When will we run out of (game) names?

Started by Stupot, Sun 10/07/2016 10:35:17

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Stupot

I was watching this video from Vsauce (https://youtu.be/f8WsO__XcI0) and he said that according to RaviCorp., who own(ed?) AllMusic.com, these are the top 7 band names.



Some of those might look somewhat familiar :-)

I'm also reminded of someone I recently started following on a Twitter who had been incessantly plugging their game with the hashtag #TheRevenant. I'm sure I wasn't the first one to point out to them that they might struggle to get noticed due to a little indie film starring that up-and-coming DiCaprio kid. They have since changed the name though, thankfully.

So, how do much thought do you put into naming a game? What do you take into consideration? And have you ever come across another game that had the same title as yours?

AnasAbdin

Quote from: Stupot+ on Sun 10/07/2016 10:35:17
So, how do much thought do you put into naming a game? What do you take into consideration? And have you ever come across another game that had the same title as yours?

Short answers:

  • Alot.
  • Deep -between the lines- story
  • Yes.
Long answers:
Naming the game is very critical. I have many factors into consideration

  • adds to the literature
  • used in other media titles (movie, game, band..)
  • inoffensive
  • catchy, different, new
  • causes questions
When I first started creating AGS games, I was planning to make a series of space themed games with a fictional character based on myself (I know.. dumb narcissist  :-[ I was isolated and enclosed on myself being in the vastness of space helped at the time! ) I already had a blog called anas-tronaut and it had a good amount of post views and interactions. So I wrote the story for 3 parts of anastronaut but only got to make 2 games -so far-

While finishing up developing my second AGS game, I got inspiration for Tardigrades (formerly Epoch). I loved the name Epoch a lot since it serves most of the criteria I am looking for in a game's name. The name sounds biblical, historical, indicates an important era and so on.

UNTIL I found that there was another game with the same title. It wasn't a big deal for me really. But the main reason I had to change is due to putting the game on Steam. I was heavily advised to change the name. So it was a matter of time to do so. I was devastated because I was attached to the name a lot. I felt as if I was creating a painting and then some ignorant merchant forced me to change the the colors in order to be able to sell it in their store. Honestly, I wanted my AGS game to be in that store.

It took a few days for me to change the name after a few candidates. I've chosen Tardigrades because as little organisms they are able to achieve what the technology of the game's era is trying hard to do with cutting edge technology. The feedback was mixed, some preferred Epoch while other welcomed the new title. I am very satisfied with the new title now. Then lately I found out that a few of my favorite scientists and educators mentioned their interest in the title on their twitter accounts.

Crimson Wizard

#2
I will just sneak in here to say that my favourite name of AGS game have been and still stays:
How they found silence. :-)

Mandle

I think my game: "Feng Shui And The Art Of TV Reception" is pretty safe name-wise for there being no coincidental doubling up out there...

(It was a play on "Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance" in case that wasn't obvious)

Although in the case of another game of mine: "Speed Buggy: Manifold Destiny", which I thought was a damn clever pun on "Manifest Destiny"...well it turned out there is actually some kind of car TV show or youtube show or something called "Manifold Destiny"...and I was like: "Noooooooooooooooo!!!"

CaptainD

My CD games follow the format of "Captain Disaster in:" followed by a 6 word title, so I should have a while before I start too run out :-D
 

Grundislav

I usually have very little trouble naming games (the toughest one was Ben Jordan 5. LasNaranjas came up with the brilliant subtitle for me)

I was really proud of "A Golden Wake" because I felt it was clever and mysterious enough to make people interested (plus I got to drop it as the very last line of the game)

Shardlight came about as a complete accident thanks to Ben and stuck.

My current game, however, has been a nightmare. I can't think of a good title and it's starting to worry me. It's really hard to find something that isn't generic, but isn't too "out there."

Andail

Tomorrow. We'll run out of names tomorrow.
HURRY AND NAME YOUR GAME NOW

Gurok

Wizards of the Coast has been running up against this problem for some time with card names for Magic the Gathering. With > 12,000 cards printed, most of the generic names for things are taken. Their solution is similar to what some have suggested already. They just include a person's name in the card name.
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Danvzare

Quote from: Grundislav on Mon 11/07/2016 05:17:49
I usually have very little trouble naming games (the toughest one was Ben Jordan 5. LasNaranjas came up with the brilliant subtitle for me)

I was really proud of "A Golden Wake" because I felt it was clever and mysterious enough to make people interested (plus I got to drop it as the very last line of the game)

Shardlight came about as a complete accident thanks to Ben and stuck.

