Game names - do they matter?

[Andail]

Notice how the thread title is not stolen from another recent thread.

My question is: Do you think the name matters when people buy/play games, and if so, what constitutes a good name?

Would Pleurghburg have been received even better if it was called "9 days some kind of detective"?

Would nobody play Resonance if it bore the name "Mortal science - The quest for danger"?

What's the best/worst names you know of?

[Calin Leafshade]

Titles certainly do affect the perception of a production.
If I said I was making a game called "The Beast From Outer Space", you instantly know that it's likely to be of a b-movie-esque persuasion. It's a very good way to instantly inject context.

So I think it's more important that your name fits the tone. If your name fits the tone of production then I think it's done its job.

Examples of good names:

Vampire - The Masquerade

Evoking the idea of a "masquerade" is *perfect* for the series. It totally conveys the politics and theatre of the whole thing. 10/10

The Last of Us

Last = desolate, scary. Us = Companionship, togetherness. 8/10

Bad names

Heavy Rain

Doesn't scan well. Too purely descriptive. No depth.

Killzone

Oh it's a zone in which people kill. How creative of you. Yawn.

[Stupot]

Some names are just cool.  I thought Boryokudan Rue was an awesome name and was quite disappointed when it got changed to Gemini Rue.
The latter is still quite a cool name, but it lacked that awesome factor imho.

[NickyNyce]

I'm going to pretend that I don't know what this thread is about, and say that, YES, names do matter...somewhat.

How much, is the real question. If a game is named really weird where I can't understand what the title means, it might bother me, but it wouldn't stop me from playing if I could see some pictures of it and they looked good. If I couldn't see any pictures, a bad name or uninspiring name might push me away. It's strange because, if a game has a really cool name and no pictures, I would still be interested until proven otherwise. I think a good game with a bad name might become forgettable after some time and some really good names just stick with you forever.

Ok, now I'm dizzy.

I wouldn't purposely name my game after another, especially if it's here in the AGS database.

EDIT: Ummmm...How did I not see the thread that was made specifically about this 

[Radiant]

I would expect Brokoryuken (?) Rue to be something similar to Street Fighter...

[Vince Twelve]

I liked Boryokudan Rue too, but I understand the reason for the switch.  As Radiant so aptly demonstrated, it's really hard to spell!  And if you're making a commercial title, it has to be easy to Google (as well as simple, memorable, and unused, which is super hard).  For freeware games, I think really weird or ponderous titles can be more eye catching. 

And sometimes the title summarizes the whole game in one concise word.  That's when you know you've nailed it.

[CaptainD]

So how does "Captain Disaster in Death Has a Million Stomping Boots" fare in all of this?  I didn't want a short name! 

I too thought Boryokudan Rue was a better title, but I also liked Gemini Rue.

Jolly Rover was a pretty good title.  "The Game That Takes Place on a Cruise Ship" was classic.  Machinarium was a very clever title.

[Andail]

I think Resonance is really good, because it works on many levels (scientific (in many fields) and symbolic) although it must be hard to google for it, since the word is pretty common? Don't know if that's a problem.

CaptainD, sorry if I'm being ignorant here, but is your game's name related to "Death wore endless feathers? in any way" Or is the similarity coincidental? I think the name is good because it stands out and it's also quite clearly evoking an image of goofy but intellectual comedy.

Perhaps the biggest danger is when the name is too bland or generic. That, and not fitting the genre.

I fear that The Samaritan Paradox is a little complicated and hard to remember, but I'm thrilled about the fact that even though it techincally exists, nobody knows precisely what it is, and people tend to use it in their own way (the original definition being rather techincal).

[CaptainD]

CaptainD, sorry if I'm being ignorant here, but is your game's name related to "Death wore endless feathers? in any way" Or is the similarity coincidental? I think the name is good because it stands out and it's also quite clearly evoking an image of goofy but intellectual comedy.

No relation at all between them - well, apart from them starting with the word "Death" I suppose.  Goofy yes, intellectual?  Not sure, I'll let others decide that (when we finally finish making the thing.

I fear that The Samaritan Paradox is a little complicated and hard to remember

I suppose it's always going to be a personal thing - I really love that game title, though I don't know if I could explain precisely why.  I guess I like titles that hint at something you're going to have to play through the game to work out the significance of.

[ThreeOhFour]

People always complain my game names are hard to google. Why the hell would anybody need to google my games? If you know they exist, you'll know where to find them.

[Anian]

Three major issues that I usually notice around game names:
1.

People always complain my game names are hard to google. Why the hell would anybody need to google my games? If you know they exist, you'll know where to find them.

I think the issue is if for example I talk to a friend and tell them to look up "!", how are they supposed to find it without me pointing them to AGS games collection, which again needs extra explaining and such.

2. problem again comes with names that are too common, create a game that simulates a life in a house and call it "House"...you'll probably never find it, the noun is too common and there's a bunch of dr. House stuff you'll probably run into first.

3. names that just point to something lame or bad humor, doesn't matter if the game is the best ever, I'll probably won't try it and there was a good recent example, I think the game was called "Shitty quest"...to me that indicates lazy toilet humor and unless I know what it's about or know the author or something, I won't even try it. Yes it's superficial, judging a book by it's covers, but when author has full control and chooses such a title, then I think judgement might be appropriate to a degree.

