Choosing a game name!
Well after a gruelling week long think tank I have come up with what will be the name of the game:
Chronomicles: Hailstone
I went over hundreds of iterations of names. I wanted up to five things from the game title:
- Describe some/most the game setting
- Describe some/most of the gameplay
- Be recognizable/individual
- Have room for expansions/mods/DLC
- Have a reference to my previously used handles somewhere/somehow
Previously used handles:
Poplicant, 9 Moons, humans, HS
I think Poplicant is not fitting for this game, and should be used either for a future game or the dev-name. 9 moons ran risks of encountering some copyright infringements. (spoiler alert) Humans is already a character and not particularly exciting as a title word. So that left me with trying to use the HS acronym. After looking up a long list of words starting with H and S I decided to go with Hailstone. It reminds me of game titles like Heavy Rain and Risk of Rain. (spoiler alert) It also fits well with the theme of the Nightmaar, 'rain' being used to describe an invasion and 'wet' being used to describe their radiation. Problem was that Hailstone games is already an indie game dev.
Describe game setting and/or gameplay:
The Chronomicon, Grimoire of Transience, The Astral Evertome
A lot of the UI and idea of the game is themed around a book of legend that writes itself and contains the entire history of the universe. I considered several different names for the book, but Chronomicon seemed most fitting. I have had this planned for a long time, but Chronomicon is also already used by a bunch of other people.
Be recognizable and have room for expansion:
While spitballing variances of the name of the Chronomicon I came across the idea of Chronomicles, they are excerpts pertaining to a very specific set of 'fate of the universe' deciding events in the history of the universe. That way any future content can be added as another Chronomicle with a different subheading. Both Hailstone and the Chronomicon are referenced in the title, but I hopefully avoid any issue with the Hailstone games developer or any Chronomicon copyrights.
Still not perfect.
Ideally the game title would reference more of the gameplay and setting, the Science Fantasy, Roguelike, Universe Simulator, Immersive/Systemic Gameplay is not referenced at all. Still, I think the vast majority of good game titles don't have a reference to much of the setting/gameplay. However, there is a recorded effect of using keywords in the title improving sales that I may miss out on. I feel this works best when your game is really just a slightly different generic game. For example someone who just wants to play a generic Science Fantasy Roguelike is more likely to be looking at your game. The game I am trying to make is supposed to set itself out as being atypical, so I would prefer to have a title that hints at that.
This weekend teaser...
This coming Screenshot Saturday will be a big one for me, I intend to show off a huge update on the game UI and some teasers of the game lore. Really excited to release a GIF/video with the title of the game. Until then, goodluck and have fun!
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