I can not think of a name for my game. I'll provide some information here, if you would like to help me think of a game name, but need some more information just ask.. If I have any more information about the game, then I will edit THIS post and include it at the bottom.

Anyways, the style of the game is going to be a 2d Side scrolling MMORPG like MapleStory.

However, rather than being set sometime in the future (I believe MapleStory is about 50-60 years in the future) I'll set it in about the 1600's and have some new age technology added in some manner that doesn't disrupt the game storyline and logic.

I would like a name like maplestory, in the sense that they can use Maple items, maple leaves, etc. Not some name like age of war.

Before people start flaming me for getting way ahead of myself here, I would like to clarify. In no way do I believe thisgame will be completed in any year to come. Probably have the first few maps completed in about 2-3 years. Seeing as I started programming a few months ago. (I have either a savant or eidetic memory, and I have aspergers syndrome so programming generally comes easy to me) However, I am going to start the website/forums now with a different theme around them. I want to start the forums/website NOW with the same name as the game will have but I wish to have the forums/website about my progress into the world of game programming/design. I wish to use the forums and website to communicate to people who may like to join into my game programming team when I get to that time. And then, when the first maps are released I will change the website and forums to give it the game's theme. Changing from my progress, to the progress of *insert game name here*'s progress. Then when the game is finally up and running properly and it's possible to have people ACTUALLY leveling up and playing through the storyline, the website will change from *insert game name here*'s progress to *insert game name here*'s website and a new website/forum will be created outlining the progress of the game.

Yes, so that final paragrah was just basically saying I know that creating the storyline now will crush my dreams, which is why thats not what I'm doing.

I think it's a good idea to create a forum community as the basis of an MMO community. If you're not familiar with it I would strongly suggest you make an account (free) at Gaia Online and observe how their forums are part of the game in terms of avatars, monetary system, and community identity/spirit.

For game ideas, are you saying your setting is basically steampunk? Combining 1600s and futuristic technology could create a steampunk feel, or instead the high tech elements might be alien, resulting in something more like Stargate (alien with high-tech armor and weapons are perceived by low-tech humans as Egyptian gods with magic), or I've seen a few different fantasy settings where Elves or Angels are high-tech aliens living among low tech humans. Or, if you wanted a pure fantasy setting, all your technology could be magic-based. Magic can be conceptually substituted for electricity - stored in magic batteries, fire magic harnessed in stoves, ice magic harnessed in refrigerators, etc.

For a name, it seems like you want something which can be easily represented as an image, so it can be used for logos and worked into the game's graphics. You could use something from nature - cloud, rainbow, crystal. As you develop the game's worldbuilding you might decide to include elements like mana/metaria/myrrh, whatever you want to call your world's magic substance. That word would make a good game name or part of the name. Or, if your characters in the game have some cute visual trait like wings or animal ears or living in seashells, that could also be a good source of a word for the game's name.

I think it's a good idea to create a forum community as the basis of an MMO community. If you're not familiar with it I would strongly suggest you make an account (free) at Gaia Online and observe how their forums are part of the game in terms of avatars, monetary system, and community identity/spirit.

For game ideas, are you saying your setting is basically steampunk? Combining 1600s and futuristic technology could create a steampunk feel, or instead the high tech elements might be alien, resulting in something more like Stargate (alien with high-tech armor and weapons are perceived by low-tech humans as Egyptian gods with magic), or I've seen a few different fantasy settings where Elves or Angels are high-tech aliens living among low tech humans. Or, if you wanted a pure fantasy setting, all your technology could be magic-based. Magic can be conceptually substituted for electricity - stored in magic batteries, fire magic harnessed in stoves, ice magic harnessed in refrigerators, etc.

For a name, it seems like you want something which can be easily represented as an image, so it can be used for logos and worked into the game's graphics. You could use something from nature - cloud, rainbow, crystal. As you develop the game's worldbuilding you might decide to include elements like mana/metaria/myrrh, whatever you want to call your world's magic substance. That word would make a good game name or part of the name. Or, if your characters in the game have some cute visual trait like wings or animal ears or living in seashells, that could also be a good source of a word for the game's name.

I have an account at gaia online, not such a fan of the forums themselves although I believe the idea is genius.

It probably would be
A: A man from the future created a time machine that came back to the 1600's, crashed and needs to be fixed. Resulting in a quest, that could be completed allowing traversing through time. (1600's - 2100's, something like that)
Although, this could crash and fail.. (pun intended)

So I would also have the following as a backup:

B: Aliens coming down and introducing alienated technology.

