TT Games

Background

Traveller's Tales is a British video game developer that was founded in 1989 by Jon Burton and was fully established a year later. In 2005, it has established its own publishing division, "TT Games". In 2007, it was acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and has been a development division since. Traveller's Tales' first game was Leander (known as Legend of Galahad for Sega Genesis) and was known for games such as Puggsy, Mickey Mania, and Rascal. It is currently known for the Lego games and video games based on animated movies such as Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Finding Nemo.

1st Logo (November 1991)

Nicknames: "TT", "The Desk"

Logo: On a black background, we see a brown desk outlined in the shape of a shield that is containing sheet music, an old flute, a candle wax, a bottle of ink and its tip, a scroll, a paint set, and an old journal having the Traveller's Tales symbol (which shows two stylized "T"s facing each other) on it. The words "TRAVELLERS TALES" are above on the shield.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: Can be found on Leander for Amiga.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (March 23, 1993-1995)

Nicknames: "TT II", "Puggsy's Ship"

Logo: Over a black background, we see two stylized "T"'s spinning and slowly zooming away from us. Suddenly, a meteor appears in the background and flies straight at the screen and blows up, thus turning the screen orange. The orange screen fades out and the "T"'s are in flames, with "Travellers" at the top and "Tales" at the bottom.

Variants:

On Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse, a copyright stamp is at the top of the screen and the words "DEVELOPED BY" are at the bottom. A second later, one of the ghosts from the Mickey Mouse short "Lonesome Ghosts" (who also play roles as enemies) appears and zaps the words "DEVELOPED BY", which turns them into a grayish, stone crested version of the Traveller's Tales "TT" logo, with what would be Puggsy's ship wedged inside. The ghost then rolls up like a blind and disappears. The words "TRAVELLERS TALES" use the same font as the previous logo.
- On the SNES version, the logo is already there and is shifted to the right with the words "DEVELOPED BY" next to it. Above it is the Skeleton enemy, who drops down at first, then spins its head with its foot causing it to come off and fly away. A second later, its body explodes into pieces.
There's a still version in which the "TT" is golden and is inside of a border decorated with purple marble-like texture. Plus, "TRAVELLERS" and the "TT" are underlined and "TALES" is in spaced-out letters. "A" is above the logo, while "PRODUCTION" is below.

FX/SFX: CGI animation. The character's animations on the Mickey Mania variants.

Music/Sounds: A loud "BANG" sound when the meteor explodes, followed by the sound of fire.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The Mickey Mania variant has a 16-bit sparkling noise when the ghost appears and a 16-bit warping noise when it disappears.
- The SNES version has the exploding effect when the Skeleton explodes into pieces; both sound effects were also used in the game.
The still version has silence or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Can be found on Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse and Puggsy for Sega Genesis. The standard variant is seen on Puggsy for Sega CD as well.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (November 1995-2006)

A comparison between the raccoon from the original variant (left) and the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command variant (right)

Nicknames: "Raccoon on the Cliff", "Traveller's Tales Raccoon"

Logo: On a black background, we see a CGI raccoon with big eyes, long, stripy ears, a jovial look on his face, a lion-like tail, and a farmer's outfit with bracelets on his wrists and ankles. He is resting on the tip of the edge of a cliff, holding a red handkerchief with white polka-dots in one hand. His other hand is on a gravestone with a left arrow and the initials "TT" on it. The raccoon nods his head while the logo rotates. A yellow-orange moon appears rising behind him and the cliff. The words "Traveller's Tales", in a Medieval-style font with a yellow outline, later fade in.

Trivia:

The still logo was designed by Rodney Matthews, who also did the original version of the 1996 Bizarre Creations logo.
The raccoon that appears in the logo was supposed to be the protagonist of Haven: The Call of the King, but had to be changed to a human character, due to the raccoon looking very similar to Ratchet from Ratchet & Clank (even though the Haven raccoon was developed first, according to a demo of the game from 2001).
The raccoon is used as the mascot of the YouTube channel GameHut, which is run by Traveller's Tales founder Jon Burton.

Variants:

