Roguelike names

gf wrote:
> Also film-atomsphere ones: "You only live once", "The Pits of Angband".

Is Angband really called 'The Pits of Angband'?? Interesting

A.
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Antoine wrote: > So I have a problem; I have an in-dev roguelike
called... I don't know > what to call it! > > What do you think is
important to take into account when naming a > roguelike? > Something
that can be abbreviated is nice. Or an acronym. CRL for CastlevaniaRL.
Also names ending with RL. It's your call, really. > And which of the
existing roguelikes do you think have good names, and > why? > > I
would assert, for example, > - that 'Angband' and 'Moria' are good
names (for pulling in Tolkien > fans) > - that 'Rogue' must be an
excellent name since it has managed to attach > itself to the entire
genre (and thus has more staying power than the > actual game it
describes!) > - that 'Nethack' is a lousy name since it is not played
over the 'net' > and is not really 'hack'-n-slash > - that 'Linley's
Dungeon Crawl' sounds a bit limp, and that 'Crawl' > would be a better
name if it weren't for the problem that it doesn't > Google very well >
- that 'sCthangband' is appalling! > > A. Really, once your game is
out there and popular, it won't matter much. But I agree that a snappy
name helps. For instance, my engine project is just PerlRL now. Dull
and boring. Some other, much sillier ideas I've considered: Spiffy
Perl Roguelike that is Obselete and Covered in Ketchup and happens to
be Extra Terrestrial = Sprocket (Don't ask.) Spiffy Text Adventure
Boring RPG System = StabRPGs (Kind of dumb.) The name should probably
fit the theme of the game, or a central/important idea in the game. My
demo game that facilitates PerlRL, which I'll be ready to release in
about a week (Finally!), is called DemoRL for now, but I could make it
fit the theme by calling it DreamRL, EmotionRL, ImaginatioNRL,
NightmareRL, etc. Or I could focus on a single idea and just drop the
RL suffix... The Starlit River, Caught between a River and the Sea,
Beauty in the Depths. I'm aiming for some poetic, but that's just me.
Anyway, it's honestly up to you. If you'd like more ideas, perhaps try
describing the game. I'm sure rgrd has plenty of ideas! (Sorry for
using Google Groups, I'm lazy.)
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Stu George wrote:
> On 2 Jul 2006 16:27:50 -0700, "Antoine" <mail.RemoveThis@guildgame.com> wrote:
>
> >So I have a problem; I have an in-dev roguelike called... I don't know
> >what to call it!
>
> It doesnt matter what its called until its released, and even then,
> it doesnt matter what its called once its released.

Dont know what you are getting at here. First up you must know what
your game is called before release, so you can document, add headings
to you game, etc. Secondly a bad name will mostlikely turn people away.
We are in a genre where we need everybit of help we can get to stand
out. So obviously choosing a name is something to be taken seriously.

First impressions are important and they all start with the name.

> >What do you think is important to take into account when naming a
> >roguelike?

Something that sums up the game may be good but it is hard to do.
DoomRL is a standout here. I'd just go for something that sounds
'cool'.

Find a word the sums up your game then hit the thesaurus.

I call my engine DemiseRL and was based on this approach, (however
demise was already taken in cRPG world) Maybe I will call it
downfallRL.


> >And which of the existing roguelikes do you think have good names, and
> >why?

Some good names,
DeadCold, GearHead
Warp Rogue,
Frozen Depths,
DoomRL,

Looks like I have an affinity to two-word names.
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Corremn wrote:
> I call my engine DemiseRL and was based on this approach, (however
> demise was already taken in cRPG world) Maybe I will call it
> downfallRL.

So what was the first roguelike whose name ends in RL?

A.
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Antoine wrote:
> - that 'Linley's Dungeon Crawl' sounds a bit limp

Aww, it just needs to play up the "Vance/D&D Spell Name" angle to it.
How about...
"Linley's Daring Descent?"
or
"Linley's Legendary Ordeal?"