My current game, however, has been a nightmare. I can't think of a good title and it's starting to worry me. It's really hard to find something that isn't generic, but isn't too "out there."
Just avoid naming it a word that beings with "Re" and you should be fine. ;)

Blondbraid

Quote from: Danvzare on Mon 11/07/2016 11:04:26
Just avoid naming it a word that beings with "Re" and you should be fine. ;)
Game with the word "War" in the title comes to mind. Gears of War, God of War, Total war, Warhammer, Total war: Warhammer...

The names for my AGS games have all ended up pretty simple, just a rather straightforward description of what the game is about. The only game where I actually felt like I have come up with a good title is Sniper and Spotter being patriotic, but now I have a hard time coming up with an equally good name for the sequel.


Danvzare

Someone should make a game called The War: Requiem, Resurrection, and Revelations - Reloaded.
That name is so generic, someone must have used it by now. (laugh)

Stupot

When Broken Age came out, I remember thing it sounded like a cross between Broken Sword and Dragon Age and I checked to see if there was a game called Dragon Sword.

There was.

So one option could be to splice names of existing games.

Blackwell Paradox
Samaritan Rue
Gemini Dennis
Oceanspirit Jordan

Ad infinitum :-)

CaptainD

Escape from The Secret of The Curse of Gabriel Knight and Day Quest Paradox featuring The Gemini Legacy of Hugh Bliss Singing in the Rain, but it was only a Mirage part One.
 

Mandle

Quote from: CaptainD on Mon 11/07/2016 13:51:55
Escape from The Secret of The Curse of Gabriel Knight and Day Quest Paradox featuring The Gemini Legacy of Hugh Bliss Singing in the Rain, but it was only a Mirage part One.

Pfft...You forgot your own rule:

Captain Disaster In: Escape from The Secret of The Curse of Gabriel Knight and Day Quest Paradox featuring The Gemini Legacy of Hugh Bliss Singing in the Rain, but it was only a Mirage part One.

CaptainD

Quote from: Mandle on Mon 11/07/2016 14:18:53
Pfft...You forgot your own rule:

Captain Disaster In: Escape from The Secret of The Curse of Gabriel Knight and Day Quest Paradox featuring The Gemini Legacy of Hugh Bliss Singing in the Rain, but it was only a Mirage part One.

Clearly you misread...
Quote from: CaptainD on Sun 10/07/2016 17:18:04
My CD games follow the format of "Captain Disaster in:" followed by a 6 word title
:P
 

Mandle

Mandle In: Fails To Read All The Rules

gameboy

Quote from: Stupot+ on Mon 11/07/2016 13:14:05
When Broken Age came out, I remember thing it sounded like a cross between Broken Sword and Dragon Age and I checked to see if there was a game called Dragon Sword.

There was.

So one option could be to splice names of existing games.

Blackwell Paradox
Samaritan Rue
Gemini Dennis
Oceanspirit Jordan

Ad infinitum :-)
A Golden Rain?

CaptainD

Quote from: Mandle on Mon 11/07/2016 14:33:52
Mandle In: Fails To Read All The Rules
Mandle In: Fails To Read All The Rules Paradox resulting in Gemini Bliss in the Rain: Part One: The Mirage Legacy
 

tzachs

Since it hasn't come up yet, I guess I'll share: one of the things that I look for in a name, is a name I can later Google to see if somebody wrote something about my game without having to navigate to page 178. Yes, I am a helpless feedback craving addict, often found lying in an alley begging for a fix.

A few years back, when I was making a game about revolting robots, I thought I was very clever when I came up with Robolution as the title. I was sure that I was the first one to come up with the name, I haven't even bothered to look it up. As it turns out Borderlands released a dlc with that name at about the same time as I released my game, so not even page 178 will show my game now...

So yeah, CaptainD's 6 words method makes a lot of sense to me.

Fitz

#19
Yes, the googlability! I hadn't given it much thought in my pre-gamedev creative endeavors (prose, webcomics), and so I called my first game Gray -- which I thought was short and to the point. But it made googling myself pretty much impossible. There's a ton of games (snd movies, books, etc.) by that name, and titles including that word -- a very basic color term in itself. And -- a thing a did not expect -- a zillion Gray Fitzes on FB. So I tried to keep that in mind for following projects. But again, to my surprise, Monty the Komodo Dragon -- a reference to Monty Python, replacing the titular large reptile with another -- wasn't as original a name as I had hoped, as there's a lovely pet by that name in some zoo. Same with "The Unprintable MAGENTA". There was just one entry that wasn't about my game -- but still! Heck! Even my twitter handle -- which was as random as it gets: just two words slapped together without any sense whatsoever, suggested to me by a register form at a gaming site thirteen years ago as a replacement/extension of my original entry -- was used once before in an article.

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