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Copyright Issue: Changing the Title... Suggestions Welcomed!

Hello all,

Super Toaster Guy will need to change its name and I'd like to explain why. I think people following the project deserve to know and I prefer to be transparent about the development of the game.

So gather around my friend and I shall tell you a tale...

Way back in January when I decided I wanted to make a game about a slice of bread, I had to find a title for my game. I didn't want to go "Untitled" for too long. As important as finding a good title is, I wanted to get this done as soon as possible.

I was obviously inspired by various sources. First of all, the indie game "Super Meat Boy" by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. I thought of Super Toaster Boy but I felt that it was too similar so I decided against it. I decided to replace the "boy" for "guy" as after all, the main character of STG, Pan, wasn't especially meant to be a boy per see.

So, the first thing I did was to google "Super Toaster Guy". The only result that came up was: "The Strange Adventures of Toaster Guy" by Aaron Hazouri. I looked a bit into it and figured my game was sufficiently different from the comic to give it a go.

So, as you know, for the last 8 months I've been creating this game, "Super Toaster Guy".

A member here at TIG recently saw the thread of my game and decided to step in, I'm guessing thinking there was foul play afoot. That anonymous member contacted the author, Aaron Hazouri to tell him that a game was being developed with the name "Super Toaster Guy".

Mr. Hazouri contacted me by messaging me here at TIG. He politely and civilly explained that he owned the copyright for "The Strange Adventures of Toaster Guy" and would like me to remove the "guy" from my title, this was also suggested by his legal consultant from what I understand.

My first reaction was to be rather upset. "Who's that guy who suddenly drops from out of the blue 8 months into development to request that I change the title of my game!". From past experience, I know it's better for me to calm down before reacting to something as I have a short temper sometimes.

Anyhow, I read the email of Mr. Hazouri. On one hand, I really wasn't *that* attached to my title as it was more like something that I had came up to be done with. On the other hand, I didn't feel like the resemblance was strong enough to warrant a modification of my title. If both had been games, ok, but considering that his creation was about a superhero toaster and mine is ultimately about a slice of bread using a toaster suit, I felt like, should we get into a legal issue, I could manage (I've been in those types of situations before and usually win those kind of confrontations).

But...

Mr. Hazouri was very nice and I could tell he wasn't doing this to be an asshole about it. From what I understand, he's struggling to make a living with his comic and I could understand where he was coming from. Were I in his position, would I react the same? Possibly. So I couldn't, not in good conscience anyway, bring myself to tell go to arms about this.

Also, as I said, he was very cool about the whole issue. I don't think he wanted to get into a legal battle anymore than I did.

To make a long story short, I decided to drop the "guy" as I felt it was the right thing to do. So we left on good terms, Mr. Hazouri and I.

It's difficult to know what exactly will be the consequences on this on the game. I'm thinking and hoping they will be minor. I'd like to think of this situation as an opportunity to get an even better title. You know, the whole "when life gives you lemonade" kind of thing. Besides, the "super" part for me was always a reference to the super nintendo. Back in the days, most games on the Super Nintendo had "super" in their titles because they were released on the super nintendo much like a lot of N64 games had "64" in their titles for just about the same reasons. I'm not sure it's really necessary in this case.

So people from the four corners of the web have started giving suggestions for the name, here's a list of them:

Sofreak:
Bread and Pain
Crack the Rusk
Pick Up the Crumb
Have a Bread

Kenetec:
Toaster Kid

King of the Suisse:
Super-toaster
toaster-man
toasty-man
super toasty adventure

2DT_:
Crazy Bread

I'm not quite taken with any suggestions yet.

I myself thought of Mega Toaster at first, as I wanted to make the reference to Mega Man clear. Then I thought of Mecha Toast. I think it has a nice ring to it. It's shorter too and it's representative of the game.

So, what do you guys think title-wise? Any ideas of your own? How do you feel about "Mecha Toast"?

Thanks for reading!

Posts

Pages: 1
I like Mecha Toast.

Pain & Grain
Super Toaster Kid
Super Toaster Fellow
Super Toaster Buddy
Super Toaster Lad
Bread Buddy Toaster
You're Toast!


I love coming up with names for things.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
Guy Toaster Super
haha, actually Guy Toaster has a nice ring to it!
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
Something with pain in it would be clever because "pain" is French for bread.
charblar
"wait you made this a career?"
3574
For a nintendo vibe. Wii Super toaster guy 64 U DS Advance

I had an idea for a game awhile back which I made way to overcomplicated in the end trying to add two different sides and all this junk where it really just was a retro game inspired collage but I thought up the title Toastpak like gamepaks maybe that is a okay suggestion?

author=FlyingJester
Super Toast 64?
That would be a little misleading if you think how every title with 64 in it was games which had franchises and were going 3D.
I like Pain & Grain because of the pun (puns are good, ask Shakespeare). My only concern is that people won't get the "pain" French joke.

Guy Super Toaster won't fly with the copyright issue, Super Toast 64 is misleading like charblar explained.

Super Toast Man isn't bad but I wish it were more original.

Thanks for ideas though, I'm still undecided.

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