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Show me Your Game Titles

A topic by Krunchy Fried Games created Apr 09, 2020 Views: 696 Replies: 21
Viewing posts 1 to 10
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Being a visual novel dev, this is something I think about a lot. My titles might sound like I’ve just thrown them up into a ditch, but there is some kind of logic to them (honest).

I like my titles to serve four functions:

1) Be memorable 

2) Be easy to google

3) Show the genre

4) Set the tone

And these are:

Witches and Bandits and Swords (Oh My)

The Bunny Hill Horror

The Bunny Hill Horror : Bunny Boiler [WIP]

Samuel Sudoku Sleuths Superbly [even more distant WIP]

So, I’ve shown you mine, please show me yours. Did you spend ages working on wordplay, double meanings, symbolism etc. to craft the perfect signature for your masterpiece, or did you end up calling it something like ‘Mega Action Fighter’ because you’ve spent the last 10 whole nights doing a 6 frame animation and now you’ve lost all will to live? Please post links, I’d like to play them.

Also, what do you look for in a title, or do you even care what it’s called?

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Yes, of course, My games Title is 

bottle shooting games with gun

Scary teacher

Zombie killing wih Axe 


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Heh, your title have a 'Snakes on a Plane' feel to them! They're very much what-you-see-is what-you-get.

When I clicked on 'Bottle Shooting Games with Gun', for instance, I was not disappointed.

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Let me guess what your games are about from the titles  Krunchy Fried Games =P

1) Be memorable  => a game about doing stuff so people remember us? So be a kind of hero maybe? Is it a platformer?

2) Be easy to google => that's tough. We have a searchbar and we have to write some stuff?

3) Show the genre=> We are shown people and we have to guess if they are male or female?

4) Set the tone=> A game about sound right? Recognizing a right tone or playing music?

Ha ha this is tough

lol, erm, yes. I don't know what to say XD

Set The Tone might actually make a good title for a Parappa the Rapper/ Guitar Hero style game. I don't know if anyone would buy a game called 'Easy to Google'! Though they might click on it by accident when using a search engine...

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Oh okay I misunderstood completely ^^'. I read too fast.

I will try again.

Witches and Bandits and Swords (Oh My)-> is it a platformer where witches have to fight against bandits that have swords?

The Bunny Hill Horror -> an horror game of course, set in a forest on a hill?

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WABASOM: Not a platformer, but there are bandits with swords that kill you, and there are witches- but these don't take sides. They just get drunk and sell you potions.

BHH: It's actually a castle on the hill, but there is some forest here and there so, close enough!

Now I'll try and guess yours (I tried not to peek at the thumbs)

Agents X Monsters: This is a kiss chase style game where you play as an agent. It starts in a Pac Man-esque maze where you have to hunt down the monsters. Once succesful, it switches to a dating sim where you use all your finely honed secret agent skills in order to get your tongue down their slimy reptilian throats.

Metal & Bones: This is inspired by the classic British sitcom 'Steptoe and Son'. You play a poor rag and bone man who, with his son, tries to make money flogging scrap metal and animal carcasses.

Resonance: I have no idea, but I probably can't do any worse than my last two guesses!

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XDD Man, you sure have creativity. I may adapt my games to include some of your ideas.

Agents X Monsters: We do chase monsters =] but when you ask them out they say it's complicated, you end up arguing and fighting. In the game we just see the fighting, but really it's about love.

Metal & Bones: Waw Steptoe and Son is a real show, I thought you made it up. It sounds  very dark/British humour. The game is actually a platformer where you can in a way scavenge stuff. You can push objects and make them fall on enemies. You get no money out of it but it is fun.

Resonance: Who cares what it is ha ha it's an old game.

Why are the witches getting drunk in WABASOM? Ha ha

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Haha, you are more than welcome to monster kissing simulator or Steptoe and Son! This has just got me thinking how many games there are based on sitcoms. Apart from cartoons (Simpsons/ South Park/ Family Guy), I can't think of a single one. This could be an untapped goldmine.

And, well the witches like to chill out when they're having their sabbats- same as everyone else!

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Most of my games never get proper names; usually they're just called "Project <InsertCodeNameHere>", then I start making something else when I get a new idea. Since I love astrophysics and cosmology, I usually name my games after celestial objects, depending on the planned scope of the project. Small games get named after moons and dwarf planets, medium ones get named after planets, big games get named after stars, and super-mega-gigantic-AAA-sized games get named after galaxies.

Some examples: Project Eris, Project Deneb, Project Mercury. All frozen in mid-development for a few years, sadly.