There is a still artwork version of the logo that exists on a white background or a black background.
There is a version with the logo in an isometric view floating in the water and swaying on it.
On a demo for the PS1 version of the A Bug's Life video game, the raccoon (with a slightly different appearance and is also motionless) and the cliff rotate from the right while zooming in. The text fades in and the moon rises shortly afterwards.
On the PS1 and PC versions of the A Bug's Life video game, the camera pans from an exotic valley with some rocks, flowers and a bridge and reaches a cliff, where the raccoon is. He gives us a friendly look as we see the moon behind him. The text then appears next to him and the logo ends with a zooming iris effect.
On European pressings of the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command video game, the raccoon has a noticably different appearance, as he has a different, canine-like face, slightly bigger ears that are flopped down, a lankier body, an uninterested look on his face, and pink pads on his feet. The camera rotation is also slightly different.
Starting in 2000, the studio's website URL "www.t-tales.com" was added below the logo.
On Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, the logo (with the raccoon from the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command variant) takes place on the opening space background, with the moon part of the background and the cliff (the initials and the arrow on the gravestone are now facing the opposite direction) floating past it.
On Haven: The Call of the King, the logo (with the raccoon from the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command variant) takes place in outer space like in the Wrath of Cortex variant, except the moon is replaced with the planet Earth. Shortly after, the camera zooms past the raccoon's head and the game's title screen appears.
On the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox versions of the Finding Nemo video game, the print logo rises up from a body of water and floats on it. The website URL appears below the logo shortly afterwards.
On Crash: Twinsanity, the raccoon from the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command variant (except his ears are now perked up) appears on a white background. The cliff and raccoon move to the right to leave room for the Traveller's Tales text to fade, but spread out and having "O X F O R D S T U D I O" under it. Above it appears a silhouette of Oxford's skyline.

FX/SFX: The raccoon nodding his head, the logo turning, the moon appearing, and the words fading. The water variant has the logo floating on the water along with the words appearing. Sometimes, the logo is still.

Music/Sounds: A cheery camp-like theme with a faint choir.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The A Bug's Life variant has birds chirping followed by a whimsical musical composition.
The Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex variant has Dr. Cortex (voiced by Clancy Brown) saying "Developed by Traveller's Tales".
The Finding Nemo variant has sounds of the ocean with waves crashing.
On other games, it's silence or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Common.

The still version can be found on Toy Story for Genesis and SNES, Mickey's Wild Adventure for PS and Sonic 3D Blast for Genesis and Saturn.
The still water version was used in Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life for N64, Rascal for PS, and Sonic R for Saturn and PC (although in a rare case of video game logo plastering, the last one is replaced by the current logo on the port included in Sonic Gems Collection for GameCube and PS2, despite the rest of the port being left untouched).
The animated version is seen on many PS and PS2 games including Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and Toy Story: Racer.
The URL variant of the standard logo can be found on Muppet Race Mania for the PS.

Editor's Note: It's a very stylish and unique logo, and a favorite of many gamers.

4th Logo (March 29, 2005-)

Nicknames: "TT III", "The New TT", "The T's Child"

Logo: In a white space, a "T" looks around the space, but then jumps in a startled fashion as a "t" leaps into view. It stops by the "T" as it gets a rub on its "head". "Traveller's" and "tales" appear on the top and bottom of the screen respectively, both spaced out to fit each other. The "t" then leans to the side of the "T".

Variants:

On the copyright screens for Lego games starting with the GameCube version of Lego Star Wars: The Video Game, as well as Nintendo DS games, the logo is still on a black background. The name is replaced with "GAMES".
On Transformers: The Game, 2 cars, both in a similar size and color to the "T"'s race along the ground before transforming into the letters.
On Bionicle Heroes, after the Piraka show up, they look over to see the "T"'s shaking in fear, with the smaller one hiding behind the large one, only to be crushed by Avak's foot. All of them then look at his markings, and then decide to stamp it into the screen, fading to the still variant's logo as a sinister laugh is heard.
On a cartoon called What's Your News?, it's the same as the still variant, but GAMES is replaced by animation.
At the end of the credits of console Lego games, a variant of the logo is used. The logo starts off with two LEGO minifigure construction workers looking at blueprints, while a forklift and some yellow blocks are in the background. The logo then goes into a timelapse of them building the "TT" logo up, though it does stop once for a break where some of them also play with a ball. When the timelapse finishes, one of the men leans on the "t", causing it to lean, and they run away rather quickly as the logo fades to its normal self, name included.
On Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 for DS, the logo appears as a sketch on a piece of parchment.
On the trailer for Lego Harry Potter, it is gray-blue and placed over the thundering background.
On the Sonic Gems Collection port of Sonic R, the logo is still on a white background.

FX/SFX: The moving letters.

Music/Sounds: The sounds of jumping letters and various squeaks.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The sounds of running cars and metal conversion for the Transformers variant.
On the Lego variant, we hear the construction workers build. At the end, after the one worker pushes the lowercase "t", we hear a timpani roll. At the end of the roll, just faintly, a sound like Legos falling apart can be heard.

Availability: Common and current.

The still variant is seen on every Lego game since the GameCube version of Lego Star Wars: The Video Game.
The Lego variant appears after the end of the credits of most Lego games since Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures.
The normal variant is extremely rare, as it only seems to appear on Super Monkey Ball Adventure, and the video game adaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.

Editor's Note: This is generally considered a downgrade to the previous logo, as it looks way too basic and throws the character that made the previous logo nostalgic out the window.