[Vince Twelve]

Yeah, I'm super happy with the name Resonance because of the multi-layered meaning.  It Googles pretty well if you add the word "game" to your search, so I guess that's a success.

I like The Samaritan Paradox.  It immediately evokes "twisty mystery" for me.  Good adventure title.

[selmiak]

3. names that just point to something lame or bad humor, doesn't matter if the game is the best ever, I'll probably won't try it and there was a good recent example, I think the game was called "Shitty quest"...to me that indicates lazy toilet humor and unless I know what it's about or know the author or something, I won't even try it. Yes it's superficial, judging a book by it's covers, but when author has full control and chooses such a title, then I think judgement might be appropriate to a degree.

It may look shitty on the outside but I enjoyed shitty quest and had some good laughs as it got weirder and weirder. But you are right, the title is not that fitting to provoke interest. If it's not a game about shitting you should probably avoid using shit in the game title. I can't think of any example where using shit in the game title worked out.

Make it... interesting, even for a comedy. wordplays and more than one meaning are a good way to make it interesting. Even replacing letters with numbers makes the title more unique but this was overused for gametitle for a while, but it got less.

[Trapezoid]

If you can't write a good title, why should I expect you to write a good game?

Obviously that's not always true, but that's the logic. You can see the author's taste in a title, and extrapolate their taste in other things.

[ThreeOhFour]

I think the issue is if for example I talk to a friend and tell them to look up "!", how are they supposed to find it without me pointing them to AGS games collection, which again needs extra explaining and such.

You can send people a link from almost any device these days. Yeah, I get it, I've maybe made it take as much effort to get someone to play one of my games as it takes to, for example, tie your shoelace. That ain't going to stop me calling a game whatever I want.

[qptain Nemo]

It clearly affects players' potential interest (with regard to their taste though). And it also affects the artistic value. A well-chosen title makes a good game feel an even more complete and beautiful work.

My question is: Do you think the name matters when people buy/play games, and if so, what constitutes a good name?

You're implying people in general are good at recognizing good things. They're not. Calls of Duty and Battlefields and Warfaces are all top selling stuff, remember?

Would nobody play Resonance if it bore the name "Mortal science - The quest for danger"?

I wouldn't be surprised if more people would.

What's the best/worst names you know of?

Some titles I think are nice: Sanitarium, Anachronox, Driftmoon, Bloodnet: A Cyberpunk Gothic, Dungeoneer: A Beautiful Escape, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Beneath a Steel Sky, Inferno: The tale of a rotten bastard, Mind's Eye, NEO Scavenger, Technobabylon, The Unfolding Spider, How They Found Silence, Kentucky Route Zero ... and of course PISS 

[Snarky]

It's not a (big) problem if we follow your games specifically, Ben, but presumably there are a lot of people who come across a review or a post or a video about your game, and then maybe want to check it out later, remembering only the title...

It's also not just about finding where to download the games, but finding other related info about the games. I remember having problems finding something because of the way you'd titled one of your games (it might have been trying to find a forum thread about !, or a walkthrough for something, or a review on some site). Some of these things become practically impossible, which can be pretty annoying.

[Darth Mandarb]

I think the importance of game names has changed a lot in recent years. I think this is because of several reason but the two most important ones (to my mind) are:

1) After several decades now of game making there are so many games out there that coming up with a title is hard (trying not to duplicate an existing title, be orginal, etc) and
2) As has been stated, there are so many portals for information these days you almost need to have a title that is easily searchable and doesn't contain keywords that will return un-wanted results in searches

My feelings on a game's name:

Not only should the name tie directly to what the game is about it should also be considered carefully.  I think coming up with that game's name is (for me) one of the hardest parts of building the game.  The graphics and programming are easy compared to the title as it's sort of the "face" of the game (to the downloading public).  I think it's (naming the game) where a lot of people buckle under the pressure.  They struggle and struggle to find a worthy name and then just self deprecate (give up).  "Oh I don't freakin' know... nobody is going to like the game anyway I'll just call it 'Toilet Quest' and then hope people think my failure is just quirkiness!!"

I still play games with crappy titles but I do have to admit if the title of the game doesn't inspire me I tend to go into it with slightly lowered expectations!

[Intense Degree]

I think names probably do matter and can, in some circumstances, make a difference between playing and not playing a game.

One great example is Discordance's How they found silence. With all respect to Discordance, the screenshot isn't brilliant, but the title piqued my interest enough to give it a go and i'm glad I did because it's a nice little game. Without the title I might not have bothered.

Having said that, I don't know if a good title would be enough to make me buy a game and a bad title certainly wouldn't stop me from playing or buying a game I liked the look of.

So therefore I think names can help because they can catch your eye and get you interested, but ultimately it is up to the game itself to pull you in, or the screenshots and description etc. to keep you interested and consider a purchase.

[NickyNyce]

I just went to look up Ancient Aliens on the games page that's made by Miguel, and it didn't pop up. It said the search came up with zero matches. I now realized that Miguel named the game.."AncientAliens" with no space. So apparently even a space in your titles name could have gamers missing out on games, here at AGS anyway. Is this the normal way the search function works on the games page? I would have thought the game should still have popped up with the space.