You fellows have yet to mention the name of the roguelike "Ancient
Domains of Mystery", a name that is bold but utterly fallacious (Why
are they called "Domains"? Where's the "Mystery"? And according to the
storyline none of them are "Ancient" at all! Bah!)
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Sexbang?
Dungeons of Boom?
RockRogue?
FingerBang?
TrouserBash?

I'm going to stop now. My immature sense of humour.




Christopher Brandt wrote:
> Corremn schrieb:
> <snip>
> >>> And which of the existing roguelikes do you think have good names, and
> >>> why?
> >
> > Some good names,
> > DeadCold, GearHead
> > Warp Rogue,
> > Frozen Depths,
> > DoomRL,
> >
> > Looks like I have an affinity to two-word names.
> >
>
> I found the name for the 7dRL I made pretty good: "RogueTower". You can
> easily see what kind of game it is and it sounds kinda cool for me too.
> That's not a self-praise, because the name was invented by a friend of mine.
>
>
> Christopher Brandt
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Gerry Quinn wrote:
> Moria sounds better than Angband, which is an odd-sounding name in
> English if you don't know your Tolkien (and clearly I don't)

How is it pronounced in english? Eingband?
Always wondered how Kaduria is pronounced in english. Is it
Kheidiuria or something else... Funny, almost feels like this has
been discussed before.
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Gerry Quinn wrote:
> In article <1151929940.635608.276260.RemoveThis@a14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
> paulkp.RemoveThis@mbnet.fi says...
> > Gerry Quinn wrote:
> > > Moria sounds better than Angband, which is an odd-sounding name in
> > > English if you don't know your Tolkien (and clearly I don't)
> >
> > How is it pronounced in english? Eingband?
> > Always wondered how Kaduria is pronounced in english. Is it
> > Kheidiuria or something else... Funny, almost feels like this has
> > been discussed before.
>
> Well, I don't know how they *should* be pronounced, but the natural
> pronunciation of 'angband' would be like rang-band without the r and a
> bit more stress on the first syllable.

I concur.

> And 'Kaduria' would be
> kad-oor-ia, with the strongest stress on the 'oor' syllable. [They are
> stressed like 'Lapland' and 'Australia' respectively.]

I almost concur. I (with my United States accent, which I can't
remember if Gerry shares, plus deformation from years of Czech) would
pronounce it as "Ka doo ree uh", with "Ka" as in "cat" if speaking
somewhat carefully, or as "Keh" or K-plus-schwa or K-plus-glottal-stop
if speaking with various, increasing degrees of sloppiness.

e.
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

L_1_L_0 DeleteThis @yahoo.com wrote:
> Antoine wrote:
> > - that 'Linley's Dungeon Crawl' sounds a bit limp
>
> Aww, it just needs to play up the "Vance/D&D Spell Name" angle to it.
> How about...
> "Linley's Daring Descent?"
> or
> "Linley's Legendary Ordeal?"

I very much like this approach for initial names.

In my mind, if you dont know how to name it,
it is probably a pretty bland game, so maybe it is better to call it
a roguelike engine ?

Cheers,
T.

>
> You fellows have yet to mention the name of the roguelike "Ancient
> Domains of Mystery", a name that is bold but utterly fallacious (Why
> are they called "Domains"? Where's the "Mystery"? And according to the
> storyline none of them are "Ancient" at all! Bah!)
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Antoine schrieb:
> So I have a problem; I have an in-dev roguelike called... I don't know
> what to call it!
>
> What do you think is important to take into account when naming a
> roguelike?

* The name should be as unique as possible.
Use google to make sure that the name you have chosen has not been taken
yet.

Example: Tower of Doom
I did not google before chosing that one..
Later someone pointed out that "Tower of Doom" was the name of an old
D&D game.

* The name should not contain any trademarks, unless you have the
required license

Example: PernAngband
DarkGod got C&Ded for that one.

* The name should not limit possible development unless you are 100%
sure that your current design will not change!