And of course, there will be electricity in the form of magic. As with most games, although it won't be AS apparent.

Yes, I do want something that can easily be represented as an image. I would like the games name to have something to do with items in the game. I believe that's an interesting feature in multiple succesful games.

Such as RuneScape (Rune mining, Runes for magic)
MapleStory (Maple leaves, maple weapons, maple cape/hat/earrings, etc)

[quote name='sunandshadow' timestamp='1303850178' post='4803218']
I think it's a good idea to create a forum community as the basis of an MMO community. If you're not familiar with it I would strongly suggest you make an account (free) at Gaia Online and observe how their forums are part of the game in terms of avatars, monetary system, and community identity/spirit.

For game ideas, are you saying your setting is basically steampunk? Combining 1600s and futuristic technology could create a steampunk feel, or instead the high tech elements might be alien, resulting in something more like Stargate (alien with high-tech armor and weapons are perceived by low-tech humans as Egyptian gods with magic), or I've seen a few different fantasy settings where Elves or Angels are high-tech aliens living among low tech humans. Or, if you wanted a pure fantasy setting, all your technology could be magic-based. Magic can be conceptually substituted for electricity - stored in magic batteries, fire magic harnessed in stoves, ice magic harnessed in refrigerators, etc.

For a name, it seems like you want something which can be easily represented as an image, so it can be used for logos and worked into the game's graphics. You could use something from nature - cloud, rainbow, crystal. As you develop the game's worldbuilding you might decide to include elements like mana/metaria/myrrh, whatever you want to call your world's magic substance. That word would make a good game name or part of the name. Or, if your characters in the game have some cute visual trait like wings or animal ears or living in seashells, that could also be a good source of a word for the game's name.

I have an account at gaia online, not such a fan of the forums themselves although I believe the idea is genious. (did I spell that wrong? I think I did and it's bugging me..)

It probably would be
A: A man from the future created a time machine that came back to the 1600's, crashed and needs to be fixed. Resulting in a quest, that could be completed allowing traversing through time. (1600's - 2100's, something like that)
Although, this could crash and fail.. (pun intended)

So I would also have:

B: Aliens coming down and introducing alienated technology.

And of course, there will be electricity in the form of magic. As with most games, although it won't be AS apparent.

Yes, I do want something that can easily be represented as an image. I would like the games name to have something to do with items in the game. I believe that's an interesting feature in multiple successful games.

Such as RuneScape (Rune mining, Runes for magic)
MapleStory (Maple leaves, maple weapons, maple cape/hat/earrings, etc)
[/quote]
Err, you want time-travel, aliens, and magic all in the same game? Doesn't that seem a bit confused and inconsistent? Any two of them could combine ok, but I wouldn't recommend using all three.

There are things about the Gaia forums that I like a lot - the fact that guilds get private forums where roleplay can occur, the whole mini-shops forum where players sell services and art to each other, the discussion forum for bugs and questions about the website/game where other players usually answer your questions quickly, and the general discussion forums for art and writing. On the other hand the forums as a whole are under-moderated and some forums get way too much traffic and should be split into subforums to be more manageable.

I dunno what you are using as a web browser, but I'm using firefox and it has a handy spelling-corrector built in. If there's a word the spelling dictionary doesn't know, typing it in the google box will usually give the correct spelling (in this case it's genius).

[quote name='XDaWNeDX' timestamp='1303854409' post='4803243']
[quote name='sunandshadow' timestamp='1303850178' post='4803218']
I think it's a good idea to create a forum community as the basis of an MMO community. If you're not familiar with it I would strongly suggest you make an account (free) at Gaia Online and observe how their forums are part of the game in terms of avatars, monetary system, and community identity/spirit.

For game ideas, are you saying your setting is basically steampunk? Combining 1600s and futuristic technology could create a steampunk feel, or instead the high tech elements might be alien, resulting in something more like Stargate (alien with high-tech armor and weapons are perceived by low-tech humans as Egyptian gods with magic), or I've seen a few different fantasy settings where Elves or Angels are high-tech aliens living among low tech humans. Or, if you wanted a pure fantasy setting, all your technology could be magic-based. Magic can be conceptually substituted for electricity - stored in magic batteries, fire magic harnessed in stoves, ice magic harnessed in refrigerators, etc.

For a name, it seems like you want something which can be easily represented as an image, so it can be used for logos and worked into the game's graphics. You could use something from nature - cloud, rainbow, crystal. As you develop the game's worldbuilding you might decide to include elements like mana/metaria/myrrh, whatever you want to call your world's magic substance. That word would make a good game name or part of the name. Or, if your characters in the game have some cute visual trait like wings or animal ears or living in seashells, that could also be a good source of a word for the game's name.

