help me, i'm in blackout mode, my motocross game's coming in the next few months (hopefully 2-3 months) and I couldn't come up with a cool title for it how do you guys find ur title ? is it just a fluke ? do u use thesaurus ? what/where is your source of inspirations ?
I always find that trawling through a thesaurus leads to really clinical, uninspired names. I think the answer is probably fluke. A great title (in my opinion) needs to a)instantly reflect the nature of the game and b) have a sense of grandure to it. Quake - it immediately tells you what you're in for, doesn't it? Likewise, Deus Ex - convoluted. Complicated. Involved. FEAR. Grand Theft Auto. Simple, to the point. That's how I always figured it works... hope that helps, d
Actually - everyone I knew, when Quake came out, said "How the heck does 'Quake' relate to the game that I have in my hands? It doesn't make any sense at all!" Quake is really an awful name and doesn't tell you anything about the game. Doom would have been a better example.
I really feel like a name should be one of the last major pieces of the puzzle to fall into place. At least for Land of Legends, we worked under a project name ("Fantasy Wars") for a very long time. We only decided on a real name after we had a good grasp on the tone of the game, art style, intended demographic, etc. We then make a long list of possible names, and knew the kind of 'feel' we wanted the name to have. We bounced them around for a while, 'trying them on' in a sense. In the end, "Land of Legends" won out, and I'm very happy w/ it. We also applied a similar process for our company name. We had a company name we'd been planning on for years, and had owned the domain name for years. But through poor domain name management, (we accidently let it expire,) we lost the domain. That cut deep, but frankly, I like our new name ("Tiny Hero Game Studios") much, much better because it was tailored to the type of work we do and the position of our company. That name too was just one on a long list of possible suggestions that we whittled down and discussed until coming up with the one gem of the bunch. Keep in mind -- the best product and company names fit tightly with the other identities of your product/company, and usually are clever on at least a couple of axes. The best possible name is usually the result of a good process, and not just something you come up w/ on a whim. -Hiro_Antagonist
so the lesson is 'Super Jewel blocktris breaker Deluxe (gold edition)' wouldn't be good > (actually Blocktris breaker sounds better than most of em ;P)
I think Quake is one of the best titles ever, and sums up the game perfectly. The word conjours up two images for me - monumental death and destruction through (earth)quake, and uncontrolable fear (as in 'quaking (in boots)') It immediately says to me "Something big is going to happen. It's going to be scary. And you won't be able to hide" But maybe that's just me. Maybe they should have called it "Poo Brown Scary Scary Dungeon Chase-a-rama", and that would conjour up the right image in other peoples' heads.
It's possible some of the people on this forum may be thinking of Quake's sequels, which are far cries from the original. Though, the original Quake (which none of us have played) fits the title a little more appropriately. From Commander Keen (id's first commercially successful series): This is from 1990, folks! 'Twas but just a dream in the minds of some of the most brilliant in our industry. (And a prime example of why you shouldn't announce a title too early!)
Well if you're making a motorcross game I remember a group of people near me who race motorcross bikes on gravel and tarmack roads. They call it 'Super Motard'
hehe.. that's cool dude... it's along shot but i'll add it to my list.. thanks. Btw, which one makes more sense to you guys "MX Go" or "Go MX" ?
See I would have said Quake and Deus Ex were examples of incredibly misleading titles. Particularly Deus Ex, which sounds to me like some kind of strategy/god game. You could reasonably argue that a very misleading title could in fact be a marketing tool in itself, certainly if it's something vague and mysterious like Deus Ex, but I can't imagine that games with Latin titles would go down too well on the portals.
Well, everyone asks me how I came up with "Chuzzle" because it sounds so obscene (the first person I told it to gave me a response that I'll repeat with ellipses here to remove the most offensive traits: "That sounds like when two .... men .... in the .... and drink .... out of eachothers ...."). Chuzzle is just the word "Puzzle" with a randomly chosen consonant pair replacing the P (other considered names: Fuzzle, Nuzzle, Shmuzzle, Popple). When I first brought it to them, Popcap turned down the name, hands down. I'm still not sure how it got kept. They kinda consider me the "naming impaired" over there, as my first game was called "Eggsucker." Now pardon me, I gotta get back to coding Baldie Bumper. [edit to remove a superfluous 'a']
LOL.. Chuzzle was definatley the best sounding out of those... I think it suits it quite well and is a memorable name. Looking forward to Baldie Bumper! hehe
Hmmmm... My first instinct would have been Fuzzle. Fuzz. Puzzle. Seems like a natural progression to me. Though, I have to admit, I also thought what your friend did. About the men. And the drinking of [END OF TRANSMISSION]