane]

Are there any agreed on elements of the game's design style such as an official font, colour palette etc. that people should be working with?

Where is this to be used?

What kind of aspect ratio are we looking at?

Are we using just "Secret Chronicles" as in the example above, or should it use the entire "The Secret Chronicles of Dr M"?

Are just looking for a logo(type) or are we talking about an icon as well?

[Quintus]

Using my superpowers as the project leader, I decide this to be the logo:

:-)

Are there any agreed on elements of the game's design style such as an official font, colour palette etc. that people should be working with?

Currently not. Would be cool to develop a styleguide, though.

Where is this to be used?

1. The title screen of the game.
2. The website header.

What kind of aspect ratio are we looking at?

Should be the same as the existing logo to make replacement easy. If you don’t think that is good, just tell us.

Are we using just "Secret Chronicles" as in the example above, or should it use the entire "The Secret Chronicles of Dr M"?

Probably "The Secret Chronicles" large, and "of Dr. M." small next to that.

Are just looking for a logo(type) or are we talking about an icon as well?

A new icon is also required.

Vale, Quintus

[brianvanderburg2]

That's rather nice. Will be be performing a namespace/package change from "smc" to "tsc" or something like that as well?

[Bugsbane]

"Using my superpowers as the project leader, I decide this to be the logo" Great! I think we can close this issue now. ;P

[Quintus]

That's rather nice. Will be be performing a namespace/package change from "smc" to "tsc" or something like that as well?

Yes. You can run sed over the codebase if you want. Please start on the release-2.0.0 branch, merge it into devel then, and then rerun on the devel branch so that we don’t confuse Git.

Vale, Quintus

[datahead8888]

Here's my feedback for @ciro589m's image:

• I really like the font choices
• The green and orange work well (though we may want to experiment with different colors)
• We'd want the logo to be "The Secret Chronicles of Dr. M" and not just "Secret Chronicles" (the full text of the name)
• We'll probably need a transparent background on the image rather than a black background to allow it to work with any other background in the title screen.
• We can't use the green grass hill with eyes -- this is an image used in Super Mario Bros. 3 in the first grass world as well as some other worlds.
  • On another note, I'm not eager to remove the grass hills with eyes from the background in the game because I like them, but they do look like they're heavily inspired from Nintendo. They and other backgrounds may be worth discussing.

That's rather nice. Will be be performing a namespace/package change from "smc" to "tsc" or something like that as well?

I know I've been one of the biggest advocates of changing things to resolve legal issues with Nintendo, but we should think twice before renaming everything in the code (in release 2.0). The same thing will show up with Maryo in the code as well. These changes will have a risk of introducing bugs during our feature freeze. If we decide we need to update the code now to be consistent with the new name and 100% legally compliant, that's fine -- it's just something we will have to go through.

Quintus is right that we should either have it in both release 2.0 and devel or neither right now, though. We don't want to start having massive numbers of git merge conflicts because of it.

[Bugsbane]

@ciro589m What font did you use for that? I quite like it too. Is it open licensed?

[Quintus]

@datahead8888 @Bugsbane errm, you two notice that this is the original Secretmaryo logo with just the "Maryo" stripped out? We cannot use that.

Vale, Quintus

[datahead8888]

@datahead8888 @Bugsbane errm, you two notice that this is the original Secretmaryo logo with just the "Maryo" stripped out? We cannot use that.

I had assumed at the time that he just used similar fonts, but I think you're right that we need a brand new logo. Bugsbane has posted one in #92.

[Bugsbane]

Actually, I'll start posting revisions here, as it's more relevant. Anyway, here's the latest one: Note: It's more of a banner than a logo, but quite frankly the games name is far too long to be turned into a logotype. I will try to come up with an icon to represent us though.

[Bugsbane]

No sooner have I said it can't be done, than I want to try... so here's an attempt at turning the name into a logotype without getting the aspect ratio too crazy. It's just the black and white version, which can be coloured as desired later:

[datahead8888]

The scroll works really well with the library theme we've been discussing.

I would probably try to keep the rays of light emanating from [Maryo] from occluding the scroll.

