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The Great Renaming, poll #2 [POLL CLOSED, GAME RENAMED]

Which name do you prefer?

  • Pilgrims of the Void

    Votes: 57 26.9%
  • Colony Ship - a Post-Earth role-playing game

    Votes: 94 44.3%
  • Across the Void

    Votes: 16 7.5%
  • No Home But the Stars

    Votes: 16 7.5%
  • Born Beneath No Sun

    Votes: 29 13.7%

  • Total voters
    212
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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Serpent in the Staglands Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
You really suck at the naming game VD.

The New World worked because it was ostensibly about finding a second Earth but was a conceit that actually referred to the "world" of the colony ship (the colony ship and its unusual, evolving society is the "New World" -- the second Earth that the player character will never see was a just a thematic red herring).

Don't think there's another combination of English words out there that will do the same thing for this game. Colony Ship - A Post Earth Role Playing Game is:

(a) charmingly utilitarian and straightforward, the same as the original Fallout
(b) not cheesy, the same as the original Fallout
(c) a timely, appropriate, and catchy homage to the original Fallout
(d) probably captures the spirit of the game more than any of the cheesy proposals do. It's a narrative-driven game set on a colony ship where you assemble your own experiences from choices you make during role-playing.

The "- A Post Earth Role Playing Game" part is really unnecessary.

You could take or leave that part. I think it would actually help more than hurt from a marketing point of view, there's something to be said for precision and truth in advertising, especially in a post-indiepocalypse interspersed with titles oozing with dramatic reverence.

When you get 5-10 Pillars of Eternity a year they start sounding like a chore, there's something refreshing about buying something that isn't a riddle you need to figure out. Take away "Role Playing Game" and you might have a first person shooter or a sim management game about Colony Ships, Colony Ship - A Role Playing game (Post-Earth or whatever) is charmingly straightforward, take away "Role Playing Game" and you lose some of that.

You can omit the Post-Earth, especially if you think its riffs a little too hard on Fallout (although that is part of the point) and comes at the expense of the dignity of your own product.
 
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Serpent in the Staglands Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath
Between Two Suns is pretty good but considering the ship's now orbiting Proxima B, it's not a perfect fit.

Since you put this in spoilers and I hadn't heard that before from reading your earlier updates (though I may have just missed it), it seems like this probably isn't something that's known by most people on the ship right? In that case it seems fine to me to have the title reference the common belief of the ship-dwellers as to their location instead of the actual facts. Would also make the reveal more surprising.
 

MF

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Like Unto a World

Of course, that's just another suggestion. I voted for the one inspired by Fallout, it works for me.
 

AbounI

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The second one for me if we won't have no more choices than this list
Now, replace "a Post-Earth role-playing game" part by "the Great Pilgrimage" and I'll be happy
 

Cosmo

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Round 2

While we appreciate a few hundred suggestions we've received, keep in mind that it's impossible to process them in a meaningful way without taking a few weeks off.
1 - English not being my first language, and if i understand it litterally designates space, is the word "void" enough to be a spiritual symbol, i.e. the vanishing of the pilgrimage's long term goal that takes place generation after generation... or would another term be better (Emptiness for example) ?
2 - Isn't that title way too drab ? The Second Ark would have more grandeur, and it would also serve to dramatize the ship's present state (and proverbial fall from grace).
3 - I'd say Bridging the Void, since the big problem in the ship seems to be the loss of historical meaning, and the sense of continuity... and the fight against it (plus it"rings" better).
4 and 5 - Born under the stars, Children of the stars/of the Void ?

And why not a single-word title (Uprooted, Displaced, smthg like that) ?
 
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Latelistener

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Colony Ship — A Post-Earth Role-Playing Game
Works for me, but could be better. The first part is too banal and the second is too pretentious.
Didn't vote for anything though.
rating_sawyer.gif
 

Serus

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why did you disregard East of Earth
I think it's a bit off the mark and doesn't have the same ring as East of Eden.

