Hi! This post shows the process for how I came up with the current name for my current commercial indie game in early production, Rocket Game… which is now going to be called Collision Theory! It discusses three important tests that you could do for your own project to choose a suitable name, identifying if the name has a thematic hook and appeal, verifying that the name it is easy to spell, remember or say in conversation and finally, checking that the name is not already taken by a competing media property.
This is considered a Weekly Post, but I decided to change the title and thesis so that it is more interesting to a reader.
New Name… Collision Theory
The game’s new name is going to be called Collision Theory, named after the chemistry concept. One of the main reasons I chose this name because I have a fondness for media that is named after academic concepts like in science, philosophy or mathematics. I know that I still childishly smirk when I see the word ‘Half-Life’ in mathematics textbooks, even though at this point I have read it more in the context of the actual science of radioactive decay instead of the famous video game.. I like the idea of things from the real world reminding people of my game, and so that alone is appealing.
First Test… does the name fit and is it interesting?
The name, Collision Theory, was also suggested because of the main gameplay loop and hook involving using your energy blaster creating powerful explosives which collide environment, puzzle pieces and boss enemies in order to. On a surface level, this is quite relevant to the real concept of Collison Theory due to the collisions, but there is also
The main character is also an astronaut which uses a jetpack to fly around. This thematic hook being tied to a scientific concept is a fitting name as the mixture of soft science-fiction setting and the gameplay mechanics are interconnected.
Subjectively, it is also an interesting and cool sounding name. It has a slight hook for people who are aware of the concept, who might wonder how it is relevant (and hence they will see how the gameplay feature connects to it in addition to the theme) but it is also cool and futuristic sounding to a general audience.
Second Test… can you remember and spell it easily?
For this test, it requires a bit of case-by-case balance. If the name chosen is a completely fictional concept, such as Narbucular Drop, it can be quite memorable and hard to mistake with other games or concept if it sounds fun to say or read. There is a risk, however, that a potential user might not remember how to spell it and so the spelling of the fictional name should be just different enough from other words that, if they misspelled it in a search engine, they can still find it. ![[Pasted image 20230917143415.png]]
I even misspelled it in this paragraph too… but kept the mistake to illustrate my point that as long as its memorable it should be ok. It helps that the title is a ‘phrase’ that has the word ‘Drop’ in it too, which helps ‘ground’ it to be memorable.
An example of a game that might not be as marketable a name doe to this reason might be the game Abeyance, which I had found as a submission on Indie Game Festival. It is a rarer word in the English language and can be hard to pronounce for some people, especially those who have English as a second language. It is also tricky to remember how to spell.
Despite this, however, the name is still coherent enough that it did not disqualify the game from nominations at competitions like GDWC.
Collision Theory is a name that rolls off the tongue well and it is easy to remember while being interest. So I think it passes this test
Final test.. does there already exist media with that title?
When deciding on the name, I went through a few simple tests. First, I checked that there isn’t already a media property that has the same name. So I would use my search engine…
I would see that the first results are the actual concept. I would then add keywords like ‘game’ or ‘movie’ to look into it further.
There aren’t any for games.
There is an unreleased movie with the same name that is in pre-production and not made by a big studio. No trailers or teasers. Even if there already were a released movie, having a game of the same name is okay.
I also checked search results on a site like Itch.io just in case.
Nothing. Not even a game jam game. Even if there is a game jam name of a similar name, it can still be a suitable risk to take if the name chosen is good.
Conclusion
After going through some simple tests, I was able to be comfortable that the name is at least suitable as the first proper name of the game. I do think it can be a bit early to think of a name, as it may change over development easily and it doesn’t impact too much for the game’s real content and work that can be done, but I do think that a name can help with setting the tone of the game even early on.
You may also want to register a good name as soon as you can to prevent someone else taking it by coincidence.
Otherwise, I am not sure when is a good to decide on a name for a game or any media project. You can do quite a lot of early work with just a placeholder name, and you don’t want to spend too long before doing real work as that can be a form of procrastination. At the same time, you do want to claim a good name as early as you can to prevent copyright issues.
In the industry, names tend to be given the prefix ‘Project’ in front of it, as projects might be redone if there are negative feedback and would need a new name to get fresh impressions. This is still a risk I am willing to take for Collision Theory as it had gone through a few playtesting feedback already that was neutral at worst but overall positive.
In my project, it was after some playable prototypes where I started to think about the name and the appeal.
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