Raccoon Rocket Logo: Take Deux

Community Forums/Showcase/Raccoon Rocket Logo: Take Deux

sswift(Posted 2006) [#1]
So I was minding my own business yesterday when to my surprise I got an email!

It was from an artist (who used to work on the Boondocks comic strip) which I had emailed FOUR MONTHS ago about doing a character to go with my then-new logo.

Apparently my email had fallen behind their desk or something and had gotten lost (actually it was a defunct email address full of spam) and they'd just discovered it.

So we quickly came to an agreement, and voila, a day later I have a new mascot to go with my logo. It wasn't exactly the sort of thing I'd requested, (The original concept was to have the raccoon clinging to the front of the rocket for dear life and heading in a downwards direction off the screen.) but when you hire a good artist sometimes they get creative, and with my suggestion for the aviator goggles and scarf I think the end result is pretty spiffy. It certainly will accomplish its goal of making people remember the company name, which itself is already fairly unique and memorable. (Which is why I chose it in the first place.)

Oh and the background is just something I threw together quickly, so I'll be fixing that up later. And the logo itself was done by me several months ago. You may remember I posted it here.



Lemme know what you think!


Picklesworth(Posted 2006) [#2]
That looks really great!

The clouds nearest to the bottom right look unfinished, though. They're still flat-edged and have a few gaps.
Also, the ground could use some AA


ImaginaryHuman(Posted 2006) [#3]
Much better!


sswift(Posted 2006) [#4]
Pickels:
Yep, I'm aware of those issues. I painted that in about five seconds. I'll be revising it at some point.


Jeremy Alessi(Posted 2006) [#5]
Very nice!


Barnabius(Posted 2006) [#6]
All that's left now is for Shawn to create a game featuring that loveable raccoon character. Just look at him. Isn't he ready for some serious platform flying... ;-)

Barney


sswift(Posted 2006) [#7]
Updated image above.

Made subtle but important changes to background luminosities. The darker ground and lighter sky draws more attention to the name.
Also switched to another sharpening method which will look better fullscreen cause it doesn't produce as many halos.


Genexi2(Posted 2006) [#8]
Love the job the guy did on the raccoon, I can't draw a cartoon animal for the life of me.
(need to learn to draw a working form layout for non-human proportions ;/ )

Regarding the background, if yer taking critiques that is, I don't quite like the bit of cloud below the "R" in the word "Rocket" in the logo, I can highlight the spot in question if you cannot see what I'm referring too if needed. It just doesn't look like a fluffy cloud at all compared to the rest of the backdrop.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#9]
Love the job the guy did on the raccoon


Girl!


Regarding the background, if yer taking critiques that is, I don't quite like the bit of cloud below the "R" in the word "Rocket" in the logo, I can highlight the spot in question if you cannot see what I'm referring too if needed. It just doesn't look like a fluffy cloud at all compared to the rest of the backdrop.



Yes, the whole background is going to be redone. That includes the smoke trail. It will all be round and puffy in the final version. It's just messed up cause I moved stuff around and that section was behind the words before and the part near the raccoon was actually behind the rocket.


puki(Posted 2006) [#10]
I don't think I have ever seen a raccoon.


Amon(Posted 2006) [#11]
Looks good. :)

I'd like to get the details for your Artist as I'd like a cartoony Krow done for me.


Grisu(Posted 2006) [#12]
I like the art style.


JustLuke(Posted 2006) [#13]
Nice. It sort of reminds me of "Bert" from an old cartoon called "The Raccoons".


Weetbix(Posted 2006) [#14]
I quite like it :D


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#15]
racoon = great
logo = ok/good
background = hmm


markcw(Posted 2006) [#16]
one thing that strikes me with this logo, more than anything else is, as someone else already said, where is the raccoon game? you know, with logos comes, expectation. i expect now a raccoon game. damit! gimme da raccoon game you.. you.. get what i mean though right?

nice logo though.


Weetbix(Posted 2006) [#17]
A raccoon game could work.


OrcSlayer(Posted 2006) [#18]
A raccoon would actually make an interesting game character. A coon would make short work of Sonic the hedgehog, and most any other furry game character you can name off...

I can see a "feral rage" meter that fills up as he fights, ending up with a "raccoon rampage" special combo attack against every living thing in visual range...


