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Sandy: I’ll take Positive Suggestions on Logo

In a series of comments responding to criticism directed at YoYo Games’ recent choice of logo for Game Maker 8 Sandy Duncan has said he is willing to listen to constructive feedback.

“I’m willing to see evolution, not revolution…

Evolution vs Revolution if Albert Zak is one of he judges ? (and no hammers !)

I sense there’s some common sense floating about… I’ll take positive suggestions along these lines.. It’s NOT about money…
Firstly, I want Albert to agree to any changes to HIS logo, but I’m prepared to LISTEN..and even pay out more prize money if, AND only IF, we can reach a consensus that Albert’s design is essentially OK…

… if there’s enough consensus amongst the dissenters I’m prepared to look at subtle improvements. For those of you who think the decision is financial, I’m even prepared to pay out some more money, but I need to have some sense that this isn’t just a “we don’t like it because it’s new” kind of argument.”

Sandy Duncan, YYG Blog

I just want this to get sorted quickly so we can move on to other news!

What do you think?

30 Comments

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  1. A Cogwheel with smiley makes me think of ANYTHING but game maker that is for sure.
    If it would be a smiley maker then this logo would make sense but as for game maker, there is nothing that would resemble of it at all.

    It would make more sense if they would have just kept the old hammer desing.
    Ye ‘ol GM3 had blue ball with a hammer, once GM got a totally new desing in 4th version it turned in to red so it would make sense if they would turn it to green with these new changes.

    Anyways, I am strongly against the butt big smiley and I am really in a opinion that it got to go.

    and no, I am not against the change but if they are going to change the logo then it would just be expected to make sense and actually resemble Game Maker.

  2. Is it still too late to summit ideas? I mean, I have 2 ideas that would look sweet, and one of them i would be able to attach to Albert’s picture, and it would maybe give gm users that old school GM feel, if not well, I’ll just not design one 😛
    -Bretboy129

  3. I took a look at the new logo and was not pleased on there decision. I do not like the smile at all. I would edit or change it to something better.

    -A Mad Prototype

  4. I think the logo is ok, but the smilly face will not make me use gamemaker any more. pay him then change it to something else please. thank you.

  5. Actually, my main problem, from an artist point of view, that the logo in itself is not good at all. It is a so-so, an okay logo for an amateur. Quality-wise.
    Then comes all the questions about the relation of the logo to the GM’s past, present and possible future. In these areas the logo lacks everything. IMO.
    Though: Sandy might want a different future for GM than it’s past. Who knows?

  6. Now that I know the staff is listening to us, I dont have to yell anymore.

    Idea 1: have an eight ball (like the pool table ones, not the “ask again later” ones) instead of the smiley
    Idea 2: replace the smiley with the head of a cartoonish construction worker in a portrait or mugshot format.
    Idea 3: make the smiley look a bit less like an “awesome face” (See the link at the bottom of my post) and less like the yahoo smiley.

  7. Business shouldn’t be personal. The Logo decision on Yoyogames is on it’s way to becoming infamously known among the Game Maker Community(now written as the costumers), and in a business related sense, this is not a good thing. When the costumers does not like a product, or the product does not sell as expected, that’s only when a company should consider change.

    Now, I know little of Yoyogames and Game Makers financial past, or of it’s planned future, but all companies has got a plan. We can deduce from the current Logo change, that Game Maker has been selling poorly, and if this is the case, it would seem right to try to change the target audience, and let the existing costumers go, or at best, keep the existing costumers.

    Now if I went on to make a game, release it on Yoyogames, and not take comments and feedback into consideration, I wouldn’t become much of an insightful game designer, and my players would not come back to check out my eventually improved game. It is good to know that the leader of Yoyogames are now taking suggestions. There has been some extremely negative response from some of the current costumer base, and it would be a pity to lose this section of costumers.

    Yoyogames are not interested in losing or fighting their costumers for this change, they are interested in better knowing their costumers, and having a real dialouge between the costumers like this, is the best oppertunity a company could ever ask for.

    I hope that the leaders of Yoyogames and Game Maker reasons further with the userbase/costumers, the current Community, and make them understand which direction the company is taking, and what’s stored in the future. Once the costumers understands what is going on, and where the company is heading with this new logo change, they will stay and supports the changes being made.

