Apollonia: We need a new name!

[GlennNZ]

Hey guys. Justin and I are in the process of trying to rename our 3D helicopter shooter which is currently called Apollonia. Hopefully you guys may have stumbled across it. Excuse me while I quote myself from www.codetactics.com

What's in a name?

Posted by Glenn on Thursday, 8 October 2009 7:54am

...quite a bit I reckon. Not as all important as an actual playable game, but you want something that is memorable and somewhat flexible. By flexible I mean you don't want to inadvertently tie yourself to particular game concepts. i.e. maybe the game will evolve so that you don't necessarily fly an AH-64. What happens if the game suddenly becomes some great big sandbox where you get to land your helicopter, then be able to cruise around in a tank?

Why do I bring this up? Well, a short look at this shows that 'Apollonia iPhone' has pretty much been taken. The original reason I came up with this name as it seemed exotic and bad-ass. My enthusiasm for it wained when I realised there were many other interpretations and stories around the name Apollonia, so it started to seem less bad-ass.

So now we're trying to find a new name, and it isn't easy. If anyone of you guys out there want to spin some ideas past us, then please let us now with a 'comment'.

And no, we're not going to call is heli-pwnage!

So any help would be highly appreciated. We're just trying to bounce some ideas around.

Cheers.

In case you want to see what the thing looks like...


Glenn

[larryr]

I dont quite know a good name that will fit the game....never been good at naming things. Game looks great tho.

[Vonsta]

how about "Hell-E-Copter"

or perhaps "Battle Of The Bulge PSP" if the tanks/vehicles are used in future

pretty stupid huh?

i was gonna suggest "kickazz chopperz PSP" but thats REALLY stupid..

wicked game though guys.. great work.. played for many hours so far.. thanks

[GlennNZ]

We're trying to keep it vehicle neutral. i.e. maybe the player isn't flying a helicopter.

Maybe "<insert word(s) here> Assault"

[soontobepspowner974]

what is it based around primarily like is their a story line like your fly for XX battalion during the veitnam war

[TylDurden]

Desert Strike, Operation Iraq

[soontobepspowner974]

without knowing nething about the game except where your wanting to go with it i came up with:

Special Forces: Behind Enemy Lines

i did some quick googling and the name as a whole did not come up in the frist 3 pages

although the name probably suggests more ground activity but to me it would be prefect for the whole landing and switching vehicles or if you decide to put a lot of time in to it and do gta style and jack the vehicals

[elite999]

Hell n' Heli. :)

[GlennNZ]

Thanks for the responses guys.

In terms of game play, it will primarily remain a helicopter shooter for now, but It would be great to find a name that doesn't imply the use of a helicopter. I think of the Strike series for example. Sure, it got a little bit lame having so many variations (Desert, Jungle, Urban, Nuclear), but it didn't imply that the player had to fly a helicopter all the time.

Obviously we don't want to have Strike in the title.

Special Forces: (There's nothing 'special' about the playable side really) Behind Enemy Lines (is an Owen Wilson war film although I'd like to think of the battle field as any type of territory). I like the use of the colon title though, because we could make different chapters or episodes or something.

At the risk of promising too much (especially to myself), I'm trying to make a hybrid World in Conflict meets Desert Strike meets castle defense games.

Think of it like World in Conflict (lots of tanks) but where the player flies a helicopter (Desert Strike) but where the player merely deploys and upgrades units but they remain fairly autonomous (castle defence games).

The campaign would be mission based (varied goals) although instant action would be something like the occupation of control points (World In Conflict, Company of Heroes) or what we have now, which is just defense or a town.

[soontobepspowner974]

what about something like battalion commander, it was the name of an atari game
so change it a bit

battalion command: Rouge Lieutenant Colonel

i have to admit this doesn't seem like a great name but it makes sense

a bit of backround:

A battalion is a military unit of around 1000-1500 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel. Several battalions are grouped to form a regiment or a brigade.