Defoc8(Posted 2006) [#19]
i like the character, the rest of the image is not nearly as
high quality..the text is ok, but seems kinda boring..and the
background looks rushed - might be jst as well using
a coloured background.. then again, its not really my scene,
i dont do much in the way of cute..


SillyPutty(Posted 2006) [#20]
The character is awesome, the rest just doesnt seem to gel too well ( seems rushed ).


Gabriel(Posted 2006) [#21]
Is no one reading the OP? He clearly says it WAS rushed. It's temporary.

I love the raccoon, but I have the same problem as MarkCW. I want my bloody raccoon game!


Defoc8(Posted 2006) [#22]
meh meh meh..quite yer bitchin gab, reading is for nerdz!
- any more ovya hoOha, and me n the boys will rip yaz a noO
one! ;)


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#23]
ok here goes:

Raccoon Rocket - doesn't flow
Raccoon character looks awesome
Background is ok

How about Raccoon Rocketeer Entertainment? Still doesn't flow that well but at least it sounds better and fits the picture.

Raccoon Ballistics Entertainment
Raccoon Anthing But Rocket Entertainment


sswift(Posted 2006) [#24]
The "entertainment" thing you're supposed to leave off in general, just as people refer to the makers of Doom as ID, not ID Software, or Irrational Games as Irrational.

I don't agree that Raccoon Rocket by itself doesn't flow. I chose it specifically because it is catchy, short, and easy to remember, and realtively easy to spell.

Rocketeer brings to mind that Disney movie. I don't want people to reminded of that (or to be sued by Disney), and Raccoon Rocket fits the picture perfectly well. There is a raccoon, and there is a rocket.

I don't hear anyone complaining about Rooster Teeth's logo or name. Names don't have to make sense! In fact the less sense they make the more memorable they are. Case in point: Monster.com. Amazon.com. Valve.

You think Raccoon Ballistics rolls off the toungue easier than Raccoon Rocket? Are you mad? Also, Ballistics is longer and would lead to four times as many misspelled url's. And it's not as easy to remember.


Also, I don't know why anyone has a problem with the text. Sure it might not be the most awesome text logo ever, but it doesn't exactly look cheap or bad. I do have a couple ideas for improving it that I will try, like adding a tail to the word Raccoon and/or some kind of speed lines or fire to the word Rocket. But it would cost me a few hundred to have the artist create a whole new logo. Do you think it's worth that much for a slightly more interesting logo, when you have companies like id who are perfectly successful with a logo that is just the word id in lowercase in a plain looking font with nothing around it?


And as I already stated, twice, the background will be redone. That one is just temporary. But I haven't decided if I want to fork over a few hundred to have the artist redo that or if I'll be doing it myself. It really doesn't need to be that detailed, it is just a background and shouldn't distract from the logo with lots of detail anyway. And the logo will only be seen for a second anyway.


Finally, as for the prospects of making a game with the character, I wouldn't hold my breath. :-)

I'm glad you like the character... but platform games take years to make and lots of artwork (ask Anthony Flack, who's on year FOUR of Cletus), and they don't sell that well.

Plus trying to take a cool looking character and design a game around him (rather than designing the character around the game) rarely results in a good game.


I'm gonna stick with casual games for now!


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#25]
EDIT:

You know what? Nevermind...it's your name so have a nut. No pun intended. Or wait...that would be Squirrel Rocket Games! =)


Weetbix(Posted 2006) [#26]
Yeh the background doesnt need to be complet, but it cant be badly done either. Although you probobly know this, stay away from using the brush tool to make your trees and smoke ;)


sswift(Posted 2006) [#27]
Chroma:
I understand you might not like the name, but I could keep changing the name forever and not make everyone happy. I've changed names ten times already and I wasn't happy with any of them because they weren't very interesting, or they were being used by others (like SquishySoft). This one lends itself to all sorts of amusing logos, is short, creative, and easily remembered. And nobody registered the URL before I got to it.

Also, you're one to talk! What the heck is a Zama, and what exactly is that logo supposed to represent? :-)


sswift(Posted 2006) [#28]

Yeh the background doesnt need to be complet, but it cant be badly done either. Although you probobly know this, stay away from using the brush tool to make your trees and smoke ;)



You know it might just be worth it to part with a few hundred just to stop all the complaining!

Seriously though, I do appreciate the input and I will consider everyone's suggestions to improve the logo and background, but changing the name is out of the question.

