Turns out it’s a lot.
I was discussing my game with Rami Ismail of Vlambeer on his Twitch show Call Me Ismail (as I regularly do when I can) and his advice was great and I ended up using it in the game! When I hung up on Skype however, I looked into the chat and people were very confused as to why I had chosen the name TETRARKHOUT. I explained the origination of the title, and many other streamers were opposed to it on the fact that it was simply too long or too difficult to remember. I will admit, this upset me some. I have come to love the name TETRARKHOUT, I’ve been working on the game for almost a year now (on and off, definitely not constant) and while it had occurred to me that the game name was cumbersome, I always thought that was part of the charm. Alas, no charm to be found.
And so I entered denial. I was making this game for me, it’s my choice in the end, etc…. But that’s only half the truth. I am not making this game for myself, I already know everything about it. The game is for the player, and while every element in the game relies on my choices it is up to the player to say if these choices make a good game. All I want is to make a good game, however I am going to try to make that game on my terms.
I conducted a poll with the outstanding suggestions. Here are the results:
After a few days of polling I had a fair response. There were also several “other” suggestions that didn’t strike me as very symbolic of the game. The game is meant to be a ripoff, and though it has mashup qualities I do not consider it a mashup/remix.
Now you may look at the chart and see that TETRANOID has an overwhelmingly positive score. That seems to be the logical choice, right? Well, you’re right. It is. It’s just that I fucking hate it. It negates the theme in favor of being fun to say, which is pointless in a game attempting to tell a complicated story with limited elements. I couldn’t bear to work on a game with a title that I hated so much. So yeah, emotions and “artistic integrity” won that battle.
In my mind, BRKÖUT was the clear winner of this. Why? BRKÖUT had the most middling response. I did not want to choose a title that would polarize the audience like so many of the others had. People either loved or hated most of the options, BRKÖUT received adequate positive and negative responses from many sides, favoring slightly to the positive. That’s the kind of response I want for a title, everyone has an opinion that may be complicated.
TETRARKHOUT will be renamed BRKÖUT for the next update. I have a new plan for a sweet logo design as well, but we’ll see what’s ready by then. I intend to have it out by Thursday August 25th.
For those who dare, BRKÖUT is pronounced Brrek-eut officially, but it’s fine to call it whatever.