Whats in a Name (partial Post Mortem)

Here is a post mortem on the name of my recent Xblig game.

It seems quite a lot really. Mostly it is funny how ya don't always realise what is right in front of ya nose.

Take for example my most recent game 'A Shooter'. I did quite a lot of research in game names that were popular for the iPhone. I found that a lot of games for the iphone name iBlah did rather well. In fact of the large list of games that started their name with the letter 'i', most had done rather better than other similar named games. How is this so? Well i don't know of course, but that wasn't gonna stop me using this information to make the name of my game better and more sellable.

But research is only as good as two things (well two that come immediately to mind).
1. Applying this research.
2. Attention to the details of the research.

I did not quite pay enough attention to number 2. I had all the right information, but i failed to notice one vital thing. I did not apply my research properly (number 1). I did it wrong and simply put i ... Well wait... Have you already figured out the mistake only a buffoon could make?

Let's give ya a clue....
Here is a few of the researched names.
 iShooter
 iFart
Ad here is the name of My game,
 A Shooter

So? did ya notice the difference? Yeah... I should have made the name 'aShooter' and NOT 'A Shooter'.

It may seem like a silly and subtle mistake, but it has had some dire consequences. For example, you cannot search for my games name. If you do, you will be inundated with so many fps shooter games it is insane. It is just not possible to find my game. This is really bad, and i would suggest anyone that is thinking of naming their game, they go do a simple Google search to see if it is still advisable.

Please take this as a cautionary tale. Think first,and before you act, think again.

I removed my Xblig reserved name today ("A Platformer"). i am sure you all know why.

g'night

Name for the game is lacking

I love to name my game when i start it. So much character can come from naming a game. Especially if it is a name that i can relate too. So far i have two names, neither of which i really like. Avatar-Man and BombVatar-Man... So i will probably change that as soon as i get more design work done.

On the front of working on the design, i have been pondering an issue my new game faces. If you looked at my post with the design drawings you would have noticed how similar the game looks to Pacman. Now the maze is a bit pacman like for sure, but the issue isn't that. Well not totally that. It is in fact the issue of getting character into my game. Being too far away and rendering my avatar the size of pacman will be a bit of a let down. I have ben wondering how i can make everything bigger, but still retain my granularity of map.

so i decided i knew the answer, i would force everything to a new 45 degree angle and have everything that is in the game be twice as tall as the walls. This will give me double size characters to play with and people to look at. That should enable me to keep characters feeling good and fresh while not killing the gameplay elements i have lined up.

Laters