Submit mascot/representative for marketing purposes

I quite like it actually, the fallout shelter redistributed. Just make it look like someone tagged it and then there is no reason the xenonauts ever need be mentioned.

The FMV trailer, well maybe not that. I wonder if Chris has any advertising thought up yet? Will make a thread on it

And I don't think there is a problem with standing on fallout's toes, after all their marketing is just that, it's not their game, so I don't see why they'd have any problems.

Plus make sure any posters etc. are more 70s specific, not futuristic 50s and you should be fine!

Yeah the defaced fallout shelter could work well and certainly fits the period

Something like this (click for bigger)?

The alien head may be okay for a windows "start" link but as a logo to represent the Xenonauts "organisation", I think it fails.

It's not very, I dunno, self-respecting? Bashful?

It represents a threat.. something to be afraid of. Not the pride in serving or defending something. Completely wrong symbolism, IMO.

The symbolism of the Xenonauts calls for something like "world", "wings" (they are effectively an airborne outfit), "defiance / defense", "technology / research".

The "X" can be worked into that but it's not a requirement.

Adding weapons like rifles is always an option. Maybe crossing a rifle with a slide gauge, kinda like in my avatar, forming... an X.

Something like this

Thats great, and I envy your alien head, it took me around a dozen tries to get the one I did on the fallout sign to be recognizeable as an alien and still look like it was spraypainted on in a hurry.

I was not using the fallout shelter sign as a template, the idea was that as word spread about the aliens people would be changing the structures and defenses that already existed to help in the new struggle. So I was looking at taking various cold war era artifacts and imagining how people would have to modify them if the threat suddenly shifted away from the soviets/americans starting WW3.

Sorry about missing on the whole "secret org" thing, In the original X-coms it never really felt that much like we were keeping the invasion a secret, though that may have been my perception based on my rather odd playstyle. I'm a newcomer to this project, I had seen it here and there, but I've been burned by so many false starts at x-com remakes I was holding off getting excited and made myself ignore y'all till you starting showing up in my various Pulse feeds recently.

And yeah, obviously the repurposed fallout sign is not a primary logo for the game, I was just taking a bunch of things people had mentioned earlier and glomming them together as a possible line of marketing.

As far as a game logo goes, does anyone remember the old New World Computing logo, like from the Planet's Edge days... Man that thing was ok on paper, but in motion it as so much better, the sword piercing the planet with the banner scrolling around.

Say you end up going with one of the planet behind a logo sugestions above...

Rotating planet in the forefront, two rifles (assult, sniper, laser, whatever) crossed behind it. A little flying saucer ( campy wahwahwah engine noise) floats in from one of the top corners gets shot by one of the weapons as it crosses the path of possible fire. Ufo crash lands on the planet which stops spinning centered on the crash site. The crossed weapons blend into flat grey rectangles and start rotating around the edge of the planet (helicopter starting noise running in the backgrond). The old mission targeting crosshair beeps it's way to sit over the crash site as the chopper blades get up to speed and fade in behind the planet, the helicopter strafing off to one side to emerge from behind the planet. Helicopter shrinks as it nears the crash site, when it reaches it the logo slams down over the planet, forming the logo.

See there I go again, no suggestion for the logo, jsut something to do with it once you have it. Man I suck at staying on topic.

BTW, the Xenonauts are only meant to be secret up until the point the alien invasion starts. After that, they're no longer secret - all the planes and helicopters flying around would give the game away...

BTW, the Xenonauts are only meant to be secret up until the point the alien invasion starts. After that, they're no longer secret - all the planes and helicopters flying around would give the game away...

Old habits, Chris. A secret organisation isn't going to suddenly publicise just because they, and their activities, begin to be known. Over time certainly but not straight away I wouldn't have thought

You'd think the governments who are expecting them to save their asses might mention them, though.

True, hadn't thought of that. Might only mention it to other governments to try and drum up more diverse, and less personal, funding at first though. Rather than public announcing

Better than my idea of how to keep a highly active anti-alien organisation secret. The LP's version of X-com is basically a globally funded terrorist group that just happens to attack the aliens most of the time.

To be fair Sathra, you only get us to kill civilians when they might reveal our presence. Right?