    ~ Rofl

  8. Mehhh, i think the gear is alight, the smilley itself too over the top, but I don’t mind.
    I was thinking about this… and IF people actually wont use gamemaker because of it’s logo, then nobody would start using “fruityLoops” as music program. I know too many people who actually use it, while the name itself is kinda… well strange, in my AND their oppinion.
    So with that, I think that it might change some oppinions…

    If you want to keep the logo as it is, slightly change it a bit, i suggest:

    Leaving everything as it is, but moving the “Maker” a bit to the right ontop of the logo.
    Atleast it would look more dynamic and less standard 😉

    greetings~

  9. True Valhalla :Well said, Fred.
    I can see the gear staying and a complete redo of the center. Personally, I’m not sure why Sandy is so against the hammer. It could even work *well* with the gears.

    And if not the hammer we could go back to the CD…

  10. @NakedPaulToast
    Well there’s certainly something to be said for Sandy’s ability to withstand what generally appears to be a negative public opinion about the selected logo.

    But I think the better course of action would be to pay Albert for his work, as promised, and then just have someone else either change his logo to fit what is needed, or simply start over from scratch. I’ve never participated in a logo contest where the winner’s logo is accepted as the final design, barring no changes, no matter how good or bad it turns out.

    In my eyes, a change or re-do of the logo wouldn’t be a weakness of Sandy’s resolve anyway – it would show that he values Game Maker’s (and YYG’s) image over the results of a silly logo contest, and I think that would garner much more respect from the community than stamping down and accepting only minor changes to what is obviously a very flawed logo and a very poor decision.

    Staying the course is a crummy philosophy to stand by if you’re heading in the wrong direction from the start.

  11. I posted this on the glog, but it is equally appropriate here:

    @Sandy

    I think the support you’re throwing towards Albert is admirable, and I’m thrilled that you haven’t let the mob mentality sway your decision.

    At this point, it would have been easy to pay Albert his $250, send him on his way and soothe the masses. But, that wouldn’t have been the right thing to do.

    You created a logo, set down the constraints, picked the winner, and are sticking by your word, Albert, and the logo he created.

    The fact that none of these heartless slops considered the cost of reneging, from an integrity point of view, speaks volumes about them.

    You, staying the course, speaks volumes about you.

    For what it’s worth, for this reason alone, I’m in support of Albert’s logo and your decision.

  12. Well said, Fred.

    I can see the gear staying and a complete redo of the center. Personally, I’m not sure why Sandy is so against the hammer. It could even work *well* with the gears.

  13. @Frederick
    I don’t agree with that. That implies that the new logo is actually a good logo, and to be frank, it’s just not.

    It shouldn’t stop people from using the program, but it’s a horrible step backward in terms of branding for Game Maker. If it does actually stop a few people from using it, it might also stop new users from using it, and that’s the bigger issue here.

    Nobody wants to use a program that makes them look stupid. I don’t care if it’s not a “professional” game development tool, that doesn’t mean that YYG needs to make it look completely foolish.

  14. Interesting development, although I don’t think he realised he just forced the open floodgates ever so slightly wider… he’s gonna have a LOT of emotive babble to wade through

  15. I think it’s been pretty well established that it isn’t a matter of “because it’s new”!
    People who use GM hate it.
    People who don’t use GM laugh at it.

  16. No hammers? I don’t think you understand what we mean when we’re talking about marketing Game Maker, Sandy…

    Although you may not like it, it’s a globally known logo.

  17. YoYo Games has made mistake after mistake. But they are never going to learn anything from this unless it is left like this. They can change it later for Game Maker 9.

    Otherwise I would agree that a center redo would be great. Sandy doesn’t want a hammer? Well how about building blocks? Those aren’t hammers ^^

  18. Yeah.. I think everyone is laughing about it. Is a logo going to stop people from using Game Maker? Not the mature half.

  19. Uh… Okay. Maybe he can change that smiley into something else ^^ The gear was okay. It’s just the smiley I didn’t like. 🙂

    He was right too. Most of the people don’t like it just because it’s new.

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