Indie Game Links: The Great British Platformer
Today's collection of independent game links include the unveiling of a new Game Maker logo, Flashbang's announcement of their new commercial undertaking, and Robert Fearon going on about how good VVVVVV is (which we agree wholeheartedly).
Onwards:
YoYo Games Glog: New Game Maker Logo
"It took a bit of time before we settled on a final choice but we wanted a logo that was modern, clean and that reflected the fun and excitement that we feel is there for people who make as well as play games."
Max and the Magic Marker: The Germans and Aussies are tough
"I thought it would be fun to tell you a bit about our experiences with the age rating bodies. Apparently the Germans and Australians are a lot tougher than us 'normal' Europeans. At least that’s what PEGI must think."
Blurst Blog: New Off-Road Velociraptor Safari Production Begins
"We have now entered full production on a new version of Off-Road Velociraptor Safari, which we're internally calling Raptor Safari 64. We don't have an exact development schedule yet, but it'll be much longer than any of our Blurst projects." (GameSetWatch write-up)
Mersey Remakes: Games You Should Play - VVVVVV
"VVVVVV is a game you should play and you should play it because it's amazingly well put together, it's 30 years of platforming history with one foot in the past and one foot firmly in the now and it deserves your love. Go give it some."
xnPlay: Squid Yes, Not So Octopus - Sales
"You want to get your game out to as many people as you can. Sometimes this might involve offering review copies, sometimes you might want to, y' know, offer them out on a promotion. Thing is – if you run a promotion with the current 50 tokens system, you're cutting into review copies, if you offer a review copy, you’re cutting into potential promotions."
Variety: Machinima.com sets up its own gaming awards show
Machinima.com recently announced a video game awards show called the Inside Gaming Awards (based on the site's existing weekly program), with Auditorium, Groov, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMBIES 1N IT!!!1, Osmos and Zeno Clash nominated for the Best Indie Game category.
The Hand Eye Society: The World Premiere of Something Cool
"Pekko Koskinen and Shawn McGrath secretly collaborated on an unannounced project, Dyad, making this social the world premiere of their new game. Jon Mak (Everyday Shooter guy) may present old, abandoned prototypes of games he and Shawhan worked on."
Comments
That new GM logo is completely ridiculous.
Posted by: Kairos | November 27, 2009 10:29 PM
This is the worst thing I've ever seen. God.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 27, 2009 10:35 PM
lol at that logo
Posted by: paul eres | November 27, 2009 10:48 PM
I just wanted to add that the designer of the logo also got paid $250 for his efforts.
Posted by: Tim | November 27, 2009 10:50 PM
My god. I hope people don't look at Cactus as a joke company with this new logo.
Posted by: Ethan | November 27, 2009 11:13 PM
I'm not into the "that logo is good" or "it sucks", but i have to admit that the eyes are... well, strange. It seems it's crying, or something like that. And the first thing i thought even before i clicked on the link was : "i hope they did not do a logo similar to Construct". Well well well... http://www.scirra.com/ ^_^
Posted by: florian | November 27, 2009 11:33 PM
Heh, following the link about the logo change shows some 200+ comments saying that they dislike the logo and around 5 saying they don't mind.
Posted by: Almost | November 27, 2009 11:35 PM
The problem is that they're purposely trying to make GM seem like some kid-friendly program. They don't seem to care about professionalism at all.
Or it might be just that they have absurdly bad taste in design. Either way, it's incomprehensible.
Posted by: Kairos | November 28, 2009 12:39 AM
What the, it looks like that stupid 4chan smiley... sure this isn't a joke or a troll? It's not April first, is it?
Posted by: alley dawson | November 28, 2009 12:50 AM
Well, its modern (really bad) not postmodern (so bad that its good). Jokes asside, that logo is just bogstandard modern shallow hyperbole. Yes, it does fit into "what the 'pros' are doing"... it may just as well have been designed in a marketing department of some multibillion dollar corporation... so if that was your goal, yoyo, then you succeeded.
Posted by: Lyx | November 28, 2009 12:55 AM
Absolutely, I agree with Lyx and, well, just about everyone else in the thread. If they wanted to bring GM into the spotlight as a legitimate development platform they're not trying hard or, really, at all.
They should've gone with something like this and called it a day.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 28, 2009 1:14 AM
@ Lyx
You have no bleeding idea what modernism or postmodernism is.
If you have no idea keep your bloody mouth shut. It's people like you that have ruined everything.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 28, 2009 1:47 AM
Well, it should appear as if Wikipedia has been updated with info on the GM 8 riot:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Maker#Game_Maker_8_Logo_Uprising
Posted by: Ethan | November 28, 2009 2:34 AM
At least they're trying to be close to their community, but making it mad.
They should've paid a professional graphist instead of running a contest. Many complains because some other logos seem to fit GM more. However, they did not fit Yoyogames quite as well.
I agree the eyes are weird and it's a cheap ripoff yahoo though.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 28, 2009 3:23 AM
Came here to comment my dislike of the logo and found everyone else already doing so.
As a Business Analyst I've seen so many small businesses do exactly the same thing, and it always is that overly-shiny, shaded 3D sphere look. It looks horrible.
Posted by: Guy | November 28, 2009 7:58 AM
That logo looks embarrassed to be there.
Posted by: crackers | November 28, 2009 9:52 AM
...this is a big joke I guess? I never used GM before but I've played thousands of GM games and this logo doesnt fit the quality of those games.
Hate this shiny look and the fact that this logo cost 250 bucks is ridiculous.
Posted by: Bleagle | November 28, 2009 10:12 AM
The logo is terrible isn't it?
But this is what you get when you try and cut corners, save money and don't pay a professional designer.
Bless YYG, they can't seem to get much right.
Posted by: RobF | November 28, 2009 10:51 AM
LOL BEST LOGO EVER MADE!
Posted by: xeno | November 28, 2009 12:52 PM
Could the logo be a fake? After all, you can see that the text has some spelling errors and the title is written in capitals.
Posted by: Mikey | November 28, 2009 2:14 PM
Oh wow that's poor.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 28, 2009 7:50 PM
@Mikey: I doubt it. The YYG staff tend to overuse exclamation/question marks and write things in all caps, and what looks like an "R" in "Maker" is actually a "k", the font is just weird (If that's what you mean by spelling error).
Also, it's still approx. 4 months and a bit until April 1st.
Posted by: The Berryster | November 28, 2009 7:57 PM
Scary logo.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 28, 2009 8:56 PM
Better than the Yahoo logo: he looks like he's crying.
Posted by: Kapser | November 28, 2009 9:07 PM
The logo suits the community.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 28, 2009 10:59 PM
@Tim
>I just wanted to add that
>the designer of the logo
>also got paid $250 for
> his efforts.
This is not very much for developing a logo.
The result speaks for the low payment: it looks crying and childish, and the proportions of eyes and mouth are not good.
Posted by: Adama | November 28, 2009 11:27 PM
Bad...
Here is a interview with the "creator": http://gamemakerblog.com/2009/11/28/interview-with-game-maker-8-logo-creator/
Posted by: cricket | November 28, 2009 11:37 PM
I make the same face when I piss in the morning.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 29, 2009 1:01 AM
Looks like a spherical oven with an ass baking inside.
I somehow predicted that this news will overshadow everything else...
Posted by: Ilya Chentsov | November 29, 2009 9:11 AM