Choosing name for your game

There are a lot of games named with parts of popular games like "Doodle*****" , "Angry*****" what do you think about this? For me it feels like its not really my own if I would name my game partly after someone else's . How do your thoughts go when naming your games?

Comments

  • mrpacogpmrpacogp Member Posts: 400
    edited January 2013
    Rule:
    When "Originality" = 0
    Change Attrib "game.Name" to "Something famous"
  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    Angry Doodle™
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    If you want to have a bestseller, you need to use some important keywords inside the title:
    "Doodle Angry Jumping Zombies Dash"
  • gamesfuagamesfua Member Posts: 723
    I think you should think about what the best title for YOUR game should be, and not what's the best title someone else has come up with. Angry Birds didnt steal the "angry" from another game- people stole the word "angry" from angry birds. Be your own trend setter.
    Either that or definitely use Socks' Angry Doodle (before he has time to sue you)
  • Alembic_SoftworksAlembic_Softworks Member Posts: 114
    I think using keywords is a necessary evil. When people don't know what they want to buy that day (I know I do this), I'll just query some general words and see what pops up. Sometimes originality works against smaller game developers in this scenario. If you name your game something obscure, it may not show up in search results. But then I'm a big fan of originality, "Angry (insert random noun here)" games make me feel like the developer is just phoning it in - basically, it screams "been there, done that". Short quirky names appeal to me as a consumer - try hybridizing a couple of words you feel best describe your game.
  • Alembic_SoftworksAlembic_Softworks Member Posts: 114
    If all else fails just slap 'ville' on the end of it.
  • DuesDues Member Posts: 1,159
    @Socks Angry Doodle... why didn't I think of that! ;)

    @TheMoonwalls You're joking right?

    :D

    @anatomyofdreams
    @Alembic_Softworks

    That's what I think to
  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    Either that or definitely use Socks' Angry Doodle (before he has time to sue you)
    :))
  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    If all else fails just slap 'ville' on the end of it.
    Careful I don't sue you.

    (Angry Doodle-Ville™ now available on the App Store)

  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    @Dues NO! I'm super cereal right now! "Doodle Angry Jumping Zombies Dash" is a great name!
  • DuesDues Member Posts: 1,159
    Well I didn't read your first post as a whole name :)
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    @Dues, well you could just name it "Angry Zombies", but aren't doodle, angry, and jumping zombies more cool that just angry zombies?
    BTW, do you even have zombies in your game?
  • SolarPepperStudiosSolarPepperStudios Member Posts: 754
    edited January 2013
    Angry Doodle Jumping Zombie Bird-Ville? :D

    Here's what Apple has to say on the matter :D

    The Importance of App Name and Icon Consistency
    Oct 23, 2009

    It's important when customers look for your app on their devices that they immediately recognize its icon and name, just as they appeared when the user downloaded your app from the store.

    There are various creative ways to design your App Store icon so that it is similar to the icon that will be displayed on a user’s device—one technique for instance is to present a close-up of a specific icon section—but whatever approach you take, make sure the small icon retains a very similar look to the large one.

    Similarly, you should create a name for your app that will be consistent with what customers see on the App Store and how it appears on their device. If your app’s name in iTunes Connect is, for instance, “Coraline’s Creative Cajun Cooking,” good choices for short names for devices might be “CreativeCajun,” or “CajunCooking” or “Coraline’s,” which directly evoke the long name, but not “Good Eats,” “Louisiana,” or “Comfort Food,” which do not.

    The golden rule is simply that an end user should instantly associate the name and large icon in the iTunes App Store with the name and app icon on their devices.
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    edited January 2013
    @Utveckla_Games please don't write two replies in a row. You can edit your previous message to add new content. I merged your posts.
  • SolarPepperStudiosSolarPepperStudios Member Posts: 754
    @TheMoonwalls Thanks! Didn't know that I was supposed to that but now I do! :D
  • DuesDues Member Posts: 1,159
    @Dues, well you could just name it "Angry Zombies", but aren't doodle, angry, and jumping zombies more cool that just angry zombies?
    BTW, do you even have zombies in your game?
    Of course I don't have zombies in my game..that's sooo 2012
    :>
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    @Dues so why do you want to have "zombies" in your game's title? :P
  • DuesDues Member Posts: 1,159
    edited January 2013
    @TheMoonwalls Where did I say that? :)
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    @Dues you didn't, but everyone wants to have zombies! And bacon. I have zombies in two of my games - they're great - you should meet them. I'm sure you will like eachother, especially if your brain is tasty :)
    Have a brainy day >:)
  • JDuaneJJDuaneJ San Francisco Member Posts: 300
    Sometimes we just bring the thesaurus into the mix and look for action words that describe our app the best. Find out the most popular words that you like. Also there are some great name generators that, while not giving you an exact perfect name, can steer you in the right direction and help you think outside the box a bit. I found one...don't remember the link...that allows you to add categories of words and phrases too.

    In any case, be sure to not wait until you're ready to submit your app to Apple to name your app. You may find out that this golden name you have picked that is perfect in every way, has been reserved by someone else already. You can reserve a name for I think 180 days before you ever submit anything. So even if you are not complete with development, start the app process on iTC.

    Also, simply searching the App Store is not a great way to see if your name has been used yet. The App Store will not reveal names that have been reserved by others, or names of apps/games in other countries. I learned the hard way on this one.
  • DuesDues Member Posts: 1,159
    @TheMoonwalls =)) I like you man >:D<
  • DuesDues Member Posts: 1,159
    @JDuaneJ thanks for a real post :)
  • TesseractEngineTesseractEngine Member Posts: 180
    edited January 2013
    image

    @TheMoonwalls You might be interested in one of my upcoming games... 'The Bacon-Dead™'. It's a cross between Angry Birds and Plants and Zombies. In my game, the pigs are green BECAUSE THEY ARE ZOMBIES.
  • sparkaniasparkania Member, PRO Posts: 300
    Well if you want to come up on the most searches, you can use the Most Popular words in game titles.. call your game "The Super NBA Dragon Star"

    more seriously though.. Milking someone elses name IS petty. (Unless it's a sport) The success of your game rarely comes from the name.. rather from your Promotion of that game. But that shouldn't stop you from being creative. break norms.. BE original in your game and people will talk about it even though it's called "The Blob".. I personally just played for like 20 minutes a game in the GS arcade where the character is a running block of cheese.. sure it's a knock-off of an old Batman Nintendo game.. but it was really fun..
  • TesseractEngineTesseractEngine Member Posts: 180
    More seriously...

    I think 'me too' naming is a ridiculous practice, and does nothing but harm your product. It's a desperate marketing strategy, akin to hanging around with people better looking than you so you can hit on their cast-offs.

    If you've got a great product, name it something you can own. There are no definitive rules in this. Some might suggest you have to go for something short-and-snappy, easily remembered. But there are successes that didn't. The important thing is that the name uniquely identifies your game.
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