Making of Kosmo Spin final part – The Name

Coming up with a name for a game is not as easy as it sounds. We wanted something that could be easily remembered and something that describes the game.

Kosmo Spin was known as Spin Planet for a long time, but since we are PRETTY EFFING TIRED OF “OMG IT LOOKS JUST LIKE LITTLE BIG PLANET!111!!ONE!!” we decided to come up with something else. Here are some of the suggestions…

In Sweden cosmos is spelled with a K, so we thought it would be a fun little touch to go with K instead of a C. Plus, it makes for a nicer logo and it stands out as well.

… and I’m secretly a fan of Mortal Kombat 2. Yeah I know, I deserve a big Hadoken in the face.

Next game

– Hey Simogo how is the next game coming along?
– Very good.
– What is it about? Big fat weapons, blood, war and zombies?
– No. Here’s a hint:

Making of Kosmo Spin part 2 – Trailer!

We love making trailers and we think it’s a good tool to not only communicate gameplay, but the feel of a game too. The general attitude that a trailer can only be “here’s 1 minute of gameplay, some selling points and a music track, buy now thanks” is a boring one and makes a lot of game trailers feel like instruction videos.

A good trailer should of course contain some basic information about the game (that is, if it’s not a strict teaser to excite the viewer for what’s to come) – But we try to treat trailers like key art, something we can use to show off the soul, feel or attitude of the game.

When making trailers we try to think of a “hook”, something that will make the viewer remember it. The feel of Kosmo Spin is of course very silly and easy going, and given the space theme we thought it would be a fun “hook” to make fun of the conventions of sci-fi themed games.


The first rough storyboard.


A more detailed storyboard…


Moon render!


A light test.


Final space marine model.

Speaking of trailers – There might be one just around the corner for a new iOS game that we might be working on. Maybe.

COMPETITION!

HERE WE GO!
Now is your chance to win your own custom made Nod plushie!
This is what you need to do:
Show your love for Kosmo Spin in a creative or fun way!

How? We’ll that’s for you to come up with. Make a Kosmo Spin painting, take a photo of yourself in your Nod cosplay dress, make a Kosmo Spin fan game, sing a tribute song, name your first born Nod, choreograph your own Kosmo Spin dance – You name it! Be creative!

Just submit your entry to:

before March 7th, 2011.

We will select five lucky winners from the best entries. Good luck!

Yo dawg


This is the office dog Lily.

She might look innocent, but in this very picture she’s scheming her next fart attack against the Simogo HQ. And trust us, it’s lethal.

Spotted in the background: Two handsome young men.

Grand Tuesday Roundup

Just a little post to let you know that we are alive.

The Kosmo Spin trailers, and “Dear Mr. UFO” was posted on Gametrailers. Neat!


Gametrailers!

Macgasm wrote a nice review:


Macgasm Review

A review on gamer365.hu. In Hungarian.

Now for something completely different. Fan art time!

This lovely Super Mario Bros/Kosmo Spin Mash up was made by the toucharcade user Ashflow.


Wobbly Nod by Martin Greffe!

… And a little teaser:

Our favourite person in the world, Emma, made this giant Nod!

Check out his 5 little brothers – You’d really like one of those, wouldn’t you? Well, then we have some good news: we’ll be giving away these in a competition in a not so distant future.

And last, a little reminder. Our twitter Kosmo Spin give away will end this Sunday.
http://twitter.com/simogogames

DIY, Simogo!

Being a small company is a lot of fun. But it also means that you have to do a lot of stuff that are outside your field of expertise. Which can sometime’s look a bit primitive…


This is the fantastic music studio of Simogo (all instruments and voices are recorded with the iPhone mic).


The SVN server is causing trouble. Semi-SysAdmin Man to the rescue!


Hardcore testing of the final build. Listening to five tracks of music at the same time can be quite confusing…


The all powerful whiteboard (that is actually more silver than white). It serves as a design document, planning document and just a general idea scribbling place in one.


Brainstorming meeting & Eureka moment @ Simogo.