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[Angry Fork]

studio looks more spacious too

no 2nd level though?

Off topic but what is it with high tech software companies and always designing their offices this way. They sort of mix 'niche', good feeling/bright color unique stuff with some sort of odd thing that's not supposed to match and is the opposite, some sort of industrial look.

Like in this picture there's the visible air conditioning/metal stuff on top and it looks like you're in a airplane hangar or warehouse, and then there's 'cute' things like plants on the bottom level. I've seen similar offices set up on floors that look like they belong to old Soviet bunkers too. I don't get it.

 

[MrBambinoDent]

It's not bad but I liked the old one better!

 

[Vodh]

I love it. Clean, pleasant, adaptable... The old one was pretty cool tho, gonna miss it too.

 

[inpHilltr8r]

studio looks more spacious too

no 2nd level though?

Photo is taken from the second floor. Looking down into internal development. There's maybe twice as much floorspace behind, below, and to the right. For external, sound, international, facilities, IT, incubation, etc. Building used to be a USPS depot. http://www.thereservela.com/ Old building used to be a train station. http://archinect.com/colegarrison/project/penn-station-santa-monica

And the old logo also came with a great intro too.

There was an interactive version too. I think we had some technical difficulties with it though, and ended up replacing it with that video. Although it looked good in intros, it didn't really scale, or integrate with other images. New one is much more practical.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

It's not a bad logo by any means but it lacks a lot of personality.

Blizzards logo is an example of how you do "clean" without losing your personality.

 

[Qblivion]

New logo is cool. Old one reminds me of a shitty tribal tattoo.

 

[Bundy]

The new logo reveal was the purpose of a scavenger hunt yesterday.
Employees were directed to a certain room within the new studio, and they had to place the tiles they found on a panel to form the logo, as you can see in the pictures above.

Cool idea ^_^

Facewall:
And here's a pic of the faces of all devs inside SSM:

(154 people, as it seems)

 

[bananafactory]

The old one seemed very closely associated with GoW. Wonder if they are disassociating themselves with it a bit.

NEW IP FOR PS4 CONFIRMED

 

[Khalifa Jayy]

I really like the new logo, sorry, GAF.

 

[Bundy]

The old one seemed very closely associated with GoW. Wonder if they are disassociating themselves with it a bit.

NEW IP FOR PS4 CONFIRMED

Uhm.....

 

[inpHilltr8r]

And here's a pic of the faces of all devs inside SSM:
(154 people, as it seems)

That's all the full time employees in the building. Internal development team is about half that. Little more. I'm just below the flOw tile if you're wondering.

 

[Ran rp]

I can see the SMS logo easily animating too. The main middle section appears with whatever content and the side pieces slide out or something. Could be neat when starting up a game.

Yeah, similar to the Cartoon Network Studios logo.

 

[Shmuely Bully]

There is a thin line between minimalist and boring, the logo definitely winds up on the wrong side of that line.

Of course, I'm not convinced that most logos actually need updating. I still favor the previous JCPenney logo, the previous Payless logo, the previous Jiffy Lube logo, the previous Windows logo, and the previous Super Soaker logo. In fact the only one that comes to mind that I think is actually better is Taco Bell's newer logo.

New one is obviously far more versatile and professional.

I don't want my game intros to feel 'professional'. One would hope that a game developer's logo would convey more style and artistry than say..Oracle. It's actually the opposite in this case.

In what way is a rounded off rectangle interesting? It's entirely soulless and the old logo could have had its color scheme altered as needed too, for those making that particular argument.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

so apparently every logo needs to be minimalistic and simplified these days?

meh. the old one was distinct, and stuck to my mind. this new one is like a million other oil company logos or whatever. boring, uninspired. just bad.

just like every franchise that needs to be changed into open world to evolve.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

The important thing is they acknowledged Kinetica. Bring on K2, please.

 

[cakefoo]

One's coherent as a small logo, the other is a good design for a splash screen.

 

[Tookay]

The old one seemed very closely associated with GoW. Wonder if they are disassociating themselves with it a bit.

NEW IP FOR PS4 CONFIRMED

Seems like the new one's just as closely linked to GoW.

 

[Jason Frost]

Every colors of the new logo are Kratos.

 

[TaiKH92]

I prefer the old logo

 

[Northeastmonk]

I like it, it fixed the crick in my neck caused by their older one.

I can't wait to see all the games they'll make this gen.

 

[v0yce]

I don't want my game intros to feel 'professional'. One would hope that a game developer's logo would convey more style and artistry than say..Oracle. It's actually the opposite in this case.

In what way is a rounded off rectangle interesting? It's entirely soulless and the old logo could have had its color scheme altered as needed too, for those making that particular argument.

Simple shapes aren't soulless. I can guarantee you a designer agonized over getting those curves just right to convey the feeling of Ss and Ms.

I'm curious how you feel about this company with it's "souless" rounded rectangle?

There's no "artistry" to the old logo. It looks like it was made by some freshmen who "does graphic design on the side" with his free grunge font download and his pirated copy of photoshop. I can't express how bad it is. It just reeks of awful west coast tackiness.

 

[De_Legend]

So it will change colors depending on the game?

That's cool.

 

[Spine_Ripper]

Old logo was goddamn hideous tho. Really doesn't fly in 2014.

Not sure i'm really digging this new one yet, but the logo desperately needed modernization.

