Amongst the things going on in the background is trying to find a new ADOM logo design. The future ADOM logo will appear in the game, as a desktop item, etc. We so far have discussed quite a number of designs internally and many topics have been raised. Without further ado I'd like to present the current favorite below. We are looking forward to your comments - I have consciously refrained from providing any explanations regarding the design in order to see what you make of it :-)
Let us hear your thoughts - thanks!
My opinion, so far, is that I don't like it. As a logo, it's too cartoony, it doesn't have thew 'feel' of a roguelike to me. Not anywhere is there the show of the ASCII objects that have become a hallmark of the world (even if we go graphical), and the look of it makes it feel far too... 'kiddy' for lack of a better word.
ReplyDeleteThe art *itself* is gorgeous. I have every bit of love for the artist. As fanart for ADOM, I adore it. As the official logo, I don't. :)
Regarding ASCII symbols... there are the white trinangular mountains and there is the " grass for the plains :-)
DeleteI'm personally not keen on the cartoony style. In particular the chaos tentacles should be a darker purple, and there should be a more sinister edge to it all. At the moment it looks like something aimed at children.
ReplyDeleteLooks great Thomas.
ReplyDeleteSeems light on detail and otherworldly sinister contrast---not quite seeing the evocation of "Ancient" nor any real intrigue/mystery into the domain. I can understand wanting it to sync up with the ADOM II one, but this seems to not quite be there just yet.
ReplyDeleteKeep the comments coming... as I said we are in the middle of the process and felt that everything we had to say internally had been said. And I recognize some of the points already given from our discussion :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd for people yet to comment: If you don't like certain aspects please try to suggest improvements, alterations or variants as just saying "it's not good" is too easy. There already were some suggestions and I'd like to see more.
ReplyDeleteMight be nice to see weapon and or magic spell elements in the logo (instead of the tentacles).
ReplyDeleteOn one of the earlier drafts we had something like that but decided against it as weapons or spell effects seemed to generic to use... while Chaos tentacles have a distinct meaning to ADOM :-)
DeleteI have to concur with the previous critical comments. While the quality of the drawing is superb, the style looks way too cartoonish and light-hearted to me. I understand that the intended message is that there is a nice, apparently peaceful world that is menaced by the looming forces of ChAoS. But ADOM is not Pokémon, ADOM is a game where the adventurer has to go through an epic ordeal full of dangers, risk, suffering and very likely, death. The logo doesn't evoke that IMHO.
ReplyDeleteAs for concrete suggestions... my art and design skills are inexistent but I'll do my best. Warning: spoilers ahead.
First of all, I agree with Grey that darker tentacles would help. But I also think that the central scene with the blue sky and nice clouds should be changed. Perhaps show a representation of the ChAoS gate. Or maybe the ToEF, or the adventurer, his back to the viewer, looking up in awe at the imposing sight of the ToEF towering (heh) over him. Or divide it into two and show a wilderness scene and a dungeon scene (although I'm aware this may be infeasible due to each scene being too small). Or show Darkforge with two steel golems flanking a demented artificer working at his anvil. Or show a view of a large army of purple ChAoS creatures, preparing somewhere, like the armies of clones from Star Wars or of orcs from LotR.
On the frame, maybe add runes somewhere, to represent that there is magical and arcane secrets in this world.
And on the lower part of the logo, a weapon (maybe a sword, or maybe one of the artifact tridents in ADOM, or the Scepter of ChAoS) lying horizontally on the ground would be nice, instead of the herbs. Herbs are for scummers :)
Just wondering regarding the rune part of the suggestion: You noticed that there actually are five symbols (with a deep meaning regarding ADOM) on the gate? Do you just want more rune decorations or were you thinking about something else?
