Oolite Bulletins

Heads up! Phenomenal new ship from Griff incoming. This is the Gecko and words can't describe it. Pics can so here you go:









And for those with HDR screen output capailities, the source hdr format files can be downloaded from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ln9C-- ... sp=sharing so that you can view it in its full glory.

And a couple more showing also the belly of the beast.

Looks great!

Could someone check the Oolite logo? Somehow when placing this together with one of the current screenshots it seems so outdated...

That logo was the reason I changed my splashscreen.

hiran wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 7:56 pm

Could someone check the Oolite logo? Somehow when placing this together with one of the current screenshots it seems so outdated...

I think the colours very much matched the aesthetic of the original shipset , much less now of course.

I quite like the icon itself but maybe repainted and/or made to appear 3D?

Redspear wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 10:04 pm

hiran wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 7:56 pm

Could someone check the Oolite logo? Somehow when placing this together with one of the current screenshots it seems so outdated...

I think the colours very much matched the aesthetic of the original shipset , much less now of course.

I quite like the icon itself but maybe repainted and/or made to appear 3D?

Yes, that might be sufficient. Although I am far from being an expert in that area.

hiran wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 10:29 pm

Although I am far from being an expert in that area.

Likewise sadly...

The original elite logo was 3D and also silver/gold (depending upon which version/document). Thinking some more, the 3D aspect probably suited the artwork better than it does an icon.

I do think it's easy to overdo it however. There's a lot to be said for a simple, easily recognisable logo over an elaborate one.

FWIW, I'm quite happy with the current logo but...

There was a BBC loading screen that was essentially Saturn with it's rings tilted to a diagonal and 'Elite' emblazoned above it. That's an iconic shape we could colour/shade however and it would likely remain so. Stick the word 'oolite' above or below (perhaps below the top half of Saturn, no need to display all of it) and we wouldn't even have the issue of colours competing with the text.

That would still be a nod to the game's inspiration and a distinctive but still readable logo.

Redspear wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 8:26 am

There was a BBC loading screen that was essentially Saturn with it's rings tilted to a diagonal and 'Elite' emblazoned above it.

Not this one, was it?

Cody wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 9:25 am

Not this one, was it?

That's the one.
I'm thinking of the idea, not the dots.

Putting 'oolite' below rather than above would be a good excuse to just show the top half of the planet, as if it were emerging above a horizon... Oh, the poetry

Cody wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 8:55 pm

That logo was the reason I changed my splashscreen.

What did you change to?

Redspear wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 8:26 am

The original elite logo was 3D and also silver/gold (depending upon which version/document). Thinking some more, the 3D aspect probably suited the artwork better than it does an icon.

I do think it's easy to overdo it however. There's a lot to be said for a simple, easily recognisable logo over an elaborate one.

There is a common trend to simple recognizable icons that can be scaled and used on different screen resolutions/platforms.
Overall it is called "Material Design".

Somehow I feel like we could slightly modify such an icon and use it repeatedly to identify Oolite. It would stand for a very simple wireframe model of a Cobra: https://fonts.google.com/icons?selected ... ry=near_me

it could look similar to this:


What do you think?

hiran wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 11:09 am

What did you change to?

This (click to enlarge):



I was going to add a Cobra, but never got around to it.

hiran wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 11:14 am

What do you think?

If it's on an angle then I don't think it would scale well.
One way to consider that might be to ask, would it work as an emoji?

Those things have to work at very small size and avoid, by necessity, complexity. The icon we currently have, I think, would just pass that test.

If it were a cobra from above, nose 'up' then it might work but I don't think that hints at very much. I mean that it's both very specific and yet loses clarity in miniature.

Cody's splash screen for example makes a good poster but not such a good icon (which is fine and dandy because it's a splash screen).

The icon we currently have might be quite hard to beat. Throw in the idea of consensus, even with the current size of the community, and it might be sticking around for quite some time.

Redspear wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 12:25 pm

If it's on an angle then I don't think it would scale well.
One way to consider that might be to ask, would it work as an emoji?

Those things have to work at very small size and avoid, by necessity, complexity. The icon we currently have, I think, would just pass that test.

If it were a cobra from above, nose 'up' then it might work but I don't think that hints at very much. I mean that it's both very specific and yet loses clarity in miniature.

I agree.

Redspear wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 12:25 pm

Cody's splash screen for example makes a good poster but not such a good icon (which is fine and dandy because it's a splash screen).

The icon we currently have might be quite hard to beat. Throw in the idea of consensus, even with the current size of the community, and it might be sticking around for quite some time.

The current icon would still have to be reduced. It consumes too many colors that do not add information - and the letters Oolite will be unreadable at the size of an icon/emoji. So it would have to become a simpler black/white shape, which may end up as 'Y'. Would be fine for me.

For reference, the Oolite Icon "competition" is here.