I think using "void" in the title is a serious mistake. It sounds cheap and unimaginative without feeling too cheesy. At least cheesy words in tittles like "resurrection" make people smile when they read them. "Void" feels so... emotionless and boring. It promises no adventure, no trills.
I completely agree.
Disagree. The "colony ship" sounds cheap and unimaginative. A game about a colony ship named... "colony ship". You can't get less imaginative than that even if you try.

Look at the name from the perspective of someone who doesn't know anything about the game. It sounds unimaginative only if you read the game description. Whole purpose of the tittle is to get people to read that description.
Except you won't have that effect with a generic unimaginative name like "colony ship". For that purpose something more intriguing is needed. I think Pilgrims of the Void fits the bill a lot better - the two words combined sound mysterious and evoke a whole range of images. They can interest someone and do not sound too generic. It also is descriptive in a way considering the story of the game if I understand it correctly
 

J_C

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Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath
You really suck at the naming game VD.

The New World worked because it was ostensibly about finding a second Earth but was a conceit that actually referred to the "world" of the colony ship (the colony ship and its unusual, evolving society is the "New World" -- the second Earth that the player character will never see was a just a thematic red herring).

Don't think there's another combination of English words out there that will do the same thing for this game. Colony Ship - A Post Earth Role Playing Game is:

(a) charmingly utilitarian and straightforward, the same as the original Fallout
(b) not cheesy, the same as the original Fallout
(c) a timely, appropriate, and catchy homage to the original Fallout
(d) probably captures the spirit of the game more than any of the cheesy proposals do. It's a narrative-driven game set on a colony ship where you assemble your own experiences from choices you make during role-playing.

The "- A Post Earth Role Playing Game" part is really unnecessary.
Blasphemer. It would be a great homage to Fallout.
 

ScrotumBroth

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In
I like Colony Ship more than other suggested poll tittles thus far. A cool, original ship name would probably be even better, to avoid genericness of it.

I'd suggest you guys don't force this naming business, but let it sit for a while and digest.
 

Deleted Member 22431

Guest
"Colony ship" is as unimaginative and generic as you get. I like the subtitle though. Some suggestions:

Settlers of Tomorrow

Space Colonies

Space Mutiny

Doomed to Tomorrow

Red Horizon

The Proxima Promise

Beyond Earth

Destination: Proxima Centauri

Travellers from a Distant Past

Sky Zealots


Subtitle suggestion:

A Colony Ship Role-Playing Game.
 
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Kyl Von Kull

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Round 2

While we appreciate a few hundred suggestions we've received, keep in mind that it's impossible to process them in a meaningful way without taking a few weeks off.

I know you're getting deluged with feedback, but if I only contribute one thing of value to the discussion it's this: "A Post-Terrestrial RPG" has a much better ring to it than Post-Earth. Not sure if it's the consonance or the roots for both words coming from the same language, but it rolls off the tongue.
 

Spectacle

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I don't get the "pilgrims" title. Is the purpose of the voyage to travel to an actual religious holy place somewhere among the stars?
 

Vault Dweller

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I don't get the "pilgrims" title. Is the purpose of the voyage to travel to an actual religious holy place somewhere among the stars?
Mayflower pilgrims, rings any bells? They went all the way to the New World not to look for "actual religious holy places" like some RPG adventurers but to establish a Puritan colony on another continent.
 

Spectacle

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I don't get the "pilgrims" title. Is the purpose of the voyage to travel to an actual religious holy place somewhere among the stars?
Mayflower pilgrims, rings any bells? They went all the way to the New World not to look for "actual religious holy places" like some RPG adventurers but to establish a Puritan colony on another continent.
Aha... I think the link between "pilgrims" and "colonists" is pretty specific to North America. Most of your worldwide potential market will assume a game titled "Pilgrims" is likely to be religious propaganda rather than a real game.

Go with "Colony Ship" or the like.
 