To show there are no hard feelings, I made a logo for Chroma with a western font and a llama image I stole off the web:




gellyware(Posted 2006) [#29]
Racoon Rocket is not so easy to remember. I saw this post yesterday and without seeing the logo again, I would have forgotten the name.

When I came up with a few names for a game company, I told 2 of my favorites to 7 or 8 people. I waited 2-4 weeks and randomly asked those people out of nowhere if they remembered the names I mentioned to them. Everyone remembered Gellyware.

If you asked me 2 weeks from now what the name of your company would be, I would remember the Racoon part but not the rocket. For some reason Racoon Toon comes to mind as a more memorable name.

The logo is too big with all of that background going on. Maybe if you could work the name of the company around the racoon somehow it would be much more elegant. That logo does work for game splash screens, but I do not think it would work well for a website (without taking up a huge real estate). It might be more effective to just drop the background all together.

In the end, I'm not sure how much any of this 'really' matters unless you plan on getting huge like pop-cap or big fish games. Your traffic will come from places that have either text or image links from some form of advertisement so it doesnt matter if your name was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious... people would just click the link or image if they were curious about your company or know of a game that you've released.

The only thing I wouldn't do is rush the logo no matter what it is. You don't want to be stuck with crap for the next few years and changing your image is a sure sign of a schitzophrenic and uncertain company. Invest in getting it to your liking, be done with it, and move on.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#30]
"Everyone remembered Gellyware."

But did they remember how to spell it? Because in America, it's spelled JELLY.


"The logo is too big with all of that background going on."

You realise that that is a splash screen for in a game, to be viewed by itself full screen for a few seconds, and not the "logo" per se. The "logo" shown say, in a magazine or something would be more compact, and with no background, and possibly the raccoon in another position.

As for its use on a website, if anything, it would be a splash screen before you enter the website. Formatting it for the main page of the site, the background might become a long thin banner at the top of the page.

But right now all I've got is the splash screen version.


"The only thing I wouldn't do is rush the logo no matter what it is. You don't want to be stuck with crap for the next few years and changing your image is a sure sign of a schitzophrenic and uncertain company."

I don't plan on offering stock options, so this doesn't really concern me. :-)


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#31]
It's spelled Jelly in the U.K. too. I think maybe the funny spelling is supposed to make it more memorable?


sswift(Posted 2006) [#32]
Several dictionary websites say:
"gelly - a type of dynamite in which the nitroglycerin is absorbed in a base of wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate"

Only a few state that gelly is an alternate spelling of Jelly, and they say it is an obscure spelling. And searching with google for gelly brings up 600K websites, but jelly brings up 30 million.

I could have sworn it was the UK spelling. But maybe I just assumed that after seeing it on his sig so many times. :-)

Haha! And looking at his profile he's in the US so that was a completely wrong presumption for me to make. And damn, I should have known this cause he's the Sudoku Maya guy who's hired me several times. :-)
WHY CAN'T PEOPLE JUST USE THEIR REAL NAMES LIKE ME!


Jimbob(Posted 2006) [#33]
I quite like the name and logo.
I don't know why people could ever have an issue with a name.
The whole argument seems ridiculous whatever way you look at it.

I can't imagine the Beatles being reprimanded for bad spelling... or even for creating such an extremely bad pun?

The things you need to change in the logo (i.e. the grass) will probably take as much time as it took you to make that zebra-llama logo (probably less). So I'm surprised people are getting so worked up about it.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#34]
The grass? Those are trees! :-) He's supposed to be really high above the earth. That's not a hill, that's the curvature of the planet, and the blue is an ocean. (The trees are intentionally out of scale.)

Okay so you have to use your imagination a lot. :-)

I just updated the pic above btw. I just made a change to raccoon. I'd kinda killed the colors overbrightening it, and I'd gone way overboard on brightening the rocket. I returned it to being closer to what the artist originally intended. But the version they sent me is still far darker than the one you see here.


Geehawk(Posted 2006) [#35]
I think it should be

"Roccoon Racket" ;-)


Weetbix(Posted 2006) [#36]
Leave the damn name, its fine. I like it.


Shambler(Posted 2006) [#37]
'Rocket Raccoon' flows better.

But what I want to know is who ran over the llama?


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#38]
Shawn, it's hard to give you feedback when you have an excuse for everything...