DeleteRegarding the suggestion with a Chaos army in preparation: The question probably is whether (a) you look from the planes of Chaos through the gate towards Ancardia, (b) from Ancardia to the planes of Chaos or (c) from real world towards the game of ADOM :-)
DeleteI noticed, and I do like the presence of those symbols in the logo. I was thinking about adding more runes, but yes... thinking twice, perhaps that would mean an excess of symbols in the logo. I guess one can't put everything and the kitchen sink in a logo :)
DeleteThinking in general, the concept of dungeon should be present in the logo, as it is the core of the game. The ADOM II logo (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--h2bjKHpVvI/T8M7NftOWTI/AAAAAAAAATk/2Mg_kbHhNxM/s250/ADOM-II-Logo-1x1%2540300dpi.png), with a @ getting into a dungeon looks awesome to me. Perhaps it is possible to show these stairs inside the frame. However, I'd change them to a sort of a first person view, in such a way that it looks that you are about to to climb down to the darkness and the unknown.
ReplyDeleteAbout the tentacles, I don't like them either. I can't identify any element that has tentacles in the game and an octopus is all that comes to my mind when I see it. I'd completely remove them. I think the logo with just the frame would look good.
About the symbols, perhaps it's me, but I don't find what they mean quickly. I guess it's fire, water, air, earth and mana, but the latter three aren't very clear to me. I would change those for a representation of the five orbs. The colors should help to identify them (red, blue, yellow, brown and green, respectively). And if you put the five orbs around the frame, I guess the chaos gate should be in the middle, getting a good representation of the main objectives of the game. Perhaps combining in some way the stairs I suggested before with the chaos gate, although I don't see how to do it.
I hope you guys find this useful. However, my suggestions don't mean that the art job isn't good. It is great, as are all the previous pieces we've seen.
So this is what ADOM has become? I am absolutely not thrilled.
ReplyDeleteHere's an alternate suggestion. Maybe the colors could be tweaked somewhat, but I think its close to perfect:
https://imageshack.us/a/img94/6857/lrtr.png
Or, as Notch put it:
http://adom.brinkster.net/adom_reference.png
(Sorry for the bluntness. The quality of the graphic is superb, and indeed it would make for a nice logo -- for another game.)
LOL, thanks for the funniest feedback so far (and I mean that seriously).
DeleteBut I'm afraid it doesn't help for two reasons:
1. The ASCII mode remains. Thus "your preferred starting design" also will remain (probably with minor modifications). But it surely doesn't fit a graphical version.
2. The idea of the campaign as to resurrect ADOM. To something other than a zombie game. Which also means modernizing ADOM. Which specifically means adding a graphical mode. As that today probably is the only chance to make ADOM accessible to a much greater audience (and even then chances are slim). But as the goal is to keep ADOM alive I am absolutely convinced that such a step is necessary. Thus we also need some kind of graphical design and pure ASCII isn't the right way to go any more. As sad s it might seem. But the 21st century changes things.
Nonetheless the promise was to keep the ASCII version and that definitely will be done in order to suit both the old school and the new school of gaming.
But given the fact that we also want to bring ADOM to Steam and other platforms we dearly need good imagery and a kind of brand - otherwise I'm 100% convinced that we won't gather the required amount of support. Which sooner or later once more would spend the end of ADOM development. Which I don't want. But it's a harsh reality.
So thanks for the feedback (honestly) but there must be some kind of workable compromise ;-)
Thanks (for everything, really), and point taken. :)
DeleteI love it.
ReplyDeleteI like the logo a lot. It well matches the tilesets you guys have been working on, and for me it does a great job of capturing the feel of Adom. I love the carat mountains and quote mark grass, great visual pun there. The doorway seems to suggest that ADOM itself is a portal to another world, and that fact that the tentacles are outside the doorway adds a definite fourth wall breaking sinister quality.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm also not thrilled by the new logo. As others, I don't think it's a bad drawing at all (actually it shows a lot of skill) but I fear it does not serve it's purpose.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you guys are coming from. The rendering resembles the new art going into the game, and the colorful, "soft"style might seem great for an iPad app icon (although I would say it's too detailed even for that), but I think it does not work at all as a logo.
