| View previous topic - View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Mobius unlogged :-\
Guest
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 6:23 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
weird title eh?
ManaKin
Necrodies (necro de-ess)
Phage
//PH34R\\
.P4N-D0R4
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Jihgfed Pumpkinhead
Stephen Hawking
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 259
Location: Toronto, Canada
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 6:55 pm Post subject: Titles Part Two |
[quote] |
|
| Mandrake wrote: | | If you mean the word "soft" being a weak word... |
To a degree, but I was really talking mostly about metre. Under the Island of Soft Light goes weak/strong/weak/weak/strong/weak/weak/weak (I'm sure there's a proper notation of some sort for metre, but I can't remember what it is). It's not a bad way to structure a phrase, just a poor title, to my mind; most great titles are iambic, and there's a reason for this.
When I said the whole thing was weak, what I meant was that it was almost pastoral, or at least lacked energy. On the flip-side, it conjures images of (I think you'll understand what I mean by this) the "dreamtime", or the "golden era"; which isn't such a very bad thing, sure, but it doesn't seem to mesh with what you've told us of your game; or at least, doesn't mesh with my image of it.
| Mandrake wrote: | | I don't quite understand what you mean by "cleverly". |
I don't mean that they are contrived; I mean that they are intellectual only, and lacking therefore in any sort of inner resonance. At least to me.
| Mandrake wrote: | | I like them, they carry images with themk for me, and most work pretty well in the game for diffrent reasons. |
I understand that they must be meaningful to you, but they are barren to me. I mean, maybe I'm just oddly constituted, but maybe not; I guess it would help to have other people's opinions.
Perhaps it comes down to a difference in what we expect in a title. I like titles that are immediately powerful. I think you are here arguing for titles which may not be so immediately strong, but do grow on one. If this is your criterion, I think that your titles work fine; I just usually look for something a little different.
In case I didn't mention it before, I think .pandora was the best title of the ones you gave. I think, actually, it's best by both of our criteria.
| Mandrake wrote: | | That and I'm sick of noun/name+ children titles. Like Night's Children, Winter Chldren, etc, I've used noun/name+chilren titles to death. In short stories and etc. And it just sounds cliche. |
Good God, I'm being derivative? Damn it; I hate it when that happens.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mandrake*rpgdx
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 7:07 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
| Quote: |
When I said the whole thing was weak, what I meant was that it was almost pastoral, or at least lacked energy. On the flip-side, it conjures images of (I think you'll understand what I mean by this) the "dreamtime", or the "golden era"; which isn't such a very bad thing, sure, but it doesn't seem to mesh with what you've told us of your game; or at least, doesn't mesh with my image of it
|
Ok, I understand now. It does fit in a way...the dreamtime part. But not in the golden-era sort of way....the game is going to be very dreamlike and eerie, sort of Lain in a way....it's hard to explain the idea and concept (as well as feeling/mood/theme) that I have for it...
I would have disagree about strong titles, I much perfer less action/strong titles and perfer the more laid back, dreamlike, surreal. Titles that are more nocturnal I guess you could say, as if seen through a fog, that play more on the mental array rather than that of immidiate attack.
But that's just me.
Most of the other titles were just musings anyway, the two I was leaning towards was under the island, and .pandora. Grendelskin is just nifty sounding (i think) and I'll probably use it somewhere else.
| Quote: |
Good God, I'm being derivative? Damn it; I hate it when that happens.
|
not on purpose, how were you to know I'd written several short stoies/etc in that "format"?
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ironshanks
Wandering Minstrel
Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Posts: 134
Location: Shiner's Peak
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 7:20 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
Just a personal preference here...
I really like surreal titles as well, they're actually quite fun too. But I really don't like the .Pandora title. I think it's the whol "dot" bit that really bothers me. It sounds like it's trying to be hip or something, which I'm aware isn't your intent, but it's really a turn-off. It reminds me of that movie Fear.com...ugh.
_________________
That's not a broken link, it's a PICTURE of a broken link. It's really very conceptual.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rainer Deyke
Demon Hunter
Joined: 05 Jun 2002
Posts: 672
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 7:58 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
.pandora and dream 0x13 sound like cheesy programmer in-jokes, and it's not immediately obvious how they should be pronounced.
I don't like GrendelSkin either. To me Grendel is a very specific character from a specific poem, and there was nothing special about his skin. It does arouse my curiosity, but it also seems like a gratuitous mythological reference. A game with that title would have to be about Grendel's skin in a very direct way.
I like Under the Island of Soft Light.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ironshanks
Wandering Minstrel
Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Posts: 134
Location: Shiner's Peak
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 8:26 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
I'm going to have to agree with Rainer here (it seems like that's all I do :P).