Gellyware and Shambler, I tried to tell him that it doesn't flow. But you have more than 3 people here saying it doesn't flow and isn't easy to remember. We've done what we can I guess. /shrug

Zama Games. My daughter's names is Emma and son's name is Zane. emMA -- ZAne. ZA MA. Zama. Zama Games. So now you know. It has nothing to do with a Llama.

I still think Squirrel Rocket Games is much better than Raccoon Rocket.


Weetbix(Posted 2006) [#39]
Squirrel rocket games? No way. Not even close.

I like raccoon rocket


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#40]
sswift: lo, yep you were sure barking up the wrong tree there, I knew he was U.S. as he made Sudoku Maya Gold with my framework.


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#41]
To show there are no hard feeling on my part either:

This flows MUCH better. Even better than Squirrel Rocket Games.

I give to you...Llama Rocket Entertainment!




Weetbix(Posted 2006) [#42]
if you were going to include llama in the name it'd just be "Llama entertainment"


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#43]
Then why not just Raccoon Entertainment? Can't wait to hear the explanation on this one.


Barnabius(Posted 2006) [#44]
Jeff Minter would probably have something against the use of Llama in connection with a software company. :)

Barney


AJirenius(Posted 2006) [#45]
o m g

I hope you all guys are ironic or something... I would spend my energy on .. programming instead.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#46]
Shawn, it's hard to give you feedback when you have an excuse for everything...



Well it's hard not to have an excuse for everything when I plan everything out in great detail. :-) I don't do stuff without thinking it through!

I even thought THIS through. The reason I waited to reply to everyone's criticisms in detail was specifically to avoid discouraging people from giving them. I posted now cause the criiticisms were pretty much all the same and I didn't think anything new was gonna be said.


Gellyware and Shambler, I tried to tell him that it doesn't flow. But you have more than 3 people here saying it doesn't flow and isn't easy to remember. We've done what we can I guess. /shrug



Hey now. First, we already DISCUSSED the name. Months ago. Changing it now was always out of the question.

Second, it took 19 posts before anyone ciritcized the name, and almost all the feedback is positive. So yeah, maybe three people have said the name doesn't flow. That's three out of twenty. You're in the minority!

Third, you're trying to excuse the odd company name with the excuse that you named your son ZANE? :-) Zane isn't exactly a common name either!


Then why not just Raccoon Entertainment? Can't wait to hear the explanation on this one.


Because it's boring? Because anyone can just stick the name of an animal in front of entertainment, or games, or software, and there are a million companies out there that do that? Does "Shark Software" sound at all exciting or different? No. "Squirrel Software" is a little better. But that's because Squirrel is a verb, so in addition to being an animal it also implies action. Rocket is a verb. Raccoon + Rocket = a name with action. Raccoon + Entertainment = no action.

Also:
RaccoonRocket.com
RaccoonEntertainment.com

I was trying to keep the URL short. And http://raccoongames.com was taken. (You wanna see a crappy logo, go there!) And every other set of game related words that were shorter that I stuck together. So I went for something different.

I'm not making up excuses here! I made these excuses up a long time ago when I actually put a lot of thought into this before I bought the URL.


Good job on photoshopping the llama head with the goggles though. :-)


sswift(Posted 2006) [#47]
.


gellyware(Posted 2006) [#48]
Everyone did remember the spelling.

One trick with branding is to change a letter as Grey had said because it helps make that spelling stick. Look at Coke (short for cocaine), the band "phish", etc etc. Also, as you have noticed, afer a while of seeing a logo with a different spelling, that spelling begins to seem correct.

Gellyware is a combination of "Gelatinous" and "Software"

Gellyware looked better than Jellyware to me.


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#49]
Hey now. First, we already DISCUSSED the name. Months ago. Changing it now was always out of the question.


http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=59913#671290

That post above doesn't look like a discussion at all. It looks more like they tried to tell you it didn't flow or sound right but you didn't listen then and now it's too late. But 4 months ago you had already bought the website. I guess since you've already paid an artist to make a logo and bought the website there's no use in changing the name now. :-(

Rocket is a verb


Correction. Rocket CAN be a verb. :-) The way you're using it, it's the noun in the sentence with Raccoon being the adjective. That's the whole reason it doesn't flow. Because there's no such thing as a raccoon rocket.

Look at:
Gas Powered Games
Irrational Games

What kind of games were they? Gas Powered!
What kind of games were they? Irrational!
What kind of rocket was it? Raccoon! WHAT?!?!

