How do you choose names for your projects and/or games?
polycounter lvl 11
How do you go about choosing names for your projects and/or games?
To be clear, I'm asking for a "teach a man to fish" approach as opposed to a "give me a title for x, y, or z" approach. For example:
What kinds of considerations do you make when naming things? What kinds of thought processes drive the decisions? What works? What doesn't? Why?
That kind of thing.
I ask because I'm making some small progress (takin' dem baby steps) in a project that I'm working on (and have been working on for a while), and I still don't have a name or title for it. Ordinarily, it would be like, "so what?" But eventually, I'm gonna have to start showing stuff to people, and having a title to group stuff under would probably be a good idea.
Thanks for your time.
To be clear, I'm asking for a "teach a man to fish" approach as opposed to a "give me a title for x, y, or z" approach. For example:
What kinds of considerations do you make when naming things? What kinds of thought processes drive the decisions? What works? What doesn't? Why?
That kind of thing.
I ask because I'm making some small progress (takin' dem baby steps) in a project that I'm working on (and have been working on for a while), and I still don't have a name or title for it. Ordinarily, it would be like, "so what?" But eventually, I'm gonna have to start showing stuff to people, and having a title to group stuff under would probably be a good idea.
Thanks for your time.
Replies
I'm currently working on a game that I probably won't finished that involves a 4 armed kickboxer, it's called 4RMZ, mostly because I like the way the logo looks and I was going for the bizarre, frustrate the end user, indie style.
(i have to fix the kerning issues)
The name OpenArena was a lucky and rather obvious choice. It doubles its meaning for being open source, and well, the game takes place in open arenas. How punnerific.
However i'm not so lucky with my others, and are nowhere near as nicely inspired (Dave 3-D, Open Quartz PLUS, Haktoria, Engoo)
I'd like to know a better project naming process too. Can't just slap Open on a name or a word for everything. What the hell would I call the Q2-based equivelent?
If it helps, Deus Ex was called "Shooter".
2: Find a female friend or colleague (who is, ideally, at least partly, interested in your game). I'm not even joking, they tend to be 999 times better at coming up with names.
3: If all else fails, write down all the abstract adjectives you can about your game and see which ones don't work as a title. If there's any left, well, that's a start.
But on a more serious note, write down a bunch of ideas, google them to make sure it's not a porn title or major movie/game titles.
I'm not asking about thread titles in particular... When I say "project" I refer to anything from written works to sculpture to (insert whatever a project can be here).
I think you've come up with a good idea for naming stuff, though. Having a sounding board to throw things at and riff off of seems to be a valid way of getting a good name.
I mean "4RMS" is actually quite effective. The four functions as both a "leetspeak" letter "A" and the indicator that your kickboxer has four arms. It's quite clever.
Leilei
I can't believe that Deus Ex once was named "Shooter!" Do you happen to know how long the game was stuck with that tentative title?
ZacD
I can't help but wonder if the title to that game was trying to be too clever, or if the intended audience is simply those who can understand hex code. I think you have a point in stating that a name should set a theme and mood without being boring. I think it's a start at approaching a fairly decent metric.
Autocon
I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I noticed that you're an environment artist at Naughty Dog. How'd you guys decide on the name "Uncharted"? There were all kinds of potential titles that game series could have had. Yet, we know that it was successfully named because if you utter the word "uncharted" to just about anyone, they start thinking of the game series. If you can't answer the question, I understand.
Muzz
It's possible, but then you have to wonder, "where do I find the strangest places?"
Brendan
As strange as it sounds, that all sounds like gold. #1 sounds suspiciously like it comes from experience, though.
frell
Now there's an idea I'd have never thought of.
cholden
That naming convention certainly sounds like it keeps things descriptive. You bring up a good point about cross-checking to make sure the name hasn't been used before. . . Or used "questionably"...
Take drugs.
MEATSHOOTER
shoot monsters to keep your murder-meter full to stay alive and finish the level
MeteöR
I often wonder whether Rockstar were given/forced to call their sequel to Asylum 'Arkham City' by WB and their marketing staff because people would associate easier, and had to try and write a story around that.
Or "edge".
One major consideration when coming up with a title is to find one that hasn't been used in the past. Run anything you come up with though the patents and trademarks pages.