Game names - do they matter?

[kaput]

I definitely think the name has to be easy to read/say and basically slide off the tongue. For the most part, if a game is 'hard to read/pronounce' there's a good chance someone won't even read the title of the game, let alone play it (unless it's a pretty epic game). Changing the name of Boryokudan Rue to Gemini Rue was a very good decision that shows sound judgement. Gemini Rue slides off the tongue, is catchy and sounds quite majestic. Boryokudan Rue, on the other hand, becomes more of a tongue twister, which in turn could certainly cause a number of problems.

It's a tricky thing, titles. Sometimes screenshots and actual game-play will trump names ie most best selling console games. On the other hand, these games have massive exposure, great marketing and are generally fad games.

Personally, game names certainly sway my opinion sometimes and, for the most part devs get it right IMO. Buying the game because of the title is a two way street, though. A great example would be when I bought Red Dead Redemption. Awesome title, the artwork was cool, the concept was cool, so I bought it. I was pretty disappointed with it after a while, but I think ultimately the name dragged me in. Primordia dragged me in with the title, too. But I certainly wasn't disappointed. If Primordia (being a pretty cool name) was called 'robot adventure' and, I hadn't seen the graphics, I'd probably think it naive and presume the gameplay to be as such. In short, a cool game name just works.

I think the best way to go about it would be to imagine your game in a list. The list doesn't show any screenshots, just titles. Now, imagine scrolling through the list and you can only pick out games to play/buy in accordance to the name. The answer becomes clear. Devs, writers, etc have a responsibility to come up with something interesting. The title should be just as important as the graphics and the game-play (in a perfect world). It's just my opinion.

Very ranty, but I think there's some valid points there. Somewhere 

E: Just want to add that I think The Samaritan Paradox is an excellent name for a game. It's really mysterious, keeps you guessing, sounds 'intellectual'. I really like it. Don't change it

[Anian]

You can send people a link from almost any device these days. Yeah, I get it, I've maybe made it take as much effort to get someone to play one of my games as it takes to, for example, tie your shoelace. That ain't going to stop me calling a game whatever I want.

I'm not trying to argue with you (or say that you're the only one who's doing this or claim this to be a big issue), I just want to say I understand why somebody might have trouble with some times (in relation to searching for it or remembering the name).

[dactylopus]

I had trouble finding some of Ben's games at first.

That said, I don't care.  I love the titles.

[Tenacious Stu]

I think an important aspect of the decision for a name also depends on how much you want your game to be found.

I think the issue is if for example I talk to a friend and tell them to look up "!", how are they supposed to find it without me pointing them to AGS games collection, which again needs extra explaining and such.

You can send people a link from almost any device these days. Yeah, I get it, I've maybe made it take as much effort to get someone to play one of my games as it takes to, for example, tie your shoelace. That ain't going to stop me calling a game whatever I want.

If, for instance, you wanted to create a commercial game and you wanted to generate an income from your game, then calling it '!' for example, would be a bad idea. I think in Ben's case, he would probably get away with it as his games are pretty well-known in the indie-adventure scene, but if you have no fanbase and are making a commercial game, then the name becomes extremely important. For freeware games that you make for fun and put in a place where you know that people who are interested will find it, then not so much.

Josh said as much about Gemini Rue in his Postmortem

[djbriandamage]

This thread reminds me of the game Lure of the Temptress which had neither a lure nor a temptress, but what a great name!

[Ghost]

This thread reminds me of the game Lure of the Temptress which had neither a lure nor a temptress, but what a great name!

Well- the Tempress WAS the lure 

I think names matter, and a game designer can use some tricks in order to make his game more attractive just by chosing a certain title.

Example Resonance. In his PDF Vince commented how the game was supposed to have a different name (I can't remember which one, and that already says something), but they used "Resonance". It is a single word, always nice. It describes a known scientific phenomena, also nice because the game tells us what it is about. But I found the other, more mundane meaning of the word really memorable: Someone does something and his/her actions have consequences, and that is a theme that's also in the game. Triple win.

Names are a good way to establish a brand- as in Star War, Indiana Jones, Blackwell, Barn Runner. After a few nice games linked to a brand, the [repeated name] bit alone can persuade a customer to buy the game: I'll get Blackwell: The Blackest Well because I've already played a couple of good Blackwell games, not because this one apparently has a really black well in it.

Names can be memorable without having much to do with the actual game OR by summing up all of a game's essence. "Dark Seed" and "Full Throttle" don't tell me anything specific about the game behind the title, but they sum up the core theme. "Sam And Max, Freelance Police, In Search Of The Escaped Yeti" tell me EVERYTHING about the game's premise, but the title still is memorable for its sheer length.

Names that make an acronym are also nice. DOTT? DITA, anyone  ?

And, as stated above, since these days everyone seems to hit the internet first when a game is announced, it is a nice bonus to have a title that's easy to remember, hard to mistype, and that will get you somewhere at the top of a google search. Though I still think that this is really just a bonus.

Bad names are made by combining the name of a war setting, a military buzzword, and a random number to a string.

[Vince Twelve]

Example Resonance. In his PDF Vince commented how the game was supposed to have a different name (I can't remember which one, and that already says something), but they used "Resonance". It is a single word, always nice. It describes a known scientific phenomena, also nice because the game tells us what it is about. But I found the other, more mundane meaning of the word really memorable: Someone does something and his/her actions have consequences, and that is a theme that's also in the game. Triple win.

During the writing process, the scientific-sounding attribute that bound the two fictional particles together (the game's MacGuffin, if you will) was called "Spin" rather than "Resonance".  One of the twin particles would have a certain degree of "Spin" and the other would have an equal but opposite "Counter-Spin".  And so, I was calling the game "Spin/Counter-Spin".

This also tied into some of the themes I was writing into the story -- namely, the theme of false dichotomy.  The first half of the game was going to be all about black and whites.  Good characters and evil characters.  Spin and Counter-Spin.  Ruined desert landscapes pockmarked by lush, domed cities.  And then the second half (after THAT scene) was going to be all about shades of grays.  Doing bad things with the best intentions.  Good of the many over good of the few.  Stuff like that.

As the game developed, this proved a bit too-ambitious for my own writing skills and the story developed in a different manner.  Plus, around this time, the words "Spin" and "Counter-Spin" became common terms describing political double-speak, and the title was feeling too clunky.

So I brainstormed up the word Resonance and loved it for the multiple meanings discussed.  I had settled on Resonance as a title before any of the game's proper development actually started.