Top of mind for me after reading this article is that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet should just be called The Heretic Prophet, and Horizon: Zero Dawn should have just been called Zero Dawn.
Duskfade is a perfectly pleasant 3D platformer with Kingdom Hearts-style combat that came out a couple of months ago. Once I’ve finished typing this paragraph, however, it will once again erase itself from my memory, because there’s nothing evocative about the name.
I feel that says more about the game than the name. Like I find (scrolls through Steam library) Bullet Witch is a more memorable name than say Portal, but I can tell you a hell of a lot more about the latter.
“Beyond that—I actually think that naming isn’t that important, since most people buy a game based on video footage, someone else playing it, or a recommendation. And we’ve seen in music and elsewhere that weird names are in no way a blocker to becoming successful.” Carless cites Steely Dan and Bananarama as examples.
Do people really look at the videos on Steam? I always immediately click past them to look at the images.
Failbetter’s next game is called Mandrake—the result of lots of collaborative longlisting, Flynn says. As well as encapsulating horticultural and sorcerer-type themes, it’s the name of the game’s main character.
This would be like if Esoteric Ebb called itself ‘Cleric’, though given Wizards of the Coast is publishing a game called ‘Warlock: Dungeon & Dragons’ I suppose it wouldn’t be that out there.
Good article though.
Katana314@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
<NOUN>FALL.
tal@lemmy.today 2 hours ago
There was an earlier era, when <NOUN> hadn’t been already taken.
Soccer
Boxing
Backgammon
Empire
Grand Prix
Ephera@lemmy.ml 2 hours ago
Yep, roguelikes are roguelikes, because there was literally a game called “Rogue” way back in 1980: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game)
snooggums@piefed.world 3 hours ago
AUTUMNFALL
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Rise of the <noun>
Shadow of the <noun>
Tomb Raider did both of them.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 hour ago
Shows the name doesn’t matter at all to be memorable or not memorable. It’s the popularity of the game that makes the name memorable, not the other way around. Also with your example in the post “Horizon: Zero Dawn should have just been called Zero Dawn”, how would it be more memorable? Horizon is a catch word to have with all their games in the series, for easier recognition with later releases. It makes perfect sense for a game series that is planned to be like this, and perfectly memorable.
The game quality makes names memorable, not the other way around.