Welcome to another Hostile Takeover blog post, our second one since our reveal! Today, we’ll be doing a deep dive on our rebrand from Operation: Dessert Storm to Toontown: Hostile Takeover, and the hurdles we faced along the way. Let’s start from the beginning:

A New Identity

As mentioned in our previous blog post, ever since Dessert Storm’s launch in 2016, the team has undergone numerous changes in management. This, unfortunately, resulted in a lack of direction for the game and inconsistent, underdeveloped content. Once we restructured our team and compiled our new ideas, we thought it was best to continue with new and improved branding...

This isn’t the first time we have changed our name and face! In fact, Operation: Dessert Storm was a rebrand of Toontown Stride, and Toontown Stride was a rebrand of Toontown United. The project has been rebranded a total of 3 times! Wowza! We aren’t quite sure why Operation: Dessert Storm was chosen for Toontown Stride’s new name outside of the obvious eyebrow-raising pun, but the decision ultimately set the stage for a new era.

…And now comes an even newer era with Hostile Takeover! And with it, the benefits of rebranding.

With a new name comes a new spotlight to shine in! Operation: Dessert Storm has an unfortunate reputation as a “dead game” with a controversial history. A lack of groundbreaking updates and the project’s incredibly low popularity meant even with extreme overhauls to mechanics and aesthetics, the game could only go so far under a name that doesn’t define us anymore. Even with Project: KEYSCORE and the Interface & Infrastructure update to game assets and interiors, we were still not quite clicking with the community. A complete rebrand offered us the opportunity to shed old perceptions and embrace a fresh start, signaling to both new and returning players that this is a revitalized, truly ambitious project.

Name Proposals

At first, we considered keeping "Dessert Storm" as part of our new name. Our initial thought was to maintain the existing branding as a powerful comeback for Operation: Dessert Storm, especially with the "Back In Action" update in early development. This approach also seemed simpler, allowing us to retain current social media handles and leverage the existing recognition of "Dessert Storm" as a Toontown game.

The original pitch for the new name was "Toontown RPG: Dessert Storm”, where "Toontown RPG" would replace "Operation" to shed the negative connotations associated with the original name. However, we quickly realized this change would be superficial and ultimately ineffective in truly rebranding the project.

Consequently, we decided to completely remove the "Dessert Storm" branding and settled on "Toontown RPG". We held onto this name for a surprisingly long time! For at least three and a half months, we were truly devoted to calling ourselves Toontown RPG… for reasons that now seem unclear looking back. In hindsight, the name was undeniably lackluster and failed to convey anything beyond the fact that we were enhancing Toontown’s RPG mechanics. It simply didn’t grab attention or spark intrigue.

We eventually returned to the drawing board and brainstormed the following proposals:

• Toontown: Back in Action
• Toontown: Technical Surge
• Toontown: Technical Rush
• Toontown: Gear Grind
• Toontown: Silly Surge
• Toontown: Silly Resurgence
• Toontown: Business or Bust
• And lastly… Toontown: Hostile Takeover

"Toontown: Back in Action" was the internal name for our Battle and Taskline (B.A.T.) update and has since become its official name. It was a reflection on how Toontown Online was literally “back in action” and emphasized the renewed conflict between Toons and Cogs. But we ultimately scrapped it, as it felt too much like an update title rather than a real brand name.

"Toontown: Technical Surge" and "Toontown: Technical Rush" aimed to highlight the Techbot Department—a crucial story element in our game. However, we didn’t want the focus to be exclusively on the Techbots.

Next came “Toontown: Gear Grind”, a name that might be familiar to some readers. If you’re thinking of a cancelled project under the same name, you’d be right! Many of Gear Grind’s staff, including its founder, are now proud members of the Takeover Team! It was an easy name to agree upon, especially with the creator’s blessing, but we decided against it. We wanted something more original, more unique.

"Toontown: Silly Surge" and "Toontown: Silly Resurgence" aimed to continue Toontown Online’s original story following the Silly Meter. The names made sense from a narrative perspective and put emphasis on the importance of Toons in our story. However, they lacked the desired “pizzazz” for a new project and left us wondering… What about the Cogs? Before Toontown Online closed its doors, players were meant to witness the Cogs’ supreme leader come out of the shadows, and we want to bring that story to you.

After months of intense discussions, paragraphs of proposals, and butting heads, we finally concluded that the game we wanted to create was… Toontown: Business or Bust.

Just kidding.

Our Logo Design

Time to talk about logos, our least favorite part due to the number of times it took to finally get right. A logo is the face of the game, and for a project with the legacy of Toontown, getting that face right was a massive undertaking. Let's take a tour through our design graveyard to see how we landed on our latest look.

Phase 1: Toontown RPG: Dessert Storm

When the project was known as Toontown RPG: Dessert Storm, we originally tried to take the easy route. We loved the look of our existing Operation: Dessert Storm logo and wanted to tack "Toontown RPG" above it. We were committed to not throwing away all that prior work… which turned out to be an inevitable decision once we simplified the name to Toontown RPG.

Phase 2: Toontown RPG

Once we officially settled on the standalone Toontown RPG, the iconic Toontown pie became our main design piece. We drafted several iterations, all featuring a rounder, more playful logo type centered around that familiar cartoon pastry.

A few initial color palettes took on a bright, almost neon aesthetic, influenced by the in-development brand art style of Dessert Storm at the time. However, this didn't feel quite right. It lacked the distinct sweets and dessert motifs, so we quickly abandoned the neon in favor of something simpler and instantly recognizable as Toontown.

