Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Naming
It is no secret that the name of a game should be unique, easy to remember and re-
produce, and also should be short. Ideally, it must reflect the game's idea and have
an emotional tone very close to the game's mood. This is your brand, so pay the max-
imum attention to it.
The name can be based on the plot of your game and include either the description
of the game's situation or one of the character's names. It can include some hints on
the game's genre or mechanics. Try not to overthink the name and avoid including
various semantic games and rebuses in it (in exceptional cases they are really geni-
us). Try to recall the Tom Hanks movie, That thing you do! (1996), in which there was
a pop band that called itself The Oneders , thinking that the audience would know to
pronounce it "one-ders". The word was supposed to be wonders, but they thought it
was smarter to spell it this way. Of course, they were wrong because all around called
them "oh-need-ers".
It is highly possible that all the single-word names will already be taken, but do not get
discouraged, because with a double-worded name you have more chances. But try
to avoid too-long names. In iTunes Connect Developer Guide , in the chapter Adding
New Apps , there is a phrase:
"The app name cannot be longer than 255 bytes and can be no fewer than two char-
acters."
So, 255 bytes is the maximum length of the app name, but most people do not reach
that limit. Practically, there is a more important point: the length of a text label situated
below the application icon. Subjectively, the title looks more attractive and profession-
al if it can be written in a single row of text (different subtitles and functional words can
fill in the second row). The following screenshot illustrates various text labels. Some
of them have only one row of text, some use two, and the last one fills up all the lines
and features some symbols truncated:
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