I have no issues with the content of it. I actually like what the logo is trying to do quite a lot. but the problem is that it is rendered in too much a concrete style. Logos should be more stylized, more abstract so to speak. They should evoke, not show. Showing is what the game looks. You are creating certain expectations for the game using that logo that are *not* going to be fulfilled when somebody plays it for the first time. This is double so for a game that is going to have an ASCII mode along a graphical one.
As suggestions, apart from stylizing the image (flat colors/silhouettes, maybe? and less round shapes) I would strongly suggest making the title (the letters) way more relevant, increasing it's relative size. Also, the "ground"of the image (the grass and the tentacle points at the bottom left and right) do make the image more like an illustration than a logo (by giving it spatial context, which a logo doesn't need). I would suggest taking those out and leaving the frame naked, except when either the letter or the top-right tentacles are over it.
Sorry for being so direct, but in my experience feedback works better this way.
I will play the game for hundreds of hours no matter what logo you choose, though :P
Thanks for the detailed feedback. Very interesting. And it shows the many angles that one might want to take.
DeleteYes, the tentacles seem "cuddly" rather than menacing. Barney, not Cthulhu.
ReplyDeleteThe concept looks like an invitation into a new world, and here is the road to Terinyo. Good concept, but maybe not the "iconic essence" of the game ADOM.
I think part of the problem is the width of the gateposts - it makes the portal seem small - a window rather than a door, and the tentacles are sized like a houseplant.
I'd love to see versions that were more iconic and less picturesque. I think they'd have more impact.
Something like:
* giant menacing tentacles from behind a mountain, with a threatened village at the base of the mountain, and maybe a dungeon doorway into the mountain (if it isn't too busy an image.) Reduce the color palette so it doesn't look cell shaded, and make sure we feel the threat to the village. Maybe even pick one symbol and etch it at the apex of the mountain.
* Just pick the most iconic symbol, draw it large and cool looking, either along or etched in rock. Into the base of the icon (or just below) a portal, leaking light. (Maybe from the O in ADOM) Creeping around the back of the symbol, either the tentacles, or crossed weapons, or something like that.
* The etched head of one of the bosses, with the symbols for eyes and in the mouth
* The heroic @ symbol, triumphant on mountain peak over letters ADOM.
* The letters ADOM, with D & O as either portals or containers for chaos symbols.
ADOM is the essence of old-school awesome gaming. I'd love to see that feel reflected in the logo. Cute logos don't say "permadeath game ahead" or "old school goodness", they just say "android jrpg" or "derivative psuto-ironic rpg".
But I'm with everyone else on the great art, way better than I could do! Could we get these in-game? Pictures on walls in towns? For fun, these in the graphic version, and ascii art conversions of these in the ascii version?
Thanks for yet another batch of very interesting thoughts and suggestions.
DeleteEven with a more graphical version of ADOM coming out, I would very much like to see the hero being drawn as an '@' symbol in the icon. It's just too much a part of the world for me. I understand that's not what he *really* looks like in the theme of the world, but it's just such an iconic part of the roguelike experience that it would be a horrible shame to lose it!
ReplyDeleteThe word 'ADOM' looks great. The lettering looks clean and I do like the color of the letters. Perhaps instead of having the tentacles come from around the edges of the window/door, have them creeping around the word itself? One coming through the hole in the 'O', one curling around the 'M'. Something more subtle than 'BLAH I AM CTHULHU'. Visible, but a background corruption rather than the primary corruption.
Your icons for the 'Thank You' and for ADOM II were both gorgeous. As a matter of fact, ADOM II's icon, as is shown right on the page, is something I would love to see emulated in some way. It gives the character depth, while still showing it as an adventurer headed for the dungeons.