Now you can attack my game name all you want. My word is easy to remember and unique. Just ask me and I'll tell you. :-)

So...bottom line is. It's your game company name. If you want it to be 2 nouns slapped together then more power to you. Just make it synonymous with great games (think EA or Bioware) and you're good to go. But you should really learn to take criticism better. And definitely read Swords and Circuitry. There's a section in there where Chris Roberts finally realizes he can't be the producer, designer, artist, programmer, and sound engineer. He learned team dynamics and how important they are.


Picklesworth(Posted 2006) [#50]
I think it's a cool name.
I bet puki does, too.

Edit:
Hm... maybe not. Ah well, it's fun to make puns out of Shawn's name :P
(Really, your last name is very handy for a software developer!)


ImaginaryHuman(Posted 2006) [#51]
oh dear ;-D


maximo(Posted 2006) [#52]
both the name and new image are very creative, I like the name swift, and I like the character :) It would be cool if you could create a game with a character like that some time in future :)


Naughty Alien(Posted 2006) [#53]
Raccoon Rapper sounds fun to me..but hey, its just me and a bit confused since i hit stupid automatic door with my head..crappy japanese..grr


stayne(Posted 2006) [#54]
Reminds me of this little guy




sswift(Posted 2006) [#55]
That post above doesn't look like a discussion at all. It looks more like they tried to tell you it didn't flow or sound right but you didn't listen then and now it's too late.


Hehe... You're so negative!

Reading that post what I see is one guy who doesn't think it rolls off the tongue, NOEL, whose opinion I could care less about, someone who thinks it is catchy, two people who are positive toward it, a second one who doesn't think it rolls off the tongue, someone who thinks it is much better than "Squishy", Grey, who doesn't like it, someone who thinks it sounds better than Grey, :-), two people who like it, one of which thinks it might be a little awkward just because it hasn't seen much use yet, one guy who appears to have no opinion, and one smart aleck suggesting I name it pocket rocket.

So if we take a tally, thats about 3 negative, 3 neutral, and 4 positive. So you cannot possibly come to the conclusion that overall people didn't like it. :-) I will concede that it was not a smash hit. But I think if I had introduced it with this character it would have had a much more strongly positive response.


What kind of rocket was it? Raccoon! WHAT?!?!


*thppt!* :p


But you should really learn to take criticism better.


I just think this is something silly to be so critical of. It's a company name. It's not like you're critiquing gameplay. :-)

And anyway I don't see what is wrong with providing explanations for why I made a particular decision. Your argument that rocket is more of a noun than a verb in this usage is a valid one, and you would not have had the opportunity to make that comment if I hadn't given you my explanation for why I chose that name.

I may sound like I'm being dismissive, but I take everyone's opinions seriously. At the same time, as you said, I already purchased the url and the art for the logo. You'd have to come up with a PRETTY convincing argument to convince me it's worth throwing that money away. Or with spending more time on it when that time would be much better spent actually getting a game out.


Jimbob(Posted 2006) [#56]
Amen to that.


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#57]
Hehe... You're so negative!


On the contrary, I'm a creative soul. You're mistaking me trying to urge you to make a better name as negativity when it would actually be a positive thing! :-) I KNOW when something isn't right. I'm really just trying to point it out but your rose-colored glasses are clouding your higher creative processes. :-(

I may sound like I'm being dismissive, but I take everyone's opinions seriously.


In your original post 4 months ago you had already bought the website so you never intended on taking anyone's opinion in the first place.

If Raccoon Rocket didn't flow back then and it still doesn't 4 months later then that should tell you something. You can either settle and deal or be proactive and improve. But...like I've said a few times now, it's your game company name. All we can do is point out the obvious. :-)

Now to show I'm not being a jerk and have your best interests at heart, I'll attempt to make you a background today on my day off. But it may be awhile because I'm seriously thinking about going to see the new texas chainsaw massacre movie!


sswift(Posted 2006) [#58]
In your original post 4 months ago you had already bought the website so you never intended on taking anyone's opinion in the first place.


Yes, I'd bought the domain, but that was like $8.95 investment to make sure someone else didn't register it before I made up my mind! :-)


I just got off the phone with my dad. He liked the logo a lot. Yay! The "What was it again? Flying monkeys?" logo. Boo!

And my sister mostly remembered it the first time I told her the name, and she liked the logo and remembered the name the second time.


You really don't have to make me a background. :-)