M. AQVILA

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You really suck at the naming game VD.

The New World worked because it was ostensibly about finding a second Earth but was a conceit that actually referred to the "world" of the colony ship (the colony ship and its unusual, evolving society is the "New World" -- the second Earth that the player character will never see was a just a thematic red herring).

Don't think there's another combination of English words out there that will do the same thing for this game. Colony Ship - A Post Earth Role Playing Game is:

(a) charmingly utilitarian and straightforward, the same as the original Fallout
(b) not cheesy, the same as the original Fallout
(c) a timely, appropriate, and catchy homage to the original Fallout
(d) probably captures the spirit of the game more than any of the cheesy proposals do. It's a narrative-driven game set on a colony ship where you assemble your own experiences from choices you make during role-playing.

The "- A Post Earth Role Playing Game" part is really unnecessary.
Blasphemer. It would be a great homage to Fallout.

Ah, I never noticed. Still shit and unnecessary though.
 

buffalo bill

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I like most of these. Voted for 'Colony Ship - a Post-Earth role-playing game' because of the obvious fallout reference, which is a nice reference considering Iron Tower are making the most fallout-like games since Black Isle was around (except maybe for underrail...). For other (lesser) game developers, the reference would be corny. Calling a game about a colony ship 'Colony Ship' is fine: Fallout was about a world covered in fallout.
I also like 'No Home but the Stars'—has a nice old school sci-fi ring to it.
 

Serus

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I don't get the "pilgrims" title. Is the purpose of the voyage to travel to an actual religious holy place somewhere among the stars?
Mayflower pilgrims, rings any bells? They went all the way to the New World not to look for "actual religious holy places" like some RPG adventurers but to establish a Puritan colony on another continent.
Aha... I think the link between "pilgrims" and "colonists" is pretty specific to North America. Most of your worldwide potential market will assume a game titled "Pilgrims" is likely to be religious propaganda rather than a real game.

Go with "Colony Ship" or the like.
[Intelligence] You believe that any title containing the simple word "pilgrim", no matter the context will be taken as "religious propaganda". That's insane. That's just... wow... I rarely see someone projecting his own bias so strongly on every other person.

In addition, the word "pilgrim" doesn't even have to have a religious connotations in every case. Evidence:

The first definition given by Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1: one who journeys in foreign lands : wayfarer

At Dictionary.com it is the second definition:
2. a traveler or wanderer, especially in a foreign place.

And same in other online dictionaries I've checked.
 

Spectacle

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I don't get the "pilgrims" title. Is the purpose of the voyage to travel to an actual religious holy place somewhere among the stars?
Mayflower pilgrims, rings any bells? They went all the way to the New World not to look for "actual religious holy places" like some RPG adventurers but to establish a Puritan colony on another continent.
Aha... I think the link between "pilgrims" and "colonists" is pretty specific to North America. Most of your worldwide potential market will assume a game titled "Pilgrims" is likely to be religious propaganda rather than a real game.

Go with "Colony Ship" or the like.
[Intelligence] You believe that any title containing the simple word "pilgrim", no matter the context will be taken as "religious propaganda". That's insane. That's just... wow... I rarely see someone projecting his own bias so strongly on every other person.

In addition, the word "pilgrim" doesn't even have to have a religious connotations in every case. Evidence:

The first definition given by Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1: one who journeys in foreign lands : wayfarer

At Dictionary.com it is the second definition:
2. a traveler or wanderer, especially in a foreign place.

And same in others I've checked.
People don't consult dictionaries before buying games. I could be wrong, but I don't believe that "pilgrim" in the title will convey what this game is about to a large number of people who might otherwise be interested in playing it.

You may not like "my bias", but I'm sure that Vault Dweller would like money from me and people like me.
 

BEvers

I'm forever blowing
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Ohh, a boycott war! Okay, I'm gonna boycott the game if it doesn't have the word Pilgrims in the title! :P
 

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