And even more interesting suggestions... it will be interesting to distill all this stuff into a revised attempt :-)
DeleteWhen ADOM gets on Steam and achieves a more mainstream audience, most new players are likely to play the graphical version exclusively. While I personally do like the "old-school" connotations of showing an @ in the logo, having a logo that most of the future userbase won't understand may not be the most practical option. I think having subtle ASCII cameos (like the current quotation mark grass, or if the grass is removed, something else similar) is enough in that respect.
DeleteI think that the biggest problem that I have is that it's just too busy. You're tryin to do too uch with it and fit too much in, and that ends up meaing that there's no single focal point.
ReplyDeleteAs it is, here's what you've got in there:
The tentacles
The portal/window
The symbols for the 5 elements
The wilderness
The visual puns of the ^ mountains and the " grass.
The actual word "ADOM".
What am I meant to be looking at? I don't know.
To me, the best logos are the simplest. Take something like Portal. Their logo is jsut the word "Portal" with the o repaced with a portal. Or the Minecraft logo, which is the word "Minecraft" with some cracks through it as if it's made of stone, and the A made to look like a creeper.
That would be my prefered type of logo. Maybe something like the word "ADOM" with some purple tentacles wrapped around the letters? (Also, I think that putting an eyeball or two on the tentacles would be a good way to make them look more sinister and less cuddly.)
If you do want to go with something more complicated, I'd recommend something that reflects the core experience of the game a bit better. To me, ADOM is about exploring dungeons, fighting monsters, finding treasures, and using magical items. None of these are represented in your logo.
@rho: Very interesting how much our notions of the core of ADOM differ :-) For me it always about trying to save Ancardia and the Drakalor Chain. And so the logo proposed slowly evolved: a portal to the world of Ancardia (with ASCII symbols for some features of the world) showing the road leading into the Drakalor Chain (the place where every ADOM adventure begins). The portal is framed by five stones/symbols for the elements (fire, water, air, earth and mana) which play a critical role throughout the game. And then some chaos-colored tentacles encroaching around the gate and on the way to entering Ancardia.
ReplyDeleteFor me that really was the truest and best way to represent the essence of ADOM :-)
Not that I wouldn't agree with simpler logo designs. I'm really wondering right now whether we should differentiate between icon and logo - the icon being more something like the current draft with improvements and the logo maybe being just the lettering from the icon (which I right now would tend to move to the bottom) with some kind of neat twist to it as you suggest...
That is interesting, yes!
DeleteFrom my perspective, I suspect that a lot of my views of what make up the cores of ADOM were formed when I first started playing it. Or to put it another way, they were formed when I wasn't very good at the game.
My games back then consisted of trying to save the carpenter or the puppy, or kill the black druid. Occasionally, I'd even succeed, and then I'd get to head west and -- if I didn't starve on the way -- head into the Caverns of Chaos.
It isn't really until you reach Khelevaster that you really start the fight against ChAoS. It is there before that, but it's very much in the background, and easily missable.
I think that if I'd been playing in the hope of fihting an epic fight against the incursions of chaos then I'd have given up on the game in those early days.
Of course, I carried on playing, but I played because I liked the exploration, and I liked finding nifty items, and I liked figuring out which items I should use and when I should use them to get the best chance of success, and so on and so forth. I played for the ame mechanics, and not for the story.
Which isn't to say that I don't enjoy the story and the lore, because I do! But they are additional elements that were added on top of what I already liked about the game, and what had kept me playing for long enough to discover them.
As I'm writing this, I'm wondering if you might want to add some more explicit references early on. Rynt, Guth'alak and Thrundarr all make some nebulous references to what's going on, but they're all very vague. It would be nice to have a bit more of an idea right from the start.
For instance, maybe if you cure Yrigs, he will tell you of some of the strange dreams and visions he had while he was insane, and urge you to go and investigate. Or maybe Keethrax should drop a strange book full of druidic runes that you can't read (unless you're a druid) and when you take it to Guth'alak, he will tell you that he read it and the threat is far greater than he knew, etc. etc.