_________________
That's not a broken link, it's a PICTURE of a broken link. It's really very conceptual.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jihgfed Pumpkinhead
Stephen Hawking
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 259
Location: Toronto, Canada
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:37 am Post subject: Perennial Cummings Rant and Such |
[quote] |
|
| Mandrake wrote: | | not on purpose, how were you to know I'd written several short stoies/etc in that "format"? |
But unknowingly cliché is the worst kind of it! Well, actually, the worst kind of it is when a thing becomes cliché after you've finished and released it. I wonder what Joseph Conrad would have done if he knew the phrase "secret agent" would become popular to the point of inanity?
| Rainer Deyke wrote: | | .pandora and dream 0x13 sound like cheesy programmer in-jokes, and it's not immediately obvious how they should be pronounced. |
That's sort of part of what I meant by "clever" before, but not entirely, and certainly not so bluntly. However, I do think the titles are fine provided, as I mentioned before, there is a direct, in-game referent, as Mandrake has assured us there is. Of course, the problem is that you'll be dealing with that initial "cheesy programmer in-joke" impression until you reveal the reference to the player. So, for my preference of "immediate impact" titles, it definitely isn't the way to go; but since Mandrake's obviously willing to wait for the perhaps greater impact later on, I don't see that being a problem, really.
Semi-related rant: never, ever, ever, ever, abandon capitals for "effect". Ever. I don't mind if you drop them out of a post for purposes of efficiency or whatnot; that's fine; but when they're dropped for "artistic purposes", well, that's when I feel the bile start to rise. There's only ever been one person to do it well, but he had magic fingers which could turn the strangest combinations of letters and symbols into gold; and I'm sure none of us have similar magical powers. So it just comes across as pretentious, horribly, utterly, painfully. Anyone who uses all-lowercase in the way described above must spend 300 years in purgatory, dressed in soulless, endless black, coughing his lungs out in a smoke-filled room, releasing horrible curdled sounds from his bongo-drums, and continually accidentally burning himself with his boiling-hot moccachino.
Well, that was odd, wasn't it? Oh, well, I'm done now. And hey, if you think that was bad, you should just see where I'm sending myself for over-using bold lettering.
I'm not referring to Mandrake's titles, either, by the way; the fact that they're pseudo-computerese excuses them.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Anarchist
Slightly Deformed Faerie Princess
Joined: 13 Feb 2003
Posts: 32
Location: London, England
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:46 am Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
Heh, fear.com - sounds like the lamest movie i've ever heard of. Its not going to help you're RPG if you call it something that sounds like someone who likes the internet but doesn't know anything about it dreamt it up. None of the titles are really bad, but i'd avoid .pandora or dream 0x13 if i were you...
_________________
Some may know me as MidnightDreamer... time for a namechange.
blackgc.f2g.net
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mandrake*rpgdx
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 4:10 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
| Quote: |
That's sort of part of what I meant by "clever" before, but not entirely, and certainly not so bluntly. However, I do think the titles are fine provided, as I mentioned before, there is a direct, in-game referent, as Mandrake has assured us there is. Of course, the problem is that you'll be dealing with that initial "cheesy programmer in-joke" impression until you reveal the reference to the player. So, for my preference of "immediate impact" titles, it definitely isn't the way to go; but since Mandrake's obviously willing to wait for the perhaps greater impact later on, I don't see that being a problem, really.
|
Right. But I don't see anyone calling the .hack games "cheesy programmer jokes"....
So, I guess this takes out .pandora, dream 0x13 (which I don't really see as a cheesy programmer joke...hex did exist before such a thing as programming....). But Really I think I could easily combat this with the titles in use now-a-days in both indie and commercial titles. Most of these sound like bad sci-fi and fantasy books (and play like them as well). I mean come on, titles like "Final Fantasy", "Phantasy Star", "Grandia" (i would name alot of the corny indie game names here...but I think that would be rude and I don't want to point fingers). I like these games, but as far as titles go they are pretty nasty. "Dragon Warrior". I mean all of these sound like failed AD&D campiagn settings. Or rather, bad fantasy novels that try ever so hard to be Tolkien but end up more like Peirs Anthony (which is a very bad thing).
But, I did ask for opinions on the titles, so those two are out.
| Quote: |
Semi-related rant: never, ever, ever, ever, abandon capitals for "effect". Ever. I don't mind if you drop them out of a post for purposes of efficiency or whatnot; that's fine; but when they're dropped for "artistic purposes", well, that's when I feel the bile start to rise.
|
How is this semi related? Hmmm? and personally, i see no real reason, on the internet to really give a rats ass about things like capitlisation- as long as the words are readable and the idea comes across, the information is too temprary and not permenant enough in order to warrent perfect grammer/spelling. As long as ideas are construed correctly, then it shouldn't matter.
