WE HAVE A TITLE: "CAN YOU DIG IT?" ( Week 3)

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IT'S OFFICIAL: WE HAVE A TITLE!

First of all, a huge thanks to Kyle Claset on Facebook for suggesting this. As you can see in the above screenshot, that is officially the title of our project and no I'm not used to it yet. Our title became a clear winner after about three days. I honestly didn't think it would end up like this. In the end, the winner got an overwhelming response even from random folks I spoke to. It was hard to deny, maybe it's destiny?

THE VOTERS (ALL Y'ALL)

For the record, I asked everyone I could: friends, family, foes, fans, familiars, Facebook, and foreigners. The list grew longer as people came up with new ideas. I also tried AI for suggestions as did one other person through the comments. Then a list was compiled of the top ones that weren't taken already on Google and yet it failed to keep our prospects and potentials short. It was hard to choose one or any, I loved them all.

Sadly, the number of titles was overwhelming and spread us too thin across a wide margin. In the future I'd probably narrow down choices to top 5 and not worry about it as much. But titling a game is such a big deal, it's hard to let go of any one. It's a calculated risk.

Dragging the process into a phase one and two seemed unfavorable, since there was so much to do, so little time, and needed to get one that could truly stand against a crowd. It was tough to narrow down choices but am grateful for everyone's feedback and patience. In the future we'll figure out a better way to reduce options to a max of 10 (for example). Do you agree or disagree (let me know in the comments)?

As you can see, Can You Dig It? (yes you can) came ahead of Loot Hunter and my personal favorite Treasureville. I think it's important to establish a good title early on since the moment you start promoting your game, it can have a domino effect on everything from your dev site to how people remember you. Sharing the name of your project gets you excited as well as others when you've got a solid one.

You'll notice Boaty McBoatface was included. An aquiantence theorized the dangers of adding this to any list because for some reason, people love to choose this over everything else no matter how serious the sitation may be. There was a bit of skepticism, but after testing, it's totally true. Out of four posts this was included in one and became the winner.

Don't add this to any list but if you do, I guarantee it'll win. I'm sure someday a child, planet, or country will be named this if the internet has it's way. Maybe someday, but not today.

A blessing in disguise is being able to have a backup in case titles becomes a legal infringement or some other complication unforeseen. Not only is it good to have options but with a larger pool of people weighing in, you have an early vetted name that can help sell in an otherwise crowded market. Every bit helps.

Let's face it, when it comes to indie games, it's hard to stand out. If anything, I don't think you can afford NOT to spend the time to do it right and put in some effort into a great name. You can always code, model, animate, and do all the grunt work after.

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!

As you can see from the Start Menu screenshot and our blog, we've updated the title on everything so far. Today is the day our baby is born! Not much else remains since this is a major step worth waiting for. The next step is to come up with our hero font to go along with the game's mood, style, and name.

The usage of a generic sans-serif (a straight font without any curly ends) is intentional. While tempting to try different designs, it takes away from our focus when it comes to content and subject matter. For now, let's relish in this milestone moment.

Next week will be kept simple and be about font choices, ideally top 4. Again, while working on a game is ideal, taking a moment to pause development for things like this matters. Next to choosing a title, fonts establish style and identity.

Once you pick a killer style that works for your project, you can use it in your UI, dev log, website, and it really helps to marry one's graphics with the way you share and everything you do. The project evolves into a definite persona. It helps to build recognition and stand out from the crowd (hopefully).

Afterwards, we'll put together a graphic design doc with the project's main colors, font, title, and everything in between so that all design choices, from UI to website, fit one cohesive presentation. Given the ramification, it's worth the extra mile. After week 5, most of our dev log should be about the game's content and mechanics.

It's tempting to want to work on signs and other designs but gameplay needs to come first over graphics. We'll see how it all goes. Surely something will be figured out.

More to talk about but we'll leave it for next week. Until then, to be continued...