As mentioned in my previous post/video, when I was working on this game early on, I had 4 main contenders for the final name:
- RKDN one - The original name, with Arcade + Radian combined into four letters, with the intention of making RKDN two/three/etc in the future.
- SuperNova - Named for the (then) biggest explosion in the game, and the generally celestial-ish theme. But not particularly specific or descriptive.
- DodgeBomb - I thought it was a clever way of describing the game mechanics, but it was also confusing because you don't dodge the bombs, and is nothing like dodgeball.
- Fireball 2 - I created Fireball in 2010 for XBLIG, and ported it to PC, iOS, and Android over the next few years. This game was *slightly* different in a couple ways, and Fireball was never super-popular (though it sold better on Android than I remembered when I looked up old sales data).
Because it didn't start out as a game I planned to be a sequel to Fireball, I was resistant to naming it Fireball 2. But you are literally a fireball in the game, and it has TWO player support, and the basic gameplay is nearly identical to Fireball. I'd have to go into way much detail to explain the subtle differences between the original Fireball and this. It seems obvious I should have named it Fireball 2, but for some reason it wasn't to me.
I chose DodgeBomb instead. And nobody liked the name, and the game announce last October was a dud.
Fast forward to this past month, and I made the devlog video about DodgeBomb, and more people confirmed the name dislike. Then Chris Z (game marketing guy) posted a video talking about the changes to the upcoming Steam Next Fest: To summarize, every game would get a bit more attention, and the super-popular ones wouldn't completely dominate. I also played through a bunch of my old games and realized: I've been way too resistant to the idea of making (or even naming) sequels.
With the pressure of the upcoming Next Fest (which kinda matters now, and this game will be in), along with potentially trying to get the game on consoles sooner than later, I had to make a decision: Rename the game now or never.
I chose now.
So I made new title art, got the art in-game, and I made a new Steam logo. Then I added a new color scheme specifically for Hardcore mode and improved a couple mode visual elements, and now it IS Fireball 2. Despite a little drama from Steam (they wanted to make sure I wasn't changing the name on a whim), the change went smoothly, and I feel surprisingly good about all of it.
Fireball 2 wasn't planned to be a sequel, but it certainly feels like one now. And it won't be the last.