This meduim is a temprary fluctuating one.
| Quote: |
There's only ever been one person to do it well, but he had magic fingers which could turn the strangest combinations of letters and symbols into gold; and I'm sure none of us have similar magical powers. So it just comes across as pretentious, horribly, utterly, painfully. Anyone who uses all-lowercase in the way described above must spend 300 years in purgatory, dressed in soulless, endless black, coughing his lungs out in a smoke-filled room, releasing horrible curdled sounds from his bongo-drums, and continually accidentally burning himself with his boiling-hot moccachino.
|
i don't see how lack of capital letters becomes pretentoius...but on the other hand, such an inflamatory reaction does smack of pretention and psuedo intellectualism, as well as elitism. Esp when you insist that only one person in the world can use grammer in an artistic way, and everyone on this site (since we are just programmers, uh-huh, without an ounce of writing talent )is subordinate and can never achieve such an effect as the masters. Because, y'know, ee cummings was never human. He was always godlike, esp while urinating on the copy of an english lit book.
| Quote: |
Well, that was odd, wasn't it? Oh, well, I'm done now. And hey, if you think that was bad, you should just see where I'm sending myself for over-using bold lettering.
I'm not referring to Mandrake's titles, either, by the way; the fact that they're pseudo-computerese excuses them.
|
so then, how is this related?
| Quote: |
Its not going to help you're RPG if you call it something that sounds like someone who likes the internet but doesn't know anything about it dreamt it up. None of the titles are really bad, but i'd avoid .pandora or dream 0x13 if i were you...
|
and are you saying this because other people have said it, or because when you heard the titles that is what you honestly thought?
again, I bring up .hack//infection[/url]
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mobius unlogged
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 6:04 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
and still the quasi-intelectual pseudo-flame war rages onward
never quite noticing the possible titles at the top of the page :(
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mandrake*work
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 7:59 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
actually i did notice them...but I tend to have an allergic reaction to titles in l33t speak....no offense (i hope...i meant nothing by it...), which is why i can see why poeple didn't like the two programmer-esque titles...they are a bit l33t-speak esque.
I'm pretty much probably going to go with Under The Island of Soft Light. Not a certainty though.
Flame war? not really, i don't think?
some other title ideas (not really attatched to these...so shoot them down if you feel like it...but if one sticks out/works better, do tell)
Drowning In Her
Lunar Vision
An Ellipse of Truth
Her Carved Heart
also-
I've decided in combat, the only way to attack will be to use the magic the dolls/gods have bestowed on the character. It makes sense since the two main characters are high school girls.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Anarchist
Slightly Deformed Faerie Princess
Joined: 13 Feb 2003
Posts: 32
Location: London, England
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:02 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
| Quote: | and are you saying this because other people have said it, or because when you heard the titles that is what you honestly thought?
again, I bring up .hack//infection[/url] |
Heh, i'm pretty sure this is sarcasm but I forgive you, and i'll answer anyway :). This is just my opinion, I realise you feel the need to stand up for you're ideas, and i'm sorry if that sounded dismissive. But that really is what I thought, and after all you did ask for an opinion, and this is mine. I didn't read everyone elses opinions, I just picked up on this from the last several poasts and this is just the first impulse that comes to my mind.
On a more constructive note, Mobius: I think ManaKin is a great name (still an opinion, don't bite my head off mandrake, heh) - it fits in with the games theme of dolls and magic, and its clever too (rolling up both into one word is pretty good), but also it has a nice feel to it.
_________________
Some may know me as MidnightDreamer... time for a namechange.
blackgc.f2g.net
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bjorn
Demon Hunter
Joined: 29 May 2002
Posts: 1425
Location: Germany
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:15 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
- manakin is about thirteen miles from richmond and twelve miles from goochland
- manakin is a small bird averaging just a little over four inches in length
- manakin is one of the least known birds in the world — five specimens were found in 1957 and only one since
- manakin is but a spelling variaton of monacan
- manakin is knocked flat on his face by a speeder bike
- manakin is arguably the most beautiful of manakins
- manakin is probably the most frequently caught bird along the coast
- manakin is good
Couldn't resist. :-)
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mandrake
elementry school minded asshole
Joined: 28 May 2002
Posts: 1341
Location: GNARR!
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:29 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
I'm not so certain about manakin, for this reason:
http://manakin.org/history.htm
although, I'm liking "Her Carved Heart"....
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ironshanks
Wandering Minstrel
Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Posts: 134
Location: Shiner's Peak
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 10:02 pm Post subject: |
[quote] |
|
Ooh, I like Her Carved Heart
Sounds almost poetic. And the fact that it starts with a pronoun is really cool, and kind of original.
Yeah, I didn't like the titles of ANY of the examples you mentioned, Mandrake. And I totally agree with what Anarchist said about fear.com, that's the first thing I think when I hear titles like that it's like "Yeah...way to be trendy..."
_________________
That's not a broken link, it's a PICTURE of a broken link. It's really very conceptual.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
