UPDATE: 4/23/2021
As someone who has been a small-time independent video game developer since 2010 trying to build a brand name, operate a game studio and make a name for myself in the video games industry - there has always been a lack of consistency with my works, how they present themselves, and how I represent myself and my brand. Branding is an interesting topic and it's important for any company or creative individual. It's something that I personally feel like I have overlooked over time or rather, something that took a lot of figuring out over time.
Over the years and especially in recent weeks ever since returning to the indie game dev scene with "The Debug" - I have tossed many new names and labels around. I even announced a new type of branding/label earlier today on Twitter. The "Samer Khatib's" label. And, in typical Samer Khatib fashion, I have taken something that should be simple and turned it into something that is unnecessarily over convoluted. All these different names/labels paired with older names or brands/labels and icons that I came up with from earlier Samer Khatib game development years have made me a developer with more confusing naming and labeling than all of Microsoft's Xbox consoles.
My name is literally everywhere. I always believed that there is no better way to own your own work than to simply just put your name on it. You see a lot of "Samer Khatib" plastered all over the place in all of my works. I know it's obnoxious and you're probably thinking "wow, this guy is really full of himself". It's annoying I know but I swear I'm not trying to be funny and I honestly do have an explanation and reasoning as to why I label everything and overuse my own name.
So, in this blog post, I'm going to explain all the naming, branding, icons, and labels I use as a game developer/studio and explain what everything means.
Brands & Label names:
* "Snowconesolid Productions" - This is the name of the studio. Additionally, sometimes you might see "Samer Khatib (Snowconesolid Productions) LLC". This is also the name of the studio. These names are interchangeable.
Examples of where you would see these appear in my works: At the very start of any of my games, the very first splash screen that will pop up will be the first label. It will just say "Snowconesolid Productions". As for the second label, which is much longer, this is for other things such as copyright of the game or whatever product is.
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| How it's typically represented in games. Half Snowconesolid Mascot in the center followed by the text Snowconesolid Productions below. You may also see different variations of this logo, but the same design and format. |
* "Samer Hills" - This is the name/branding/label of my anthological horror video game series that features the Samer Khatib character. This is a video game series made by Snowconesolid Productions.
Format: The naming format for games with this label will be as follows:
"Samer Hills GAME NAME"
Examples: Samer Hills Toxic Turtle or Samer Hills Hollow Jack which, are 2 official Samer Hills titles that are currently in development as of this post.
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| How the "Samer Hills" game series is typically represented in games. 3 Samer character heads, Samer Hills logo text and, Created By: Samer Khatib Text below. You may also see different variations of this screen/branding but it will be the same design and format. This title screen is always found before the game's main menu screen. |
* "Samer Khatib's" - This is my newest type of label I announced today as of this blog post. This is another branding of video games or video game series that are created by Snowconesolid Productions. This basically is the branding for any other video game I create that is not a Samer Hills branded game. Games with the Samer Khatib's label have nothing to do with the Samer Hills games or universe. These are standalone games that don't feature the Samer Khatib character at all and feature an entirely different main character.
Format: The naming format for games with this label will be as follows:
"Samer Khatib's GAME NAME"
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| How the Samer Khatib's branding label is represented in games. A rotating golden medallion that unfolds and contains the text: Samer Khatib's. This branding label is always found right before the main game's title screen. This label will always appear this way specifically. There are no variations of this label. |
Why???
What is the point of having this second label?: I have a number of reasons as to why I needed to come up with this second label.
- One, it's for the sake of organization. I'm categorizing my works. And ever since coming back to game development, you may have noticed I have completely rebranded myself and just have been taking different approaches in general. I didn't want to continue naming my games just with different titles and leave it at that like I did with previous games such as Potato Thriller and Giraffe Town or my older works. Putting "Samer Khatib's" in front of the game title is a more logical step moving forward as a company and it will just be easier to keep track of the different products. When coming up with this label, I figured simply putting my own name would be best. Think of the "Tom Clancy's" brand. I'm sure you have heard or seen it before. And actually, this was something I also looked at when deciding on my new label. Anyway, Tom Clancy's is it's own separate brand labeling that's used for a variety of entertainment products from movies, books, and video games. In video games, this is a brand label that Ubisoft has used on many of their titles. At the same time, Ubisoft creates a ton of other video game brands that are not of the Tom Clancy branding variation. The Tom Clancy name itself isn't really important, but it distinguishes and separates it from the other brands or labels of games Ubisoft creates. And for me, it's the same thing. My name isn't important. I don't want it to be. Putting "Samer Khatib's" in front of a video game isn't important to me or the end product. It's just a way for me to separate and categorize my work from my other works if that makes sense.
- Two, having this label gives me more freedom with naming my games in general. One of my biggest fears is coming up with a title for a game or using a common word for a game and then find out someone else is using it or I can't use it or I run into issues with copyright or legal issues etc. For example, if I created a game, and it was very Halloween themed. Then I decide, I'll simply call this game "Halloween". Now, we all know there is a popular movie franchise that is also called Halloween. I'm no copyright/trademark expert. But even if I make a game, name it Halloween and it has nothing to do with the film series Halloween. Even though Halloween is a common word and I honestly don't even know if something like that can be copyright claimed or trademarked - Why would I want to take the chance of potentially getting into some legal trouble over a name? Putting the label "Samer Khatib's" in front of it will differentiate the title of the game. Calling it "Samer Khatib's Halloween" for example would be a safer bet than just naming it "Halloween".
- Three, I have visions for other games and that are not "Samer Hills" related and I want to make those games. Having this new label again differentiates and separates my game series from each other. Samer Hills games are their own thing and Samer Khatib's games are their own thing.
What is the difference between "Samer Hills" games and "Samer Khatib's" games?
As mentioned above, Samer Hills is an anthological horror video game series that always features the Samer Khatib character. Games with the "Samer Khatib's" label has nothing to do with Samer Hills or it's universe. These games are usually one-off games. They feature a main character that isn't Samer. They might play differently. It's just another type of video game series that I am working on. This chart will explain in detail the key differences between the two brands/labels/series whatever you want to call them.
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* "Samer Khatib Official Seal Of Quality" - This is what it sounds like. It's just a seal of quality that I will put into my games. This is something new that I am doing. Once again, I'm a changed developer. Quality is very important to me. Inspired by the Nintendo seal of quality. This is a new label that first made its appearance in my game "The Debug". Now, as of this writing, this seal is currently only in The Debug. I noticed that a lot of people who played The Debug thought that this seal was just a little joke thing I tossed into the game. And while yes, part of me made this to toss it in as like a little cute funny thing but at the same time, I'm serious about this seal of quality so much that I literally spent over 4 days creating and animating this until I felt it looked and sounded just right. Seriously though, this seal represents my commitment to bringing you only the highest quality of games and guarantees that those games have been thoroughly tested, are well made, optimized, and meet my standards of excellence! Typically you can find this seal placed somewhere at the end of my games.
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| Seal Of Quality representation in-game. Gold text in the top that says, Samer Khatib Official Seal Of Quality followed by a glossy star-shaped Samer character face that has a holographic sticker like design which is then followed by more gold text that reads: Samer Khatib Games. Made with love, passion and magic. This seal will always appear with this design in all works it is featured in. There are no variations of this Seal. |
Additional Icons, logos, mascots:
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Full body and full-colored Snowconesolid Productions mascot. This strange grey, blue, pink, and purple mouse/cat/creature thing has been the mascot for Snowconesolid Productions from the very beginning. Found in every single game created by the studio. Main icon and logo.
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