This. It did scream Santa Monica like it was supposed to...but I shouldn't be thinking Santa Monica 90s graffiti when I play your games. Is this new logo clean and simplistic like everything else? Sure, but it's still a logo that actually looks good.

 

[Lucent]

I like this new one better. The old one looked messy to me.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

The old one seemed very closely associated with GoW. Wonder if they are disassociating themselves with it a bit.

NEW IP FOR PS4 CONFIRMED

I don't think its disassociation with GoW but rather an attempt to get something more neutral that will jive better with the variety of games they are now assisting on. Journey, Swan, Hohokum, The Order, their name is being attached to a lot of different games with a lot of different styles these days. Their new logo is nice and amorphous to signify that.

 

[leroidys]

The old was was very Santa Monica. I wasn't that much of a fan, but it had much more of an identity than this one.

 

[cakefoo]

The old was was very Santa Monica. I wasn't that much of a fan, but it had much more of an identity than this one.

New logo can change color based on the game it's attached to. Old logo made me think that all they did was make God of War games, and other generic teen boy shit.

 

[Kyonashi]

One's coherent as a small logo, the other is a good design for a splash screen.

Exactly. Rule one of logo design is that it must be visible in greyscale and at any size. In this regard, the new logo is far better.

The old logo had some charm, but I do prefer the new logo.

 

[UltraGunner]

Well at least now it doesn't look like they took the design from an Ed Hardy shirt.

 

[Bundy]

That's all the full time employees in the building. Internal development team is about half that. Little more. I'm just below the flOw tile if you're wondering.

Wut? So they only have ~80 devs left at SSM?
WTF?

 

[AniHawk]

new logo looks a lot better. really like the late 60s/early 70s vibe i'm getting from it.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Wut? So they only have ~80 devs left at SSM?
WTF?

There are actually 189 faces. (33x7 = 233 minus 44 black squares = 189). So if a little more than half are devs maybe they are around 100 strong?

 

[Bundy]

There are actually 189 faces. (33x7 = 233 minus 44 black squares = 189). So if a little more than half are devs maybe they are around 100 strong?

So Ready at Dawn is now bigger than SSM?
Weird

 

[AristoCat]

I can't believe people are nostalgic for that 90s ass logo. While the new one is nothing special it's at least clean.

This. The old logo looks kinda dirty.

 

[ozfunghi]

There's no "artistry" to the old logo. It looks like it was made by some freshmen who "does graphic design on the side" with his free grunge font download and his pirated copy of photoshop. I can't express how bad it is. It just reeks of awful west coast tackiness.

Hey man, don't copy my post, lol.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

So Ready at Dawn is now bigger than SSM?
Weird

Who knows... I was just guessing based on the information given to us. It really sucks what happened to SSM recently, but we don't know the details... Hopefully Sony knows what they are doing and SSM will continue to deliver great games regardless of the downsize.

 

[Corpsepyre]

Less than half of 154 devs on the internal team? Seems like the chopping block was quite grim. Hoping SSM pulls off and delivers a new title sooner than later. Need some SSM goodness on the PS4, and i'm not talking about Hohokum or shit like that.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Less than half of 154 devs on the internal team? Seems like the chopping block was quite grim. Hoping SSM pulls off and delivers a new title sooner than later. Need some SSM goodness on the PS4, and i'm not talking about Hohokum or shit like that.

Again, I'm guessing about 100 because there are 189 faces and the guy said a little MORE than half. Still that kinda blows because previously they had been around 220 I think...

 

[Akainu]

new logo looks a lot better. really like the late 60s/early 70s vibe i'm getting from it.

I don't get this sentiment. The old logo was apparently stuck in the past. Yet the new logo is stuck even further than that and it's ok?

 

[Shmuely Bully]

Simple shapes aren't soulless. I can guarantee you a designer agonized over getting those curves just right to convey the feeling of Ss and Ms.

I'm curious how you feel about this company with it's "souless" rounded rectangle?



There's no "artistry" to the old logo. It looks like it was made by some freshmen who "does graphic design on the side" with his free grunge font download and his pirated copy of photoshop. I can't express how bad it is. It just reeks of awful west coast tackiness.

Good for them then, I don't find the need to overthink a rounded rectangle: it's trying too hard and failing to convey anything. At least Nintendo's logo has a decent font, although I'm not exactly impressed with it either.

And tacky is better than boring, but I don't even agree that it was tacky. For one the old logo was way too clean for all the BS Slipknot font comparisons to make any sense.

New logo can change color based on the game it's attached to. Old logo made me think that all they did was make God of War games, and other generic teen boy shit.

How does nobody understand the old logo could have the color changed too? It would work fine with the right shades of green for example.

I don't get this sentiment. The old logo was apparently stuck in the past. Yet the new logo is stuck even further than that and it's ok?

It's being said by people who seem like they consider themselves far too 'refined' to be interested in something like God of War.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

I might as well just start an advertising company, because there's obviously a huge fucking hole out there to fill.

 

[RedSwirl]

Looks very 80's to me. I like it.

 

[AniHawk]

I don't get this sentiment. The old logo was apparently stuck in the past. Yet the new logo is stuck even further than that and it's ok?

the old logo wasn't out and out bad. the new one evokes a different feeling though. it's slightly classier and a helluva lot easier to read.

 

[Jeronimo Jones]

It's clean, but I always liked the style of the old logo. It'll probably grow on me though.