I have an account at gaia online, not such a fan of the forums themselves although I believe the idea is genious. (did I spell that wrong? I think I did and it's bugging me..)

It probably would be
A: A man from the future created a time machine that came back to the 1600's, crashed and needs to be fixed. Resulting in a quest, that could be completed allowing traversing through time. (1600's - 2100's, something like that)
Although, this could crash and fail.. (pun intended)

So I would also have:

B: Aliens coming down and introducing alienated technology.

And of course, there will be electricity in the form of magic. As with most games, although it won't be AS apparent.

Yes, I do want something that can easily be represented as an image. I would like the games name to have something to do with items in the game. I believe that's an interesting feature in multiple successful games.

Such as RuneScape (Rune mining, Runes for magic)
MapleStory (Maple leaves, maple weapons, maple cape/hat/earrings, etc)
[/quote]
Err, you want time-travel, aliens, and magic all in the same game? Doesn't that seem a bit confused and inconsistent? Any two of them could combine ok, but I wouldn't recommend using all three.

There are things about the Gaia forums that I like a lot - the fact that guilds get private forums where roleplay can occur, the whole mini-shops forum where players sell services and art to each other, the discussion forum for bugs and questions about the website/game where other players usually answer your questions quickly, and the general discussion forums for art and writing. On the other hand the forums as a whole are under-moderated and some forums get way too much traffic and should be split into subforums to be more manageable.

I dunno what you are using as a web browser, but I'm using firefox and it has a handy spelling-corrector built in. If there's a word the spelling dictionary doesn't know, typing it in the google box will usually give the correct spelling (in this case it's genius).
[/quote]
thank you i changed it. Ironic i spelled genius wrong.

Anyhoo, no, i meant aliens as backup if the time travel idea doesnt play out as well into my game as i hope. Although, if one were to work hard enough, aliens time travel and magic could be put together very well in a game.

On the topic of gaia. Thats what i mean, the idea and thought put into it is absolutely wonderful, however i dont like the layout of the forum, or its moderation. As you said, its extremely unmoderated, and some of the forums get far too much traffic.

Mm, thanks. I've still got no internet at home, so im just working on coding the forum. Hopefully in a few days the forum will be completed, and i'll have a name. Then just change all instances of <game name> to it.

I've also thought of the main plotline. Its essentially going to be humans vs aliens. (main character will be human) although, for a name, im probably gonna just look through a dictionary or website looking for words that are fun to say, easy to understand/represent in an image, then just go live with that. When i find the second part of the name, add it in later on in the forum development.

Well, aliens are a science fiction trope and magic is a fantasy trope. To combine the two in a non-cheesy way you'd have to convert one to the other genre to make them match, and time would also have to be interpreted through that genre. Magic and non-magical high technology make no sense together (this could be considered a personal bias of mine, but I think a fairly large amount of people would agree that the combination is illogical and in bad taste).

Time and Aliens -
I could see combining aliens an a metaphorical sort of time travel - the aliens might create a habitat or living museum where each area is taken from a different earth time period, and the people within the exhibits are not intended to be able to travel from one to another.

Time and Magic-
If you wanted to develop magical technology in an explicit, non-subtle way you could have capital cities seem futuristic because they have lots of magical technology, while small villages have no mages (they all leave to work in the big cities) so the small villages are stuck at a medieval level of technology. And medium-importance areas like suburbs and mid-sized towns would seem more 1900s-ish due to having a medium amount of magical technology.

Or you could have literal time-travel via magic spells in a culture which has highly developed magic but no technology resembling the more science-fictiony idea of a time machine. Time travel fantasy is a pretty common idea, sometimes paired with the idea of Fae aliens, who have more highly-developed magic to the extant of being able to travel between worlds.

Aliens and Magic -
This is the Stargate type of thing I already mentioned - sufficiently advanced alien technology is indistinguishable from magic to low-tech humans, and whatever bits of alien technology find their way into human hands are regarded as magic artifacts. In this case the time/technology gradient would be based on whether an area was a human ghetto, a town with a few alien nobles/patrons or an alien-equipped human servant, a town with a notable population of alien nobility and lots of human peasants, or a high-security alien location where few humans are permitted, and those that are tend to be 'honorary aliens' due to being equipped with alien technology and more educated about it than regular humans.

