Nightsail Game Studios: The Story of the Logo

I hope you all are having a great time playing Fortified Space and watching it improve with each passing week. As I put the finishing touches on yet another update, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the philosophy behind Nightsail Game Studios and how that led to the unique studio logo that now adorns the game, the trailer, my social media, and various parts of this Steam page. This logo, which was handcrafted by brilliant designers Alexis Paneda and Gian Paneda, perfectly captures the feeling that I hoped to breathe into the soul of each game made by Nightsail Game Studios.

The Origin

I am a solo developer who originally founded Nightsail Game Studios because I was so frustrated from searching for games that I decided to make my own. I had no professional background in anything related to game development, but I decided to learn everything from scratch and use those skills to make games that I would want to play. I have a full-time career in an unrelated field, so I really am just doing this “for the love of the game.” There is no part of me that is trying to make the next hit. I just want to make games that scratch a particular itch.

The Philosophy

My focus with Nightsail Game Studios was to create space games that capture the particular feeling of coziness that comes from being safe inside while danger rages outside. Think about being in a toasty cabin in a blizzard, or being on a warmly lit sailboat in the middle of a pitch-black ocean at night. In fact, that is what led to the name of Nightsail in the first place. As an example of this philosophy in play, my first title, Fortified Space, tries to evoke that feeling with the coziness of the player's ship and the safety of being within a well constructed base on-planet.

The Logo

A few weeks before the launch of Fortified Space into Early Access, I began a careful search for designers for a new Nightsail logo. I figured that with the upcoming visibility, I wanted something that put my best foot forward and displayed what the studio was all about. I eventually decided on Alexis Paneda and Gian Paneda, and I described to them exactly what I wrote above. They were highly enthusiastic about the project's concept, and went to work on it immediately. In my mind's eye, I had expected a logo of a lit sailboat, maybe some ocean waves. Something nice and straightforward.

Instead, they showed me a logo depicting a lit candle, with the sailboat as the flame itself.

I was blown away by the creativity of it. Instead of depicting the safe place as containing light and warmth, it was instead shown as the very source of it. A sailboat as a flame. I don't know if that has ever been done before, ever. I know, with full certainty, that I could have spent the entirety of the rest of my life never coming up with that myself. This was the work of true artists and designers.

So now you know a bit more about me, about Nightsail Game Studios, and about the logo you now see everywhere! If you are impressed with the logo, you can check out Alexis Paneda's portfolio website below. She told me she is open to work, so reach out to her if you want an impressive design of your own. Enthusiastic, creative, and fantastic to work with. If you couldn't tell already, I highly recommend her.

Alexis Paneda: Editorial Illustrator & Designer

Up Next

The Fortified Space v0.1.3 update will be coming out soon, so keep an eye out for that. This update will include a few new features that were specifically requested by players, so I'm excited to get that out the door. If you'd like to support the game's development even further, leaving a Steam review will help it reach more players and get me more feedback! The algorithm boosts visibility significantly after the 10th review is reached.

All of the updates so far have been a direct result of your suggestions, but I am also working on the major roadmap updates in the background. A lot more to come. Thank you for supporting indie game development.

Good hunting,