Finding the perfect name..

[namastaii]

I've had a year to let my game's name 'come to me' and now that I'm starting to really get it together (after many many breaks), I have no idea what it should be called. Feel free to give me any ideas you have but I just wanted to vent about this. lol

Maybe I need to wait until after I implement more story.. All I've been doing for the most part is putting together gui and functionality. I want it all done and organized before adding more story and adventure. Though, it's going to be more gameplay than a story.

Right now it's called 'What Life' and I don't...really know if I like it. I kinda came up with it on a whim one day (maybe expecting it to be temporary)

It's basically a dating sim but.. not only focused on dating. It's supposed to be a more complicated game. Kind of close to the Sims in a way..you start out with basically nothing and you choose what goes on in your sims life. That's how free I want it to feel. Which is why it'll take a long time to complete it but if it will be this big..I might as well stick to it for a while and add to it over time and make it better.

[fmjaye]

I'm not especially good at naming things... Naming things is the worst and I avoid doing it as long as I can stand to. But I do have something of a system!
Write down about five traits of your game. They can be surface things, like the setting, or deeper things like the overriding theme of the game.
Or to put it more simply, what are the five words you'd use to describe your game?
Those five words are now categories. For example, some categories might be outer space, noir and perfectionism. In each category, list words that connect to that.
Space could have cosmic, nova... idk, large hadron collider?
Once you have a nice list you just unceremoniously combine words that sound good or make some modicum of sense until you happen upon something you like! |D;
Having some kind of system can also just help you figure out what you do and don't want just by going through it.

[namastaii]

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm trying to do! lol I had to do just that for the name I'm going to put on my games. I basically just made a list of words that I associate with how I make my games etc or what they're meant to represent and ended up combing two words into one word and one of the words being in a foreign language so the whole word sounds original. It's cool but I also want the game itself to stand out with the title it has...hopefully so maybe...as I start to add more stuff...hopefully...something comes to me. Maybe it'll be a simple name still. I have no idea. I'm very indecisive and not too confident about naming things. I used to write (or start to write) a lot of stories growing up and the hardest part was literally giving it a title lol So I'd end up picking some really hidden but somewhat significant word or phrase that could be found in the story whether it's a direct quote or just related to something that happens and pick that for the title.

[Klawzie]

Haven't completed a game yet, so most of my title experience is with the romance books I write.

Generally, I come up with a concept and give it the most obvious and/or ridiculous title based on the concept there is. Something I probably won't get attached to is the intention (and it has the added bonus of amusing me). So if I were writing about.... uuh - let's say a magical girl. I might give it a silly title like "Frilly Butt and Stardust". As I write, the story's true theme starts to surface and I'll write down possible title ideas in a "side file" just to keep the brainstorm so I can focus on the story itself. Often, I'll be around 80% finished writing before a title properly sticks because I understand the theme/message by that point and am editing the whole work to make sure I carry that theme through properly. So my hypothetical magical girl story might end up as "Stardust (and Other Annoying Things)" because I realize that the story is about how my MC is having trouble adjusting to the magical girl life.

PS: Adding "Stardust" to "games I want to consider doing one day" files because it sounds like fun. xD;

[NibiNibi]

When I was in high school, my literature teacher said something really inspiring. That the best way to come up with the title for the story is use the name of one thing from the plot, that people will think that is not so important. But when they read the whole story, the readers get the feeling - OH, RIGHT. Now I get it!
I don't know if I'm clear... but I ant to say that name of seemingly insignificant part of the story is one of the best choises.

[namastaii]

Haven't completed a game yet, so most of my title experience is with the romance books I write.

Generally, I come up with a concept and give it the most obvious and/or ridiculous title based on the concept there is. Something I probably won't get attached to is the intention (and it has the added bonus of amusing me). So if I were writing about.... uuh - let's say a magical girl. I might give it a silly title like "Frilly Butt and Stardust". As I write, the story's true theme starts to surface and I'll write down possible title ideas in a "side file" just to keep the brainstorm so I can focus on the story itself. Often, I'll be around 80% finished writing before a title properly sticks because I understand the theme/message by that point and am editing the whole work to make sure I carry that theme through properly. So my hypothetical magical girl story might end up as "Stardust (and Other Annoying Things)" because I realize that the story is about how my MC is having trouble adjusting to the magical girl life.

PS: Adding "Stardust" to "games I want to consider doing one day" files because it sounds like fun. xD;

I like that lol but especially the idea with having a side note to add ideas to along the way instead of deciding only at one time.

When I was in high school, my literature teacher said something really inspiring. That the best way to come up with the title for the story is use the name of one thing from the plot, that people will think that is not so important. But when they read the whole story, the readers get the feeling - OH, RIGHT. Now I get it!
I don't know if I'm clear... but I ant to say that name of seemingly insignificant part of the story is one of the best choises.

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I was never taught that in my creative writing classes or anything in school but I found it to work well for my stories in the past

The thing is, I do realize my game is more of a 'game' and less of a story so.. I'm not sure how well this strategy relates to this specific situation..hmm Whenever I think of a game I liked growing up..the title was pretty straightforward. (The Sims, Grand Theft Auto, Rollercoaster Tycoon) those titles explain exactly what the game is basically. But then there are game titles that are a little less direct but you still know what it's going to be about (Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, etc) but..then there are games that you need to learn what it is about because the title is so vague and maybe I could even do that. I guess it just depends (Zelda, Aura Kingdom(does this count?), Fiesta online, lucent heart, maplestory (i dont know why these MMO names are these names so.. but Zelda is a game where you don't know what the title really means until you play it or hear from somewhere else))

[kistnerelizabeth]

I know this sounds funny, but Thesaurus.com can really help you come up with a name. I tried using the plot and characters and theme and setting of my game to come up with names and had a huge list of them, but just couldn't find the right words for the name. Then I started putting all the words I used in my names into Thesaurus.com and eventually came up with the perfect combination of words that everyone I asked went "OOH! I like that one!" I hope this might help a little bit.