Well, you guys knew it was coming. After a couple of weeks of some light ARG “fun” and some immediate correct guesses, the new face of MEGATONik is up.

The Re-Design Solution

When it comes to blogging, content is king. That is always more important than any gaudy aesthetic that can be thrown onto a digital space. Having a duotoned black/white design is MEGATONik’s way of differentiating its brand from the typical amalgamation of colorful neon pixel art associated with the majority of gaming websites today…don’t worry, all the pretty pictures with each post will still be as colorful and diverse as a corporate stock photo. Differentiating from the norm is important, and this redesign is a reflection of that.

And bear in mind, here at MEGATONik, not all is pure black and white; shades of gray exist here. We are not willing to insult the intelligence of gamers merely for garnering page rank and post counts. We look at all facets of gaming, not just the condensed polarized opinions. Sure, we may be bold in our statements, but always after careful consideration of the myriad of variables.

This redesign reflects these philosophies of MEGATONik. So, not all is just a pretty facade.

Oh yeah, and I got the background idea while playing Call of Duty 4.

Logo Design

The logo is the finalized version of several different iterations. It is the most readable and recognizable, easy to replicate via other applications if we ever decide to get so huge that we start issuing apparel or something. It works as a single black and white image (which any proper logo should, no exceptions), or colorized whenever a specific instance crops up.

The ARG and What Could Have Been

Before I bore you all with more pretentious babble, ultimately the way things worked out is I knew we would be doing an ARG with you guys, but would spread it out over the course of a month. The first image that we displayed was originally slated to be posted practically three weeks after starting the whole thing. However, due to extenuating circumstances (I wound up getting a job offer two weeks ago as a ‘creative artist’ for a local newspaper/magazine publisher), the whole thing needed to be rushed to be launched by today.

Basically, the informant account was the catalyst to get you looking, and I had to kind of point you in the right direction of where to look…spotting a hyperlinked period at the end of a post is not always so easy, especially if the post has been up for some time. The second image was also a big clue, as the tiny text was a hint at the removal of the black background. The image was indeed the ‘Enola Gay’ as Dexter pointed out in the forums; albeit, that old photo was originally retooled by myself to give it a chronic distorted effect. The final memo was a clue to a clue, basically eluding to a link in my own forum account; if you click on my member name in the forums, go to ‘Visit Poopface Morty’s Website’, and the itinerary is more or less spelled out for you. The audioclip I assembled (yes, that’s a sample from NIN’s Hyperpower, along with some ambient royalty free sound loops I had on hand) was just icing on the ARG cake.

So, the ARG was tightened to a mere week (two weeks if you count the slow background fade from the previous week, which depending on your monitor resolution, you may or may not have even seen). Ultimately, it was not as cryptic as I would have liked, but given the time frame, we had to kind of make it obvious so you guys had somewhat of an idea right off the bat and this close to the launch.

Final Musings

Ultimately, this is our “re-opening”. Starting from scratch? Not quite. You’ll still see some of the old features, along with some new ones as well, but now that this is out of the way, expect to see more posts from not only myself but others as well.

Before I close this off, I must mention that as this was a rushed process, there may be a few kinks along the way that we’ll try to patch up as soon as possible. If there’s any glaring issues you spot, head on over to the Suggestions and Feedback section of our forums to give us a heads up. Also, there may be a few minor tweaks made here or there to the overall aesthetic (got some plans for the plain old “NEXT PAGE” “PREVIOUS PAGE” links). The forums will be redesigned shortly, although a new header should be there for your viewing pleasure.

But finally, and most importantly…that fucking black background is gone and the text is a readable size. I’ll catch you all later in the evening as my job starts, wouldn’t you know it, this morning! Nothing says awesome like some fiscal security and an 8-5, Monday through Friday work schedule.

REJOICE!

P.S. I was the informant dummy account, //–MTDTGF–// (MegatonikDeepthroatGrayFox). Typing that shit at 5 in the morning before leaving for work was a pain in the ass.