HOW'D YOU DECIDE ON A GAME TITLE?

Posts

LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Without any other information to go on, people do actually judge a book by its cover, regardless of any old sayings. To this day, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets still sounds like a parody full of toilet humor. Of course, with enough marketing and advertising you can overcome this, making their first impression be a little deeper and more meaningful, but you probably don't have the budget that J.K. Rowling does.

Comedy titles are totally the best titles. Like the Team Rocket game I made called Double Trouble... followed by its sequel, Double Trouble 2: The Third. And then there was my flower-picking bubble-blowing game called Flower Bubble Game!!!. I think Vindication might be my only game to ever have an original non-parody title...

It's funny to look on the first page of this thread and see Space Funeral listed as a throwaway title by catmitts.

Edit: Oh my god guys. I just remembered this thread. The one with psy_wombats's Game Name Generator. This thing was utter brilliance. Producing such great titles as "Demonic Moon : Final Fantasy Lost Kingdoms" and "Hundredth Paladin : The Magical".
Nightowl
Remember when I actually used to make games? Me neither.
1577
Eh, I often hate to see games with names generated by Zorn's RM2K tool.
Most of the names don't have anything to do with the game's plot or so.

As for me coming up with game titles, well, I just generally pick it from something what the hero says at one point or anything important related to the plot.

h0nk.
Simple and effective. Like Snakes on a Plane. What's it about?
1) Come up with a dev name. It's usually nonsense or vaguely associated with the game.

2) Keep a list of potential game names thought up over the course of game development.

3) Pick a few favorites and consider
a) Is the title easy to remember and spell?
b) Already taken?
c) Unique on Google?

4) Roll with it and see what happens!
My ' Amulet of Fate ' isn't exactly original, but in the original run of the game, the title had a LOT to do with the key elements of the plot. Since scrapping most of my previous work and where its headed now, the title has changed into a type of importance that isn't at integral but still holds a part in the overall plot. Its almost like a red herring at this point, but not quite.
Yellow Magic
Could I BE any more Chandler Bing from Friends (TM)?
3154
author=ShortStar
Simple and effective. Like Snakes on a Plane. What's it about?
Samuel L. Motherfucking Jackson. 8U

I'm a fan of artsy one-word names regardless of how related they are to the game's plot. Also, I'd like to see a game with a longer name (someone once recommended Chasing the Shadows of a Promise Come Undone to me, any takers??).

Then there was that one time I gave a summary of the plot of an old (failed) project of mine to a cousin and he came up with Shonen Fist. I think outside help's a good option as other people are very likely to have ideas different from your own. (Although that example probably doesn't really help the point I'm trying to make)
I named my game Apparatus because I guess it's thematically significant, being about technology's implications for society, but I want a different title because I think Googleability is a big part of a game getting exposure. I just haven't figured out a better name yet.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
author=Perihelion
I named my game Apparatus because I guess it's thematically significant, being about technology's implications for society, but I want a different title because I think Googleability is a big part of a game getting exposure. I just haven't figured out a better name yet.


Maybe add a second word, then? Like Apparatus Implication or Societal Apparatus.

I don't think googlability really matters, as long as the name isn't shared by other games. If people are looking for your game then they will type apparatus game into google when it doesn't show up under apparatus. If people are not looking for your game then they will not find it on google regardless of the name.
Dudesoft
always a dudesoft, never a soft dude.
6309
Rusty Brown's Ring Donuts is my favourite joke name.
I first think of the idea for the game, and then make a project name, and then an actual name that fits the game. Like the game Infinity, it's project darkmatter, and it's based on a whole timeline, paranormal activity, and the U.S. government trying to find these kids around the world to use their power as a weapon against other countries, which is a very vast range, kind of like the term of "Infinity", meaning going on forever.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Titles can come from who's in the game (example: Oracle of Askigaga), a location that is centralized in the game (partial example: Matsumori Days), or an event that occurs in-game (example: Weird Dreams).

As for Google-ability, I don't really care. I can't say what you'd find if one Googles "matsumori days", but if one Googles "weird dreams game", I'd think one is more likely to find out about a C64/Amiga game rather than an RMN game that was made for the 2011 RMN Summer Games contest.
author=LockeZ
author=Perihelion
I named my game Apparatus because I guess it's thematically significant, being about technology's implications for society, but I want a different title because I think Googleability is a big part of a game getting exposure. I just haven't figured out a better name yet.
Maybe add a second word, then? Like Apparatus Implication or Societal Apparatus.

I don't think googlability really matters, as long as the name isn't shared by other games. If people are looking for your game then they will type apparatus game into google when it doesn't show up under apparatus. If people are not looking for your game then they will not find it on google regardless of the name.

There actually is an Android game already called Apparatus, so I'm going to need to rename it anyway. I've been thinking about adding a second word, but I can't think of one I like. I already changed the title once, too, but oh well. Someday I'll figure out one I like!
Nightowl
Remember when I actually used to make games? Me neither.
1577
author=GreatRedSpirit
1) Come up with a dev name. It's usually nonsense or vaguely associated with the game.

2) Keep a list of potential game names thought up over the course of game development.

3) Pick a few favorites and consider
a) Is the title easy to remember and spell?
b) Already taken?
c) Unique on Google?

4) Roll with it and see what happens!
Since I joined WombatRPGs, I had like million projects but only one of them reached demo stage. Eventually after deciding to come up with a project I'll keep working on, I named it Project Vaporware.

h0nk.
author=Nightowl
Since I joined WombatRPGs, I had like million projects but only one of them reached demo stage. Eventually after deciding to come up with a project I'll keep working on, I named it Project Vaporware.

The irony here is excellent.
I actually tend to like really short (one word or so) titles that don't necessarily tell you anything specific but kind of fit the vague idea of what the game is about. My game Crimson, that will likely never be finished, and a game I recently reviewed Wither both come to mind as examples for that. My game is going to be a bloody vampire themed game so Crimson fits well I think. Wither is a game about collecting flowers and death, so the title really nails it. But because they are short and sweet they are more provocative to me than a lot of other titles.
I tend to be pretty lazy with my game titles...
If it's about a country in danger or some civil war, I name the title after the country.
If it's about some magical maiden that helps the main character behind the scenes or the main character has to rescue said maiden, I name the title after the girl.
Anything else I usually try to find a synonym to an important object in the game, or use an important phrase.
Adon237
if i had an allowance, i would give it to rmn
1743
Well, since I get a story before a title, I have the goal in the title name.
"Stonesearch", because they are searching for elemental stones.
It really depends...In most cases I guess I'd try to derive the title from the story, most likely an important name or something like that.
I always name my games based on his theme + the first thing that comes to mind. I named my game Hopeless, because is a survival horror and my character doesnt have a real chance to escape.
Simple, it just comes out of nowhere when I'm not thinking about game making. The grim side effect to this is that the titles tend to be, well, pretentious. My current project is an obvious example of this, though it had other names during my pre-game making design doc phase, like Instant Death.

If all else fails, I could just have the game's title share it's name with the fictional world/country.