We eventually landed on red for the backing of the letters, as it complemented the Toontown yellow nicely and provided a direct nod to the classic Toontown Online logo colors. The final concept in this direction was an angled iteration much like the Dessert Storm logo, with two small gears behind the pie, giving it a subtle Mickey Mouse-esque appearance. But despite the effort, something still wasn't clicking. This entire approach was scrapped, and it was back to the drawing board.

The Second Draft

We decided to head back to the classics with this new approach. We decided we wanted a longer, horizontal logo compared to a rounded one. This version took the original Toontown Online logo as its literal base and expanded on it, which felt appropriate given our game’s story was set to be a continuation of the original.

We kept the “Toontown” text style consistent across most concepts, changing only the background elements such as cartoon buildings, a neighborhood skyline, or a gear-shaped sun with clouds. This logo actually made it into the vectoring stage and had work put into it for a couple of weeks. We aimed to retain the original color scheme but added hints of blue to match the sky and clouds.

But once Toontown RPG's time passed, this logo also had to be scrapped. Looking back, it definitely lacked the creative spark of some other candidates. It felt like we were playing too safe, just the Toontown Online logo with a few extra elements tacked on—a very uninspiring final design for what was, frankly, an uninspired project name.

Phase 3: Toontown: Hostile Takeover

When we made the pivotal shift to Toontown: Hostile Takeover, our first challenge was to capture the conflict while maintaining that quintessential Toontown charm.

Initial iterations continued the idea of borrowing the feel and style of the Toontown Online logo; however, we quickly removed the buildings and Mickey Toon Hall from the top of these early concepts, realizing they were creating too much visual noise.

Instead, we decided to incorporate a visual element that directly referenced a hostile takeover: a Toon and a Cog tugging a rope. Tug-Of-War is a classic motif for a hostile takeover, so it seemed like a perfect fit. After experimenting with various color schemes, however, the motif felt less like a genuine part of the logo and more like something awkwardly shoved in, so we scrapped that idea and ditched the tug-of-war motif altogether.

When a new concept artist took the reins, the creative floodgates opened. We were determined to pursue more unique designs without sacrificing the recognizable Toontown Online logo elements. While many of the new concepts didn’t quite click, we kept circling back to the essential component: the gear.

What truly sold us on keeping the gear was a full-rendered proposal from our artist that immediately caught our eye. From there, we played with design elements like small Cog buildings or menacing Cog eyes peeking from the top, and wrestled with the choice between cool and warm tones, eventually settling on a warm tone for Hostile and a purple color for Takeover so as not to blend in with the gear as much.

One of the Takeover Team members had an ingenious idea. To address the problem of the awkward buildings in former concepts, they proposed bringing the idea back, and having three Cog buildings form the three 'teeth' of the exposed gear, as well as cutting the gear in half. We immediately pushed forward with this concept, leading to rough proposals, finalized concept art, and eventually, the final render.

The last crucial detail was the text. We decided that the “Takeover” text should be straight and sharp, contrasting with the slightly crooked “Hostile” text. This was a deliberate choice to reflect the conflict: a nice contrast between the wacky Toon text on the top, and the flat and sharp Cog text on the bottom.

The Mini-Logo

Even a small icon needs to tell a big story!

Our Mini-Logo also started with the failed Tug-Of-War imagery, which we quickly realized was too complex and awkward for such a tiny space. We drafted several punchy, high-impact candidates:

• A dagger stabbing a map
• A 'T' shaped like a dagger
• A pair of Cog eyes
• A Tie/Dagger hybrid
• Cog Buildings sprouting up from a gear

Ultimately, the winner was the Cog Buildings sprouting up from a gear! It perfectly condenses the theme into a single, cohesive image that retains the spirit of the main logo.

The process was long, difficult, and admittedly a bit messy, but we are thrilled with the final result. Major thanks to Boosor, Echo, and other Takeover Team contributors for all their hard work on these designs and ideas! But hold on—The story isn’t entirely over! After reviewing all these former concepts, a handful of Takeover Team members are interested in seeing if certain design aspects from the earlier logos can be subtly reincorporated into our official logo before the official launch of Toontown: Hostile Takeover. While this is not set in stone, don’t be surprised if the logo ends up looking a little different in the future!

Do you have a favorite among the scrapped concepts, or a detail you think we should try to bring back? Let us know!

Our Rebrand’s Success

Toontown: Hostile Takeover's reveal was a monumental success, reigniting the spark for Toontown Online inside thousands of individuals. As of writing this blog post, we’ve reached a whopping 52 THOUSAND views on our reveal trailer! We are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support from everyone! Every single Toon-tastic comment warms our hearts and fuels our passion to make Toontown: Hostile Takeover the best it can be. To hear that so many people perceive us as a continuation of Toontown Online means the world to us, as that’s precisely the legacy we are striving to uphold.

We do our best to read your comments, and we adore seeing fan art of our brand new Cogs, the dynamic duo Rumore and Skipper McHop, as well as our oh-so sarcastic Phunny Phone. The Toontown community’s creativity and enthusiasm inspire and motivate us, and we can’t wait to reveal even more new content as time goes on!

See You Soon!

In our next blog post, we’ll be sharing even more behind-the-scenes glimpses into the creative process and challenges we faced bringing Toontown: Hostile Takeover to life. There was a VERY different pitch for our rebrand reveal, among other ideas we wanted to polish. We’ll be sharing early concepts for new Cogs, new locations, our website development, and more!

We want to thank all of you for joining us on our journey! From longtime fans of Dessert Storm to brand new interests in Hostile Takeover, the Toontown community’s passion and dedication are what makes you, what make us special. Here’s a teensy treat from us in the meantime…

See you real soon!