All three?
I suppose you could also combine the idea of the museum of earth time periods with the idea of a society where aliens are nobility - The museum would be the 'newbie area', the new players would have to 'break out' of one area after another, until they 'graduated' into the main game world where the recently-escaped human population is being slowly integrated into alien society as peasants and servants.

Well, aliens are a science fiction trope and magic is a fantasy trope. To combine the two in a non-cheesy way you'd have to convert one to the other genre to make them match, and time would also have to be interpreted through that genre. Magic and non-magical high technology make no sense together (this could be considered a personal bias of mine, but I think a fairly large amount of people would agree that the combination is illogical and in bad taste). Time and Aliens - I could see combining aliens an a metaphorical sort of time travel - the aliens might create a habitat or living museum where each area is taken from a different earth time period, and the people within the exhibits are not intended to be able to travel from one to another. Time and Magic- If you wanted to develop magical technology in an explicit, non-subtle way you could have capital cities seem futuristic because they have lots of magical technology, while small villages have no mages (they all leave to work in the big cities) so the small villages are stuck at a medieval level of technology. And medium-importance areas like suburbs and mid-sized towns would seem more 1900s-ish due to having a medium amount of magical technology. Or you could have literal time-travel via magic spells in a culture which has highly developed magic but no technology resembling the more science-fictiony idea of a time machine. Time travel fantasy is a pretty common idea, sometimes paired with the idea of Fae aliens, who have more highly-developed magic to the extant of being able to travel between worlds. Aliens and Magic - This is the Stargate type of thing I already mentioned - sufficiently advanced alien technology is indistinguishable from magic to low-tech humans, and whatever bits of alien technology find their way into human hands are regarded as magic artifacts. In this case the time/technology gradient would be based on whether an area was a human ghetto, a town with a few alien nobles/patrons or an alien-equipped human servant, a town with a notable population of alien nobility and lots of human peasants, or a high-security alien location where few humans are permitted, and those that are tend to be 'honorary aliens' due to being equipped with alien technology and more educated about it than regular humans. All three? I suppose you could also combine the idea of the museum of earth time periods with the idea of a society where aliens are nobility - The museum would be the 'newbie area', the new players would have to 'break out' of one area after another, until they 'graduated' into the main game world where the recently-escaped human population is being slowly integrated into alien society as peasants and servants.

Well, I would like magic and aliens. Where the aliens have attacked the magical society of whatever, creating a war that must be fought, with the aliens having arrived one of their ships crashed, however some of the high tech stuff was not damaged. This would lead to magic VS aliens where magic has an idea of what the alien technology is, and has a few sample artifacts. However, the actual alien technology won't be used in the buman side, but rather researched. (QUEST MOMENT ) and viewed when infiltrating the alien base. (which would be home to the strongest boss in the game, and would drop alien weaponry/healing items/armor) Yes, I understand that mixing science fiction and fantasy is a longshot, unless you were to create the world with aliens in it, but they're regular people in the game. Such as the final fantasy series, for the most part. However, if you were to put the fantasy / science fictiony together in a war, rather than working together I feel as though with a bit of extra storyline writing (however not so much as to make it a purely linear game) it could be a succesful genre. My game is going to be an MMORPG like maplestory, just with a linear part and possible a turn based strategy game that is not an MMO. So basically putting the storyline of the MMORPG in a game like fire emblem/advance wars. Meh, I'm not here to discuss game details anyways. I'm not far along enough in the game to do so (haven't started it, want the name for forum/website basically to keep reserve the name and build a community). I know it'll be humans with magic vs aliens for sure now though. What I am interested in is a name or two that I could use. Or get an idea from. Although,

All three? I suppose you could also combine the idea of the museum of earth time periods with the idea of a society where aliens are nobility - The museum would be the 'newbie area', the new players would have to 'break out' of one area after another, until they 'graduated' into the main game world where the recently-escaped human population is being slowly integrated into alien society as peasants and servants.[/quote] This would be the perfect way to implement different jobs into my game. Different earth time periods, different weapons. Warriors/physical users would be from earlier on, bowmen/ranged users from a tad later than physical users, gun wielders from the 1900's (I'd prefer pistols over rifles as the gun to be wielded..) and magic users from the 3000's, all being put together in the 1600's by aliens, so they can have a museum of the different time periods. If the game was to have an updated that added a job, then there'd be a time travel event because aliens accidentally left the time travel thing open or whatever, so people could go and see what the new job would look like. It would be a great way to start a game, but I'm going to try to find a perfect way - without time travel - in a year or two from now.