Why That Name?

For this blog entry I'm going to be going through why I gave the names to games I've made. It's here instead of NALGames Blog as it's more a point of interest. It also means I have a way of remembering these things in the future.

Fight of the Height (2005)

Oldest game on the list, Fight of the Height was a game I conceptualised when I was six (I always wanted to be a game developer!). It was named so because the original idea was to have the game take place on a series of skyscrapers that you jumped over the roofs of, shooting at your opponent. It changed a little for the games themselves though I did keep that idea for one or two levels.

Gamanstake (2006)

Stuck for an original name for a generic maze game, and with the promise of gammon steaks for tea, I took "Gammon Stake" and played with the spelling.

Blokkeid (2006)

The precursor to Elemence got its name as the gimmick of the game involves using BLOCKS as AID to complete levels.

Elemence (2006-7)

I wanted to keep the Blokkeid name for the game that was Elemence, but since there were multiple game modes it was irrelevant. So instead I came up with "Elements", then tampered with it for originality. After the unreleased sequels named after their difficulties (Elemence Easy, Elemence Refined), Gold got its name as it became a portmanteau of all the previous, making it a kind of compilation game. Then AuX is because Au is the chemical symbol for Gold, with the traditional X for "woo, awzum!".r!!!dicule (2007)The third in the r!dicule series, it was named after I was trying to think of a name for a premise and came to the conclusion that trying to name it was ridiculous.

FKR (2007)

Stands for "Fantastic Kinetic Reflexes", however that is technically a backronym. When trying to work out a name, I just went "...F**ker!", and decided to alter it to familyfriendlydom. Nowadays though I only ever read it as "Eff Kay Arrrrrgh!"

Fustercluck (2007)

Fustercluck was named after the song playing in the background - simples. Only later did I find out what Fustercluck means, though!

Rockit (2008)

A rocket simulator, but with a reference to the Herbie Hancock track I was thoroughly into at the time.

Mingitilla (2008)

No idea.

Zyousbox (2008)

An altered spelling of "Juicebox" with the J sound softened.

Signal Failure (2008)

At the time I was addicted to GTAIV (for the first of three times, the third still currently ongoing) and one of my favourite tracks on it was Padded Cell - Signal Failure.

Ne Touchez Pas! (2008)

"Do Not Touch" just didn't have the same ring to it.

Innoquous (2008)

Another song-based one, though the game was based around it. I liked LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous!" at the time. The game was also initially innocuous in that there were no direct obstacles. Changed the C to a Q because to be honest I thought it looked better - it's still pronounced "in-ock-you-us" though, not "in-ock-wuss".

EverScrollingHue (2008)

Initially "Enzyme", ESH made more sense named as such because the in-game hues were indeed ever-scrolling.

Node (2009)

My first release of 2009, and not a very good one at that, was named so simply because the graphics were inspired by "nodes and links".

Dreaming on E (2009)

Made partly through 2008, Dreaming on E was inspired by the phenomena of odd dreams while on drugs. Yes, the E indicates "ecstasy". No, I've never done E. Yes, I read about drug-fueled dreams while making DoE to base stuff off it.

MINDRAPE (2009)

I initially heard the term in an episode of "American Dad!" and loved it. Therefore I kept using it, and based a game on the idea.

Infidels (2009)

From the song "Infidels of the World Unite", an amazing track by one of my all-time favourite artists, Fischerspooner. Initially called Infidel as you played the infidel, it changed when I reversed the story and so there was more than one.

Head Candy (2009)

Another term similar to MINDRAPE, I liked the idea of "Head Candy" and had seen it elsewhere.

The Hilarity of Murder (2009)

Initially Lite Town Wars - made in GM7 Lite, set in a town, depicting a war. Changed when I added a gimmick to make it fit a Game Jolt competition - it just made sense and rolls off the tongue nicely.

It Only Takes a Second (2009)

Another one that rolls off the tongue, and a fairly smart-arse title given the game's premise (you have to finish each level with one second left on the timer).

RKF (2009)

FKR backwards. Once again, I came up with a backronym to make it mean something else.

madnessMADNESSmadness (2009)

Made up in Game Jolt's chatroom, I described this as "how somebody suffering from madness may describe what they were suffering from". The idea is that they might say "madness" three times in quick succession, shouting the second one. The game is depicting a guy that is suffering from madness - hence the odd circular world, the unexplained walls and things, and the confusing poetry.

This is a Game with a Stupid Graphical Gimmick (2009)

I just felt like being blunt!

La Rolloux (2009)

Originally "Wolley", the name of the guy in-game and "Yellow" backwards, changed to La Rolloux as a portmanteau of "Roll", and the artist I loved at the time, "La Roux". Coincidentally, the guy's quiff was in the game beforehand - it took someone else for me to realise how close it looked to the hairstyle of La Roux's Ellie Jackson.