I like how he's holding a gem - that's an interesting idea.

[Bugsbane]

On another note, I'm not eager to remove the grass hills with eyes from the background in the game because I like them, but they do look like they're heavily inspired from Nintendo.

I feel the same way. I was thinking about what the eyes give the game, and how else we could get that to come up with our own style. In a nutshell, to me it seems that the eyes make it feel like everything - even rocks and boxes and mountains and trees - are alive and have feelings and are there to be played with.

Just taking them away gives us a deader world, but I was wondering if we could have inanimate objects show life and emotion without copying Nintendo's eyes, and one thought crossed my mind. Now this may sound a little weird, but think about it, so would the concept of everything in a game having eyes, if you heard it rather than playing it. Anyway, seems to me that the other facial feature that shows a lot of expression is the mouth.

Here's an example. I'm not saying we should have yellow squares in the game (we shouldn't imo). It's just to illustrate how fairly abstract objects like yellow blocks (or hills, or clouds, or trees...) can be given personality, similar to how Nintendo does it with the eyes, but in our own unique way:

Tell me it wouldn't be fun to have a smiling block who, when you head butt them for a gem, winces momentarily like the fourth block from the left? :)

[datahead8888]

I'd like to avoid something too silly or "exaggerated" -- ie I'm not sure a tongue sticking out would work for most levels. This of course is just my view, though I'm speaking in light of my suggestion earlier at having just a slightly more realistic style in the game. We do need to consider something new, and it would be good to have some kind of expression or eyes on hills, etc.

We also might get a lot of perspective on this if we look at screenshots of possible replacements in levels.

[Bugsbane]

Yeah, I'd probably lean more towards the more basic expressions like the smile / frown. The tounge one is my least favourite, too.

[Bugsbane]

Alternative logotype. I think this one works much better, although the thin font could be trickier to read at small sizes... maybe.

[datahead8888]

Yeah, I'd probably lean more towards the more basic expressions like the smile / frown. The tounge one is my least favourite, too.

The teeth one actually might work in some levels (not all levels) when you need an "angry hill" or something like that. It reminds me of the Whomp (if I remember the name right) enemies in Super Mario 64. We may want to try out some different styles of grit teeth, though.

For the logo it probably is better to have all the text read left to right rather than have the word "The" rotated 90 degrees. This is what you did in the second one. I'd be curious to see how it might look with some coloring. The effects of the color really will depend on what this title text is overlapping on the title screen.

[Quintus]

I have to say that I like the one with the scroll most currently. I think it works well as a replacement for the banner on the main menu screen (the one you see when you start the game)- We surely have a use for the logotype, though. Also, there will need to be installer icons, desktop icons, and such.

Valete, Quintus

[Quintus]

Opinions?

Valete, Quintus

[datahead8888]

I like the one with the scroll the most, but if it it's used in the title screen we may have to consider just using the scroll there and not the whole image. The whole image with the grass at the top and characters to the left is very good looking, but it seems a bit complex for a title screen. The entire image would work very well altogether in an advertisement, though.

[Quintus]

@Bugsbane, do you think you can create a version of that logo that is usable on the TSC title screen? Or maybe you want to try, @BodhiPeace?

Vale, Quintus

[Quintus]

With no-one intervening here, I’m going to use the scroll logo as-is. Later improvements can then be included in later versions.

Valete, Quintus

[datahead8888]

@DarkAceZ, this probably is a simple cropping job (cut out the smaller image). Do you think you can give it a try?

[DarkAceZ]

You want just the scroll part?

[datahead8888]

Yes

[DarkAceZ]

I'd need the SVG; maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, but I think the images in this issue are PNG's...

[datahead8888]

@DarkAceZ - is it possible to convert the PNG to a "one layer" SVG and crop that?

If that doesn't work, we could use any image tool that can crop PNG's for the time being.

Ultimately, we'd need to get the SVG from Bugsbane and commit it to git.

[DarkAceZ]

is it possible to convert the PNG to a "one layer" SVG and crop that?

Not at all/yes, of course. It wouldn't help at all in what we want, though.