The nomenclature varies by nationality and by branch of arms, for instance, some armies organize their infantry into battalions, but call battalion-sized cavalry, reconnaissance, or tank units a squadron or a regiment instead. There may even be subtle distinctions within a nation's branches of arms, such as a distinction between a tank battalion and an armored squadron, depending on how the unit's operational role is perceived to fit into the army's historical organization.

A battalion is generally the smallest military unit capable of independent operations (i.e. not attached to a higher command), although many armies have smaller units that are self-sustaining. The battalion is usually part of a regiment, group or a brigade, depending on the organizational model used by that service. The bulk of a battalion will ordinarily be homogeneous with respect to type (e.g. an infantry battalion or a tank battalion), although there are many exceptions. Every battalion will also include some sort of combat service support, typically organized within a combat support company.

[juan577]

heli-bomber?

[elite999]

@GlennNZ, do you still remember the suggestions I gave you in the thread of the game? If you did that, medals and upgrades, the game will rock!

[GlennNZ]

@GlennNZ, do you still remember the suggestions I gave you in the thread of the game? If you did that, medals and upgrades, the game will rock!

We definitely haven't forgotten. We have a fairly epic wish list, but the whole coding part is quite time consuming, and I seem to have less free time these days (it seems to just disappear on me). The iPhone port has also proven to be a massive side-track, but it's forced us to fix some things.

[elite999]

Good to hear that. :) I didn't know that there is an Iphone version of the game. Seems hard work. Good luck.

[GlennNZ]

We had a couple more ideas which we thought might spur some more comments

Strategic Assault Force (ASF) or maybe Advanced Strategic Assault Force (ASAF).

We started to play on the Command and Conquer idea with names like GDI and NOD

[elite999]

You want it like an official name. Does "Advanced Heli Assault" ring a bell?

[soontobepspowner974]

well how about Strategic Assault: FrontLines

or StrikeForce FristWave

or reverse it Firstwave Strikeforce

[GlennNZ]

well how about Strategic Assault: FrontLines

or StrikeForce FristWave

or reverse it Firstwave Strikeforce

Hi, soontobepspowner974. I like your suggestions; I quite like 'Front Lines' and 'Strike Force'. Unfortunately I found out that there is already an iPhone game called Strategic Assault, and although it is a modest game, I wouldn't like to hijack its name.

You want it like an official name. Does "Advanced Heli Assault" ring a bell?

I'm trying to avoid the use of vehicle specific titles. Imagine if you could upgrade to a rotor-less futuristic vehicle like the Orca from C&C, or maybe a Harrier-like craft.

[edit]
Looks like I contradicted myself. I was also trying to avoid the word Strike.

[elite999]

Lol, okay.

- Advanced Air Assault. Symbol : A3

[soontobepspowner974]

Lol, okay.

- Advanced Air Assault. Symbol : A3

it still kind of sticks to that one vehicle thing he/she/they said they wanted a name that that would not imply only being able to pilot a chopper but also steer a tank and if they so chose to do so other vehicles

[elite999]

Advanced Maneuver

OR

Armed Maneuver

[GlennNZ]

Time to bring this post out from the dead.

We're still lacking a new title but I had a couple of ideas I want to bounce around. One of them is "Defiance" and the other is something with the word "Operations" or "Ops" in it.

On a side note, we've sold out and made a twitter account, so if you want to keep up with our gradual progress, you may wish to tune in. codetactics on Twitter

[cmbeke]

thats neat, you could combine both the names, Defiance: Renagade Ops

[GlennNZ]

thats neat, you could combine both the names, Defiance: Renagade Ops

Thanks for the feedback, cmbeke. Keep 'em coming.

[cmbeke]

how about, Defiance: An Age of Hostility, Black Ops: Combatant Defence

[GlennNZ]

This is the last throw of the dice now (then I'll let this thread die).

We're close to using "Mobile Assault", of which we could then do colon titles such as "Mobile Assault: Defiance".
Unless we get a better idea, that might it.

Just for interests sake, we're really close to getting the iPhone build out. One week before we submit it to apple. Then we just have to fix the odd PSP issue so that you guys can have fun with it.

[elite999]

Looking forward to the PSP fix. Thanks.

[cmbeke]

nice i cant wait