I'm gettin way off topic here, so I'll stop, but my fundamental point is that if you want the quest to save Ancardia from ChAoS to be central to the game, it might be worth introducing them as a stronger element earlier on.
I really liked the Indiegogo styled art and the Adom II merchandise logo. Compared to them the suggested logo looks a bit flat(cartoony?) in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other comments: good art, but too cartoonish. The first thing I thought when I saw it was: this seems more fitting for a game where you play a gardener battling giant worms. Also I would like a different font, either something flatter and sturdier like in the ADOM II logo or in the resurrection campaign logo, or something fantasy style; the font in this logo feels too modern and technologic to me (where technologic means "I would choose this font for a cars manufacturer").
ReplyDeleteAs for the drawing, I'm far from an artist, but here are some ideas nonetheless:
- the word 'ADOM' in an upper semicircle, with the five orbs in the lower semicircle (or the letters and the orbs interspersed around a circle) and a dark gate with a purple shadow in the interior
- the mountains with the entrance to the cavern of chaos, a big menacing purple cloud lingering above them and 'ADOM' carved on the mountains
- a stylized labyrinthine dungeon viewed from above, with 'ADOM' that fits through the corridors
- the word '@DOM' with an '@' in adventurer garment (like in the crowdfunding campaign thank-you)
- the word 'ADOM' in a warped, cracked style, resting on a purple mist from which glowing eyes observe you
Many good comments here, but nobody - as far as I've seen - has commented on the fact that the D in ADOM seems to be smaller than the A for some reason. That the O is smaller than the others is fine, seeing that it represents "of", but the D is crucial and should not be noticably smaller than the A. It was actually the very first thing I noticed about the logo. Otherwise I'm cool with it, although it would be interesting to see it with generally harder lines.
ReplyDeleteI like the logo, but also see the points others are making. I feel the logo should reflect the new graphics, but include a more of a hint of ADOM's darkness (those pink tentacles seem more cuddly than deadly), and I like the idea Quadko brings up of using ASCII symbols as ancient runes etched in stone.
ReplyDeleteI like how the tentacle is closing in on the "O". The artist seems to have not been getting any. :)
ReplyDeleteThere was a game called Exile 3 which was pretty much like the graphical version of ADOM; it had huge world, lots of NPCs, and a splash screen:
http://i1-linux.softpedia-static.com/screenshots/Exile-III-Ruined-World_1.jpg
A bit too large for the icon, and not exactly perfectly drawn, but you can see the difference in the feeling it evokes. ADOM's should do no worse. I don't have any concrete suggestions, but some of the ideas others have expressed are nice. I guess one could also play with the fact that A, D, O/o, and M represent some of the more picturesque monsters from the game.
I agree with the reviewers who find too the logo too cartoony. I also find it too light-hearted.
ReplyDeleteWhile I would like the art to be beautiful (which the above one is), I would also like it to be a little scarier, representative of the depth and dangers that the adventurers will encounter.
Just as an example: You could have dragons in immediate background of the logo, and perhaps well-known architecture such as TOEF, or the CHAOS Gate in the overall background.
Something grimmer, gritter, would be much apprecited.
It's the gayest logo I've ever seen. But it's all right, you don't have to be ashamed.
ReplyDeleteI don't like it either. Here are some of my thoughts on it:
ReplyDelete1) Getting rid of the @ symbol is your choice, but when you say the goal was the ressurect ADOM and this is the 21st century and all that, you are tossing away the fact that probably a good portion of your funding game from old players who have stuck with the game through thick and thin. Not that you should keep old stuff just because it's old, but the older player base is what got you to this point.
2) To me the tentacles just don't represent ChAoS in Adom. You just don't see a chaotic tentacle mass that often. Chaos sister, brother, or rat? Sure. But tentacle, no.