As for the final names, I always look for something that fits the theme or purpose of the game. I use a thesaurus, brainstorm all kinds of words and phrases, and sort them based on how much I like them.

My only playable game is (currently) called Forsaken Airspace, chosen from over 20 names. It's a flight combat game full of things that want to kill you, with a bit of a grim backstory. And most importantly, no other games used it.

Edit: I've yet to find a game title that I hate, so I guess I don't care what it's called as long as it works. I don't like when it has a super generic name that's impossible to search, though.

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You've got me thinking about a Dilbert cartoon where they name projects by combining random words from the fields of astronomy and electronics- and end up with 'Uranus Hertz'.

I don't know why, maybe that's where my mind is at the moment, and I'm still a bit baffled by the last reply. Good luck finishing your projects. I find it's often worthwhile to revisit old ones with a fresh outlook.

Also, you make a good point about checking to see whether a game's title is already in use

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Just off the top of my head, the game titles that stick in my mind are single word titles. Doom, Quake, Portal, Myst, Halo, Centipede, and titles that sound like two words but are glommed as one, GoldenEye, Battlezone, HyperBowl (that last one is mine but it's licensed IP so I didn't pick the title). That probably doesn't make sense for visual novels, though.

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Yeah, good single word titles are some of the best ones (I'm also thinking Oblivion and Rampage). I think these are getting rarer now- mainly because all the good dictionary words are taken.

Goldeneye has got me thinking of James Bond films- and how these really are a masterclass in giving memorable and evocative names to themes that have been done to death. I still don't know how they got away with Octopussy though...

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A little excerpt from the Zero Budget Game Marketing Manual - I hope it has some value here :) 

The title of your game is key to the overall brand. A good title will reflect well on the genre you’re developing for, and let people know they’re in for a certain type of experience. Hitman, Tomb Raider and Monster Hunter are all great at this; telling the player more or less exactly what they’ll be doing in the game from the title alone. This is what’s affectionately referred to as the ‘Ronseal’ approach; it does what it says on the tin, and carries with it a lot of very accurate connotations about the experience of the game itself (you play a Hitman assassin, you raid tombs, you hunt monsters etc).

Some things to consider:

  • The best names are short, and ownable. Do a quick Google test. If no existing brands – TV, Film, Game or otherwise – pop up when you hit search, that’s usually a good sign. The intention here is that when you Google the name of your game after it’s released, it’s the first thing that pops up and it dominates the search.
  • Made up names can be great. A nonsense word or clever amalgamation you’ve constructed can be very ownable and great for SEO. Google ‘Headspun’ as an example of this.
  • Ensure the domain is available before you commit. There are a multitude of domain extensions these days, meaning you can pretty much use any title of your choosing with regards to this, regardless of whether the .com is available (although if you can get this, all the better)
  • Ensure your preferred social channels are available before you commit. Use NameCheckr (https://www.namecheckr.com/) to quickly and efficiently see what handles/usernames you’ll be able to landgrab with your chosen name. 

Yep, all very good points. Tomb Raider's certainly an excellent title- and Resident Evil ticks the same boxes.

Also, thinking of games from that era, how the title actually sounds can be important. Take Banjo Kazooie or Ratchet and Clank. These actually sound quite quirky and funny when you say them as they use onomatopoeia (e.g. 'kazooie' makes a sound similar to a kazoo, whereas 'ratchet and clank' sounds a bit like metal tools being dropped).

Considering poetic devices might be good advice for a dev looking for a perfect title (e.g. rhyme, assonance, alliteration, palindromes etc.).

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Hazordhu

Where you can find such creatures as a Peek, Bux, Hoge, Ramar, Flargl, Agriner... and more!

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This looks like quite a cool game. Interesting title too. Is this a real Japanese word, or did you just want something that sounded Japanese? Makes me think of Häagen-Dazs, which a name that doens't actually mean anything- they just wanted something that sounded foreign and exotic. There must me other examples of titles/ products like this.

To be honest, you're the first one to say it sounds Japanese!  It's the name of a world I came up with when I was a little kid.  The name's something fantastical and a bit strange, so I went with it for the game, which is loosely inspired by that childhood world.  One thing I've noticed too, is that everyone pronounces it differently, and I kind of like it like that.

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Strong! Only 8 letters and you dominate the Google search for it.

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my  latest game title is  "Cave of Avaritia"

That Avaritia is come from Latin,  mean "greed"

My first game that sucks is called "Shooot----Cuber"

Here is the link:

https://sabigames.itch.io/shooot-cuber

Moderator

I was close to naming my game Labrat: LibeRation but ended up dropping the cheesy pun so it's just labrat now