Example: Tower of Doom again.
At one point I decided to completely change the plot of the game and
because of that the name no longer made any sense so I had to rename it
to "Warp Rogue". That name was deliberately chosen because it is so
"generic". I am about the completely change the plot again but this time
there will be no problems.

* The name should be pronounceable / easy to remember.

Example: Yzxtcly
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

L_1_L_0.RemoveThis@yahoo.com wrote:
> Antoine wrote:
> > - that 'Linley's Dungeon Crawl' sounds a bit limp
>
> Aww, it just needs to play up the "Vance/D&D Spell Name" angle to it.
> How about...
> "Linley's Daring Descent?"
> or
> "Linley's Legendary Ordeal?"
>
> You fellows have yet to mention the name of the roguelike "Ancient
> Domains of Mystery", a name that is bold but utterly fallacious (Why
> are they called "Domains"? Where's the "Mystery"? And according to the
> storyline none of them are "Ancient" at all! Bah!)

Does the storyline really give a specific (and non-ancient) age for the
realms within Ancardia? I never paid that much attention to the
backstory.

The ADOM overworld has always felt big enough for me to imagine it
having domains. And they certainly do have mystery in a meta sense --
as a closed-source game, it has always contained mysteries for the
players. As for the viewpoint of individual PCs -- well, they do gain a
lot of information about what's going on in Ancardia over the course of
the game (the source of the trouble is in the Caverns of Chaos; the
identities and natures of the Medium Foozle Level, the Medium Foozle,
the Big Foozle Level, and the Big Foozle are such-and-such, the path to
the Big Foozle has such-and-such gate-like features that must be
unlocked so-and-so).

That said, I've often yawned over the name in passing as well. Not so
much when first starting, though, and like someone said, it was that
first impression that counted.

e.
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

Corremn schrieb:
<snip>
>>> And which of the existing roguelikes do you think have good names, and
>>> why?
>
> Some good names,
> DeadCold, GearHead
> Warp Rogue,
> Frozen Depths,
> DoomRL,
>
> Looks like I have an affinity to two-word names.
>

I found the name for the 7dRL I made pretty good: "RogueTower". You can
easily see what kind of game it is and it sounds kinda cool for me too.
That's not a self-praise, because the name was invented by a friend of mine.


Christopher Brandt
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names 

In article <1151882870.260956.107830.DeleteThis@h44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
mail.DeleteThis@guildgame.com says...
> So I have a problem; I have an in-dev roguelike called... I don't know
> what to call it!

And I have one called 'Delver', but I've found there is or was another
of that name.

But it's only a working title anyway. I have some ideas, but at the
moment I'm building 'The Delver Engine' which will be used to program
one or more games, titles unknown. I think it encapsulates the engine
better anyway, i.e. it describes the behaviour of a character exploring
underground, but says nothing about why he is there.

> What do you think is important to take into account when naming a
> roguelike?

Theme of the story, I guess.

> And which of the existing roguelikes do you think have good names, and
> why?
>
> I would assert, for example,
> - that 'Angband' and 'Moria' are good names (for pulling in Tolkien
> fans)

Moria sounds better than Angband, which is an odd-sounding name in
English if you don't know your Tolkien (and clearly I don't)

> - that 'Rogue' must be an excellent name since it has managed to attach
> itself to the entire genre (and thus has more staying power than the
> actual game it describes!)

A good name, but one might associate it with 'adult' themes (leaving
aside altogether the frequent mis-spelling as 'Rouge').

> - that 'Nethack' is a lousy name since it is not played over the 'net'
> and is not really 'hack'-n-slash

Agreed.

> - that 'Linley's Dungeon Crawl' sounds a bit limp, and that 'Crawl'
> would be a better name if it weren't for the problem that it doesn't
> Google very well

Agreed. But 'Dungeon Crawl' isn't bad.

> - that 'sCthangband' is appalling!

Zangband is okay, though, in fact it's better than Angband IMO.

- Gerry Quinn
 >> Stay informed about: Roguelike names