3) It looks like the tentacles are hugging the portal, not trying to consume it. Maybe thinner tentacles, with some trying to crush the portal, some waving? Since it's an invasion of ChAoS, maybe actually have one tentacle partially in the portal?
4) I get the cartoonyness, because it matches with the art in the game now, so that is consistent. But maybe a more sinister cartoon. Darker tentacles maybe. Also, maybe have the outline of a creature in the tentacles representing a monster that was turned into a chaos mass?
Just some thoughts before work.
I'll echo the previous comments: the art is nice, but doesn't really reminesce ADOM for me. It's... I don't know - maybe too placid or empty? It could use something to act as a focal point, either a character or a landmark.
ReplyDeleteBesides, for me it's not ADOM as long as it's missing a pile of dead player characters, maybe with the lucky one standing on top ;)
So, yes, the tentacles are the real problem. They're too pink for one, as has been said. They are also, however, entirely too phallic, which only one person has hinted at so far. If you're dead set on tentacles, they need to look more squid and less hentai.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good looking logo, for sure, but I'm also sort of in agreement with the above comments. It just doesn't feel quite like ADoM. I mean, at the end of the day, all plot aside, the basic distillation of the game is ascii characters and dungeons.
ReplyDeleteIf I were designing a logo, I would try to decide how I could communicate the idea of a dungeon-crawling ascii game in the simplest possible way. Not so busy, not so... vague? I've played ADoM since nearly the beginning, but I still didn't quite make the chaos tentacle connection. And the orb references on the door are something that you might not even understand for the first few hours of play.
Maybe it would be better to think of it this way: The logo (while cool) isn't really for those of us who already love ADoM, it's for the people who still haven't tried it.
This comment will likely be unhelpful, because honestly I really dig the logo. I love the art style, even as it applies to ADOM. I dig the tentacles, even the pink, though maybe as others have stated repeatedly... a little more purple would be cool. If I had to find anything to complain about, it's that the tentacle placement is weird to me. The are behind the gate, rather than inside or "through" the gate. Seems to me they should be coming out through the gate or going into the gate, rather than just chilling in a totally nonthreatening way alongside the gate.
ReplyDeleteThis art is just beautiful. I really love the way it looks. It looks and feels like ADOM. The only comment I would have would be that when I think of playing ADOM, I think of exploring the dungeons and of caverns first, instead of exploring a wilderness that looks like a state park.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I have to say, is it should be more minimalist, and sinister. The thing I like in Adom is that dark feeling of being corrupted and morphing in something of pure evil.
ReplyDeleteI always really liked the logo shown at the beginning of this video: http://youtu.be/aINYtZKGZW4?t=8s
ReplyDeleteI imagine ADOM to be really dark and eerie, and that one perfectly captures that.
I don't like the new logo. It's rogue-like game, it has deep roots and history and what is most important: it has unique look and feel. Please use something more conservative and less-cartoony. @ will do the job :-P
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete--Ok, changing what I was going to say but, at first glance it seems a little light colored etc. but when you actually have it as the icon it's actually very fitting.
ReplyDeletehttp://i.imgur.com/eXXH2vQ.png
--This is one of the problems with art, you can have a different view of it depending on the 'environment'. I was going to say to make it look more demonic so-on-and-so-forth but it's works well as an icon as it is.
Also, maybe it would be cool to have a chaos sister/brother in/as the icon/logo.
This isn't related but can we submit ideas for creatures? I'm willing to submit some ideas even if it costs donation. If anyone could steer me the right direction? :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete--I decided to try and represent a more sinister version of the initial image.
ReplyDelete--One thing that really bugged me was the thickness of the right tentacle, it's pretty thick and loops around and felt a little grotesque.
--Another biggie is when I look around at other icons, they have shadows, that icon has no shadow and a flat bottom, so it feels out of place.
Comparing the regular and modified:
http://i.imgur.com/96Tzfpk.png
--The bolder purple brings out more of the colors and makes it feel more 'click-able'.