1n23g4r (2010)

First release of 2010 was another smartass one - pronounced "integer", the game sees you counting moves up from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 steps a go. They're all integers too.

SohoPogoHo (2010)

A pogoing ho from Soho. Sorted.

Acid R[ai/eig]n (2010)

Two meanings of the same-sounding phrase. It contains acid rain, and the acid reigns.

Remaddening (2010)

The sequel to mMm, unlike previous sequels, took an entirely different name. Why? Well, mMm had a convoluted name anyway, I wanted to shorten it. So I went in the style of many film sequels, which are like "Generic Action Film: The Redestroying". Stupid stuff like that. It very nearly took a The at the start but I just preferred Remaddening on its own.

Confusion Readily Achieved... (2010)

Yeah, another kind of backronym. However, it was just steered towards it this time. It was initially something like "Confusion Achieved Through Perspective and Dimensions".

Infinite Sporadic (2010)

I always liked the phrase "Endless, sporadic" so I went for something similar.They're the most interesting ones I can recall, anyway. Hopefully this has been an interesting little insight into my mind. Will be sure to blog again ASAP.See y'all! (and that's from Dog's Life on PS2)

I Won't Forget To Sleep If I Blog

Title comes from something I mentioned in the Sinfully Delicious chatroom (I'm there a lot so if you fancy a chat with me or one of its several other frequenters feel free to come), where Rebecca (needs no introduction to anyone that's been reading this blog for a while) suggested I should sleep then blog when I wake up, to which I basically replied "I'll forget to blog if I sleep. I won't forget to sleep if I blog...".

Anyways, a few things have happened since the last entry, which was a week ago thanks to my severe laxness in writing stuff.

The most relevant one to the blog is that I released a new quickie game, created in 1-2 hours (it was within the space of two hours - 10pm to midnight, but I was chatting during that period so it wasn't all game work). The game name is Acid R[ai/eig]n - a play on the fact it contains acid rain, which ends up reigning. You prolong the life of your plains by growing a curly, branchy tree, which should cover as much horizontal ground as possible. There's more description given on its YYG page, which you can find here.

In other game making news, Ne Touchez Pas 4 on YYG is a downrating magnet. Many of these people are actually entrants into the competition. I'm not so much angry at the fact they're hurting NTP4's rating (temporarily - my YYG moderator friend is always on hand to tell me who did it, remove the downratings and punish as necessary) as I am disappointed the human race simply can't play fair.

Offshoot topic - about Competition 05. I maintain that I'm not in it to place. A "best of the rest" or whatever mention would be nice, but I'm not one for high hopes so if I don't make the list I'm not too concerned. But another thing I dislike - the cockiness of many entrants. I've seen so many people that seem to think their entry is definitely going to place. The vast majority of these are games that clearly aren't... even some of those that must've taken a lot of effort pale in comparison to some of the better entries. My personal favourite entrant is Blackfoot, though.

I've designed the cover for the second of Rebecca Clare Smith's Jocasta Lizzbeth Moonshadow novels. This is a rare instance of me doing something graphical - I keep what little design skill I have away from game making because the two always seem to clash horribly. You can find this piece of graphical design here. If you'd like to comment on it I'd recommend posting on that blog entry, not this one, as she's likely to reliably tell me about the comments. I'm forgetful and my brain is mushy. Of course, if you want to post it on both entries then a virtual cookie your way. Even a real one if you're willing to go out and purchase it yourself.

Wednesday = shopwork, and I spent most of the day, having had my iPod touch suffer from an odd problem that now means it won't accept any applications (bastard), playing Pokémon HeartGold on the Nintendo DS. My verdict of it so far is that it's average. Gold and Silver were so long ago I've forgotten all the bits and pieces from it, so the nostalgia factor is gone. All that's left is a passable Pokémon game. Come on Game Freak, I'm sick of all these half-assed games with only about 60% of the roster actually catchable in-game. Release one with all the areas, all the Pokémon and all the awesome you COULD get out of the franchise!

WrestleMania 26 was on Sunday, and despite most critics calling it average, I still loved it. Bar the odd slightly poor match (Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon, that freaking pathetic diva tag team match ft. Vickie Guerrero) it was stunning stuff, particularly the final match of the show. I'm also loving their NXT program, though I'd like to see four of the rookies get into the main WWE roster (Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater). Mind you, that may still happen, despite them only saying one would.

Anyway, it's 12:30am. That's half an hour later than I'm normally awake, and the last thing I want is to return to my old stay-up-to-7am days. Feeling crappy thanks to sleeping fail - does not want. Gotta be up as early tomorrow to witness the failure emanating strongly from all the weak, predictable, boring April Fool's jokes on all the GM websites.

G'night all!

Allie