What's the name of the game?

When starting a new game project we usually make up a working title without putting any good thought into it, often it's just the first thing that comes to mind or just something stupid/generic.

Some working title examples of our games are:

• "Blaster" for "Area Zero" (nice and generic)
• "Super Racert" - "Power Driving" (Yes the "t" is intended)
• "Super Kart Game" for "Go Kart Go! Turbo" (Super Mario Kart was already taken apparently)
• "DressUp Game" for "Girly Trends 3D" (another great generic working title)
• "Joep VS The army of the Damned" for "Army of the Damned" (for the record: Joep is our technical artist)
• "Ground Zero" for "Traffic Slam" (Guess we can't use that name anymore since 9-11)
• "Jetski Game" for "Hydro Storm" (Couldn't use the term Jetski in the name because it's originally a brand name)

To come up with a working title is easy but to come up with a final name can be quite hard, this is also the case for our "snowboard game with cars" we're currently developing.

Last week I needed to update the game logo which currently reads "Auto Games" to a more final design, I needed the game's final name to do this. In order to come up with a name all Xform employees have the opportunity send in suggestions which for 99 percent are totally stupid or unusable like "Super Car Olympics 2011 Deluxe Edition".

We do collect all these suggestions and start making lists with associative words. For example we know the game takes place on snow covered mountain tops so words like "snow, piste, mountain, snowstorm, deep, cliff, steep" are written down in a list. When the list is completed we start mixing these words and making different combinations and see or they match the game.

For "Auto Games" we came up with "Snow Stunt Heroes", this name focuses games stunts and drivers instead of the cars. The word snow is added to give a hint in what sort of environment the game takes place.

Finally the client has to approve this title, we'll know if this is the games final name at the end of this week, otherwise we're back to making lists.

Matt