Personally I feel nothing threatenning or monstrous about tentacles and I do at least imagine what they should mean...
ReplyDeleteHow about [in addition to recoloring pink is not going cut anyway] if tentacles where grabbing wooden frame and tearing it and some darkness creeping onto that carttonish grass through newly fromed cracks?
Would also hint into how the orbs there actually produced....
A suggestion:
ReplyDelete1. Imagine a 3x3 sized piece of ASCII in-game content, with the @ hero at the center.
2. Now imagine that drawn out into an actual detailed scene.
3. I suggest that the logo have the "window" effect it has currently, with the window showing the detailed scene from above (2), but that the 3x3 ASCII (1) is encoded on the outside of the portal (as part of the iconography/tentacles that are on the outside).
This comes with the disclaimer that I'm not much of an artist myself, although I may in the future send in a pencil-sketch of the sorts of things I'm envisioning.
ReplyDeletePeople have mentioned retaining the ASCII base for the logo; most logos are, as has been pointed out, surprisingly non-graphical. I'd suggest keeping the primary logo as, simply, ADOM... perhaps framed by the runic elemental symbols, which aren't a bad touch. Now, I'd agree with everyone else that the tentacles are too bright, and would add the following: tentacles by themselves aren't really tied in with ADOM. Now, if the word ADOM was set against, say... a writhing mass of primal chaos, that alone could be sufficient backdrop. Granted, it says they are simply an amalgamation of body-parts, but I have always pictured them engulfed in a putrescent, glistening purple slime which drips from their array of limbs; fluid faces sprouting and sinking into the creature's murky existence often appear, contorted in silent screams. Now picture that, visible through the O, as the other letters are grasped at by a multitude of arms, as tentacles reach out from behind, as the sprawling chaos puddle flows forward...
I like *this* image. My only concern is that it, and the tentacles in the original image, are strongly associated with 'horror' rather than 'fantasy', Depending whether the same logo is to be used for ADOM II or not, an orb guardian (or the orb guardians... one for each letter, and the snake from beyond sprawled out behind them) might be a more accurate portrayal. Hm. I shall meditate on these subjects.
I don't see why the graphics should be turned into the single largest hint ever that ADOM is considered difficult. The person who convinces you to download the game, will tell you that. Personally, I like to think of ADOM as deceptive. You enter a cute little hamlet and a cute little girl sends you after a cute dog. Then, you get brutally murdered, probably by ants. This is an example of the cliche-defying, darkly humorous ADOM which I so love. I think the graphics should offer many opportunities to underestimate your task and your foes. This gritty, transparently unforgiving world painted in other comments just makes me sad and strikes me as humorless.
ReplyDeleteI've never played ADOM, but for a desktop icon I'd like to see something with a stronger silhouette, easy to recognize at a small size. As others have mentioned, the above design is quite busy.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably drop the text for use as an icon (I can see it showing up on a splash screen, still) and maybe the inside of the doorway (make it black or white or somehow else stand out from what's outside it). Perhaps the tentacles should be coming out from the doorway, instead of around from behind it?
My first thought on seeing the logo, but the tentacles are all wrong... Not in the ways previously mentions such as color or thickness but in a much more fundamental way.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking that, for cHaOs the tentacles are much too structured. Think WMoPC. With emphasis on the last part. They should be *primal* chaos. The very most elemental form of it. They shouldn't even be able to maintain a single shape, because that would imply too much order.
I was thinking something more nebulous 'tendrils' of something grotesque that makes me think they're composed of the essence of evil and destruction. Like maybe where they touch the portal is rusting/breaking/disentegrating - or even transmuting into more primal chaos. Just basically being 'unmade' as the order that holds them in their natural state is destroyed.
It may not work with the style as given, but when I look at those tentacles, I think Cthulu gone anime, not the primal essence of Chaos itself and its attack on the basic order of Ancardia.