Idea Factory (Japan)

Background:Idea Factory (アイディアファクトリー株式会社 Aidia Fakutorī Kabushiki-gaisha?) is a Japanese video game developer and publisher founded by former employees of Data East on October 26, 1994 headed by company chairman Shingo Kuwana and president Yoshi-teru Sato.

1st Logo (1996-1997)

Logo: On a moving space background with a purple nebula in the corner, there is a upside down globe of the Earth rotating around. The globe zooms away to reveal a chrome teardrop shape, forming an exclamation point. The camera then whips around the exclamation point before zooming out as the globe turns chrome and a chrome "f" zooms out right beside it. The camera then turns towards the dark section of the background and "IDEA FACTORY", which is also chromed, zooms out to the logo as a chrome bar flies under the name. A shine appears on the globe.

FX/SFX: The camera turning, the name zooming out.

Music/Sounds: A triumphant fanfare with a ping at the end.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen only onSpectral Tower,which was exclusive to the Playstation in Japan. Also seen on Yaku Tsuu: Noroi no Game.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1998-2000)

Logo: Over a water surface, there is the Idea Factory logo seen in grey. At first, the image is distorted, but becomes normal after a second. The water waves up and down as the camera zooms out. The logo then quickly zooms in before fading to the logo in silver focusing in. A brown blob with a stem on it and the text "Don't spite the nature" in a script fade in one by one as a lens flare comes in.

Variant: An early version exists where the stem and text fade in first, followed by the logo zooming out and a shine appearing.

FX/SFX: The water rippling, the logo fading in.

Music/Sounds: The sound of water rippling followed by an majestic fanfare along with a rising ding. The early version has a quick piano ditty.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen onSpectral Force 2: Eien naru Kiseki, Spectrel Tower II, and Oasis Road, among others.The early variant is only seen onMonster Complete World.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1999)

Logo: The scene of a forest outing fades in. There are multiple trees, a waterfall and river, and the sun rising up. It then fades to a shot of a tree by the river, but with the Idea Factory logo carved into the bottom of the trunk. The camera then pans down to the logo as butterflies come towards the screen. As a result, the logo then fades to white and moves towards the center of the screen as everything else fades to black. "IDEA FACTORY" then wipes in below.

FX/SFX: The scene panning, the butterflies, the logo transformation.

Music/Sounds: Just the sounds of birds chirping.

Availability: Only seen onJunjou de Karen Meimai Kishi-dan: Spectral Force Seishoujo Gaiden.

Editor's Note: None. This is a very calm and nice logo.

4th Logo (2001-2004)

Logo: On a white background, a black ball appears and rolls along before stopping and the teardrop shape pops in, forming the exclamation point. The "f" and "IDEA FACTORY" then fade in.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A boing is heard, followed by a little chime and an announcer saying "Idea Factory" in its Japanese name.

Availability: Rare. Seen on almost all of its games during this era.

Editor's Note: None, but it gets worse the next time.

5th Logo (2004-)

Logo: On a blue background, a white Idea Factory logo slowly zooms in as many light trails start emerging from it and the background rotating. The logo then quickly zooms into the screen, in which the background becomes black and several copies of the logo with the name in blue move all across the screen. The screen then phases out and several lights then quickly light up a black Idea Factory logo. The light trails continue to shine before they retract when the logo fades out.

Variants: A still version, either chrome on a black background or black on a white background, exists. A later version was later introduced with cleaner and brighter light effects, the middle section cut out, and bars appearing in the first section. The logo may be in green rather than blue.

FX/SFX: The flash, swirls of light, and the orb changing.

Music/Sounds: A loud whoosh is heard at first, followed by many beeps and another whoosh. Ambianceis then heard before a final whoosh occurs. The theme was abridged in the later version. None for the still version.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on current games from them and their Steam ports. The original version is seen on their PS2 games.

Editor's Note: None.