I've edited the PNG, though:

This should be only a temporary banner. If someone could just find out where Bugsbane has suddenly disappeared to...

[Quintus]

This should be only a temporary banner. If someone could just find out where Bugsbane has suddenly disappeared to...

I will use my originally proposed wonderful handscript logo then. If he doesn’t reappear then, there must be something serious.

Seriously, I’ll try to include your variant, @DarkAceZ. While not perfect without the SVG, it is probably better than the gap we have now.

Vale, Quintus

[datahead8888]

I will use my originally proposed wonderful handscript logo then. If he doesn’t reappear then, there must be something serious.

...nothing like a little programmer art to get Bugsbane going... :P

Yes, I agree we should use the PNG for now. It's a lot better than plastering SMC on our title screen with the new name.

[Quintus]

...nothing like a little programmer art to get Bugsbane going... :P

:clap: :clap: :sparkles: :tada:

Vale, Quintus

[Quintus]

Also, /cc @BodhiPeace.

Vale, Quintus

[sydneyjd]

I love DarkAceZ's banner, but its too bad we dont have a svg. :s Are we going to need a more permenant version? I could atempt to put one together...

[datahead8888]

I could atempt to put one together...

I think I found an SVG by Bugsbane somewhere, but I'm discussing it with Quintus.

[Quintus]

I love DarkAceZ's banner, but its too bad we dont have a svg. :s Are we going to need a more permenant version? I could atempt to put one together...

Would be great. The SVG @datahead8888 found is for another version of the banner @Bugsbane suggested, so it isn’t really useful anyway.

Vale, Quintus

[sydneyjd]

Ok, i will see what i can concoct then.

[sydneyjd]

Can i reuse the scroll idea? @Quintus @datahead8888 ?

[datahead8888]

If there's no chance we want to move the text, yes; otherwise it would have to be done from scratch.

[datahead8888]

Should we remove the release 2.0 label on this, or do we want to wait for the release until we get the new logo?

[Quintus]

Should we remove the release 2.0 label on this, or do we want to wait for the release until we get the new logo?

We have a logo already in the game, so I think we can close this issue as successful. Logo replacement should be a new task.

Vale, Quintus

[BodhiPeace]

It was suggested that I offer a comment with my opinion on the new logo. I thought I would include the other version from #92.

I like the "latest" one with the scroll, basically an edited version of the above.

For the text, I think only one font should be used. The font for "Secret" seems to fit the game. Agree about all the text being rotated all the same (the "The").

Here is a sample idea for the text for the game name. The font should obviously be changed, but just to show alignment. For posterity's sake, the font used was "Segoe UI Black".

[sydneyjd]

Here is a SVG of the banner for whoever wants to play with the drawing a new banner. https://cloud.openmailbox.org/public.php?service=files&t=f65827ea9be403cb537d07c8b3cbdae8&download

[datahead8888]

As @Quintus said, we should close this one as resolved for the release and then use a new ticket for the SVG creation.

I opened: #266

[Quintus]

@BodhiPeace I like your suggestion, but this one is a bit rough at the edges... The text background should be transparent, and the mini image should harmonise nicer with the surrounding scroll. Right now it looks a bit cut off.

Thanks for your suggestions, I’m glad you discuss with us. With @Bugsbane being disappeared, we have some problems with graphics people missing.

Vale, Quintus

[Bugsbane]

I think we could simplify in the direction of BodhiPeace's design somewhat, although I'd strip out the background behind Alex / the monsters on the left, and remove Alex and the monsters under the text. They're all over on the left, so there's no need to have them in the banner twice. That would also make more room for the text.

Re: The text, the font works well (my text was a bit too jumled and multicolored), although I'd remove the white background and maybe add a touch of color (possible make the text medium brown, with a dark brown outline?)

[Quintus]

Currently, @DarkAceZ’s variant is in the game and I personally like it. If we could have something like that as SVG that would be really nice. Should be similar to what you were describing.

Vale, Quintus

[Bugsbane]

If we could have something like that as SVG that would be really nice

I think s/he just pulled out a piece from my SVG, so if I can just find that, we're good to go.