Actually, HOW did you capture all those weasels...?

Ordered the weasels from PETA, or do you mean re-capture?. Also, the actual X-com troopers don't kill civilians (on purpose), the recovery teams and intelligence agents do. Its due to the anti-alien missions being 'official' business, so X-com proper isn't meant to kill humans while on them. They are, however, required to cause major structural damage on terror missions as a cover story. The recovery teams don't bring the ordnance necessary to do so themselves, and are busy finding, interviewing and executing the surviving civilians.

Its all for a good cause though. People are less likely to panic if its just 'terrorist attacks' compared to 'alien invasion'.

Realistically, the morale of the people would be absolutely ZERO if they didn't know about a top-shape international organization doing what it could to save the world. I mean, look at the "Red Scare" and the patriotism people had, the spy films, the glorification of espionage, the terror of nuclear war... These things are all incomparable to fucking ALIENS!

Back on the logo/advertising idea though, Chris what do you think of having some stylized portraits of scientists and stuff? Use some 60's fashion, some '60s advertising boldness, and try to make it look kind of mysterious and sleek so that people will be intrigued by the idea of science, engineering, and combat

I mean, look at the "Red Scare" and the patriotism people had, the spy films, the glorification of espionage, the terror of nuclear war... These things are all incomparable to fucking ALIENS!

I think I would find aliens having sex quite scary! Unless they looked like Liara =p

Back on the logo/advertising idea though, Chris what do you think of having some stylized portraits of scientists and stuff? Use some 60's fashion, some '60s advertising boldness, and try to make it look kind of mysterious and sleek so that people will be intrigued by the idea of science, engineering, and combat

I'd be keen to see more posters in line with the scientist one from before, that one was good, though perhaps a soldier and/or a engineer this time!

I think delving into the realm of cryptosexology relating to the alien menace may be out of scope for Xenonauts entirely. I'm going to hazard a guess and say they are either clones or reproduce with spores, like the Orks in 40K.

I do like the idea of having the stylized posters as an icon/mascot though. Integrating that Cold War "look and feel" would be very nice.

I think I would find aliens having sex quite scary! Unless they looked like Liara =p

...Damn it AD.

What?!? He said it, not me!

Or don't you think Liara is, um, 'aesthetically pleasing'...?

Was always more of a Tali fan myself. That voice...*sigh*.

Also, don't rule 34 stuff! (except maybe in the off-topic section, but keep it vague. Children read that apparently)

But, but, but DADDY! Wolfpox said the 'f' word =p

Sweet as, will do

Yes he did. Some cursing is okay (i.e. not excessive). I'd prefer if people could avoid the 'bad swears' though, this is a game forum, not a political/religious one.

Anyways, we have gone off-topic!

Mascots...I like the generic alien head really. It has a stark simplicity to it that blends well with the game itself.

These skulls, which are fake of course, could be used as a starting point for the icon. Any thoughts?

looks good. Check it against a picture of one of the greys (or whatever their name is) and modify from there!

Its pretty close to a Caesan's head. They've got really tall brain-cases though.

Reading this thread and getting some ideas.

A slogan (inspired of post #42 by Black_Legion):

Through knowledge and research,

Through strength of arms,

Through xxx,

VICTORY!

So what are the primary parts of the game? We need to convey that (especially if this is to be used as coverart/to 'sell' the game).

I would say primary parts are:

-Air combat

-Ground combat

-Research

-Production

Through knowledge and research, (research)

Through strength of arms, (production)

Through air superiority, (air combat)

Through tactical ingenuity, (ground combat)

VICTORY!

I really like the artstyle that wolfpox did. I was thinking a smaller picture before/after each sentence, showing each part of the game (either in that style or the style that the game is already presented in).

Two examples, using Paint and whatever pictures I could find online. First has the Xenonauts logo, the other has the Geoscape.

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/2262/xeno1.png

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/5632/xeno2.png

One could put a thin white line from each sentence to the corresponding picture. I actually wanted to put the pictures in a single column, but that would make them too small (or the poster too big). Might be doable with art made specifically for this.

Those attachments don't work... =[

Links should be fixed now. I put them on Imageshack as they were very small when uploaded here.

I'm glad I didn't delete the pictures as I considered!