Logo work

 

New Retro Studio, finally has a logo!

Creating a logo for your studio is not an easy thing. First off - you have the money issue. Are you paying a professional logo-maker (that's an actual job!) to design and create the logo for you, or are you doing it in-house, saving a few precious bucks?

In this case, I went with the latter. Money is scarce here (did someone say kickstarter?), and we have to save it for the important stuff. The company's logo, though important, is not vital. A bad logo might get some criticism, or be mocked, but it won't affect the sales of your product. Your product will affect the sales of your product!

With that out of the way, remains the issue of actually doing it. How do you design a logo?

I wanted something simple. Something that meant "New Retro" without being too loud. Something I could use over and over, on every site.

I've decided to go with the letters NR, giving each letter a different look. Some trial and error later, and the N became metallic, while the R was carved out of wood. A white spot light finished the look.

I rendered out two version: the big one, displayed at the top, and the smaller one, attached below. The big one is the official version. A short movie will be made, based on that.

The smaller one is the one that can be used as an icon, avatar and so on. I'm guessing that'll be the one you'll see the most. It's not an exact copy of the bigger one. The reflections are off, and the lighting is a bit different. Still - same logo.

 

But here's the thing about make a logo: it's one of those things you rarely think about when you decide on making a game. It's just one of those many small things that suck up your time unexpectedly. And the list is endless.

Anyway, endless or not, check one off the list!

 

-Shay

First Concept Art

So, my talented (and cute) girlfriend has finally decided to draw me some spaceships.

Mind you - that's a girl who knows nothing about sci-fi, spaceship et cetra.

So, for the last few weeks, I've been forcing her to watch all kinds of sci-fis with me: Star-Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and so on.

She loved some of them, got bored at others. But that didn't matter to me. My goal was to make her see space ships. Lots of lots of spaceships. And she did.

And now she finally started drawing some of them.

It's not as easy as it seems. Especially to someone who's not familiar with the source material. That's both good and bad. On the one hand - she doesn't know what to draw. She doesn't even know where to start. On the other hand - she's not compromised by "common" things. The ships she draws are different and unique.

That said, I chose to display two of the ships she drew that don't have that quality in them. Why? Cos I want the game to be familiar to anyone who's familiar with the genre. I want players to look at a ship and say "yup, that's a ship."

Here's another example:

I like them.

-Shay

Competition!

I never expected to be the only one. Everyone knows that the gaming industry is highly competitive and rough.

But I did have an advantage (not the only one): I was about to make a game in a "dead" genre. A type of game that existed in the 90s and is gone. I was about to revive it.

And then, about a year ago, someone got ahead of me and tried to do it. The game I'm refering to was Sol Exodus by Seamless Entertainment. The good news was it was a bad game. Not close to being good enough, and not close to matching me own idea. That game won't revive the genre.

And then I find out that a few more similar games are coming out! 2 came out last week, and a major one has already found its founding on kick-starter.

But - is it bad news? What does it mean for my game?

Well - I don't know.

If those games come out, and become big successes - they'll imply that there's a market for that kind of game. People are willing to pay for it. Assuming my game will be better - that's good news.

If those games fail miserably - still good news! It only means something went wrong (maybe the games sucked?) - but it doesn't mean no-one's interested in the genre.

There are many more options, but the bottom line is this: I can't tell. No-one can. But, although more similar games on the market mean more competition, it can also mean good sales and good reception.

Let's hope so.

-Shay

To The Moon - Game Review

This is an interesting time in gaming world. Making your own indie game - crazy as it might be - has become easy enough so that anyone can do it. And since anyone can do it - we get tons of new games, of all kinds and varieties. Games that the big companies won't produce. Won't pay to produce. Games that are different.

And different is not a bad word.

One of those games is "To The Moon". Calling it a game is really a stretch. More like - an interactive story. You don't fight. Don't shoot anyone. You don't jump from platform to platform. You don't collect items. You don't make money, or buy items. You don't actually do anything! Except, follow the main story...

And that's about it. You see the story unfolding in front of your eyes. You read the texts, follow the characters, listen to the music. Most of the time, you just click through the conversations. Once in a while you solve a minor (very minor) puzzle that takes all of 5 seconds to complete. And that's it.

To some of you, that may sound like a bad thing. It's not.

Without all these distractions you can really let the story draw you in. You can focus on the plot completely, and ignore all distractions. And it works! The story feels really sad, and you get to identify with the characters and their pain.

The story revolves around an old man named John. On his deathbed, John makes a final wish - to reach the moon. In the game, a technology exists that allows to implent memories inside peoples' heads.

Enter Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts - our 2 officials come to fulfill John's last wish - at least, in his head. In order to do that, they plug a machine to his head, and enter his memories, going through them, from his latest (old age), to his earliest. Their goal: reach an early memory and implant the idea of getting to the moon there. Kinda like "Inception". On the way, they get to know the man, and see interact with his memories.

Most important of all - they get to meet his deceased wife, River, the love of life ever since he was a kid. 

Following the trail of memories is a painful process. At first - it seems strange and intimidating. But as the journey continues, we get to know John and River better. We get to connect to them, and to understand them. And when things start to clear up (after several hours of playing) - emotions start to emerge.

All of that is achieved despite of a century-ago-graphics, and despite repetitive music (which does set the right tone). Quite an achievement.

I've played the entire game with my girlfriend, who's anything but a gamer, and even she enjoyed it. Probably because it doesn't feel like a game. We should probably broaden our definition of a game now...

The game clocks at about 6 hours, and although it's more of an interactive movie than a game - it's a fun experience, well worth the 10$ (cheaper than a movie, lasts longer).

4/5 - go get it.

Have fun getting to the moon

-Shay