Devlog #3 - Logo Refresh

Time flies! Welcome to the third installment of our dev log.

Logo Refresh

Over the past few weeks I worked on refreshing the Guntastic logo as part of our ongoing effort to polish things up in preparation for Early Access.

Here’s the old one for comparison:

Two considerations convinced us investing time in this task.

1. Concept Mismatch

When we first started out with Guntastic we wanted to make a shooter with Metal Slug vibes and I think that shows in the grungy, military-looking letters and shapes of the old logo. However, over time visuals became more humorous, cleaner and glossier. Levels began to be set in different environments that had nothing to do with war and armies. Characters didn’t look like soldiers at all. Ultimately, the game started to feel more like a brawler, with combos and abilities replaced by guns and powerups.

2. Usage Issues

The original logo was conceived directly in pixel art, immediately before setting out for our first exhibition two years ago (see? Time flies, I told you!). Time was short back then, so creating the logo in pixel art made it possible to design it in just a couple of days and immediately import it in game. However, that also made it difficult to use it in more traditional contexts such as websites, banners, flyers, business cards, etc. because of the way pixel art needs to be scaled.

What We Did

Restyling a logo it’s a risky procedure since taking things too far would disorient people who might already be accustomed to the game. After some iterations, we opted for a slight refresh instead of a complete restyle:

• Most of the dirt and grunge (including cuts in the letters, e.g. on the “G” and “S”) was removed. The bullet hole in the “A” remained since it’s the distinctive element that holds the logo together.
• Lettering was redone from scratch. Slab serif was dropped to reduce the military feeling. At the same time, we cleaned-up and improved the shape of some letters (in particular the “U” and “S”). Shapes were also simplified overall (e.g. the “A” and “I”).
• Contrast between the letters and the background was increased to improve legibility.
• The new logo is designed in vector art, making it easy to use it in different resolutions and contexts.

We’ll begin rolling out the new logo across websites, Steam, press material and the game itself in the upcoming days.

Main Menu, Cont.

Work on the main menu is progressing at a steady pace. In the last dev log I showed you a mockup of the options screen built in Photoshop. Here’s the fully working in-game version:

A lot of time and effort went into making sure the user interface was usable regardless of the input device the player is using, being it a keyboard, a mouse or a controller.

As always, we’re looking for feedback! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below or by joining us on Discord. 😃