作者：Yura Yashunin

一流游戏的命名范例

1.吃豆人（Pac-Man）

原版游戏的名称是Pakkuman（游戏邦注：在日语中“Paku-Paku”是用于描述人们咀嚼时发出的声音）。但是在进入市场的过程中，该游戏又更名为Puck-Man。游戏主角是一个缺了一角的圆形披萨。但当它首次进入美国市场时，开发者并不希望人们将游戏名称的发音与Fuck-Man这种不雅用语混淆起来，在咨询美国市场营销专家后，他们决定将其重新命名为“Pac-Man”。

2.俄罗斯方块（Tetris）

这款游戏的开发者当初并没有刻意去想一个独特的名字。他只是将四格拼板（Tetromino）和网球（tennis）这两个词合拼在一起。四格拼板是一种包含4个方格的几何形状，而网球就是游戏开发者本人Alexey Pajitnov最喜欢的一种运动。

3.塞尔达传说（The legend of Zelda）

宫本茂将这款游戏中的女主人公称为Zelda，仅仅是因为他十分喜欢Scott Fitzgerald（二十世纪美国杰出作家）妻子的姓名（Zelda Sayre）而已。而Link原名是Chris，其意义在于纪念宫本茂的教父。但这名开发者最终决定让游戏主角命名为Link，象征游戏世界与玩家之间的联系。

4.光晕（Halo）

据称这款游戏重命名的次数超过了其他任何游戏。最初它被称为Solipsis以提示游戏中主要战役的发生地点（Solipsis星球）。但是进入不同的开发阶段后，该游戏又分别被命名为Star Maker、Star Sheld、Hard Vacuum，The Crystal Palace、The Santa Machine和Monkey Nuts。最后一个名字马上就被否决了，因为Bungie Studios的联合创始人之一认为这种名字令他难以启齿，无法告诉母亲他在开发这样一款游戏。该游戏名称最终变成了Halo，其灵感来源是Iain M.Banks的热门科幻小说。

实用建议

1.保持合理的简短性

在游戏名称中使用1至3个字词。显然，包含3个字词的游戏名称具有“不可抗拒的吸引力”，我在之后会讨论这一点。要避免使用简写，如果你在名称中只使用了一个字词，就要确保它足够简洁，甚至可以创造一个新词。

2.避免使用垃圾词

在游戏名称中使用趣味、游戏等这种陈词滥调无异于浪费宝贵的符号空间。唯一可以在名称中使用“Game”这种词的理由就是，令你的应用从同类其他产品中脱颖而出。例如，假设你的产品是一款食谱应用，将其命名为The Ultimate Cooking Game而不是The Ultimate Cooking Guide，这就有利于令你的产品与众不同。Hardest Game Ever也许就是唯一在名字中带有game一词并且获得成功的游戏吧。

hardest game ever(from gamasutra)

3.要了解撞脸词

不要在游戏名称中使用超过一个的撞脸词（游戏邦注：这里指的是竞争对手所使用的词）。看看应用商店就知道其中已经有大量包含“切水果”字眼的游戏，所以最好去挑选一个比这些更合适的字眼。查看可行的游戏名称时，不要仅仅着眼于你的产品所属的类型。

slicer(from gamasutra)

4.找到引人注目的字词

最好是选择那些用户日常生活中并不常见的字眼来吸引他们的眼球。你并不经常看到或使用“漩涡（swirl）”、“旋转（whirl）”、“前奏（prelude）”、“传染病（Pandemic）”这样的词语，这些词语可以作为一种外部催化剂并推动游戏下载量。另一方面，“butt”这个词在今天颇为盛行，但人们仍然还没有在产品名称中广泛使用这一词。这类词当然可以吸引人们注意力。但要注意妥当使用这种夺人眼球的词语。

butt challenge(from gamasutra)

5.可读性

在构想产品名称时，可以试着想象你所瞄准的用户是文化程度只有小学三年级水平的人。所以没有人看得懂“Agathokakological”这种生僻字词，用户不会点击下载，只会觉得吃惊和反感并转身寻找自己看得懂的游戏名称。

6.创造新词

这可以参照《俄罗斯方块》开发者Pajitnov的做法，通过结合2个现成的字词创造一个全新的词语。这样你就可以凭借独特的名称轻松打败竞争对手，此外这种名称也有利于加深用户印象。在创造新词时要注意避免上述提到的错误做法。因此，像“Indestructotank”（结合Indestructible和Tank）这种字词就是一个糟糕的选择，因为它的可读性非常低。而像Exorbis(结合Ex和Orbis）就是个优秀的典型，其中的Orbis是指星球的光环（古代占星术概念）。

3字原则的魔力

Clash of Clans，Age of War，Age of Sparta, Call of Duty, World of Tanks, King of Thieves, Mirrors of Albion, Heroes of Atlan。

这些游戏都占据了Google Play榜单前列席位，其中有许多游戏名列“编辑精选”榜单。这些游戏的名称都包含3个字词，并且其中都有一个“of”。

仅含有3个词的名称也比较有利于关键字的优化。

从ASO的角度出发

一款应用的名称是其排列及图标的一个关键层面，也是吸引用户注意力的一个主要方法。App Store和Google Play约半数用户是使用检索功能寻找新应用。

他们在找什么？搜索查询通常包含匹配游戏类型的一般词组（如“谜题”）或者反映用户个人兴趣的关键字（这在所有搜索查询中占比高达80%）。我们都知道，有需求才会有供应。

Tune数据显示，在2013年春季，应用名称中包含关键字的产品所占比例仅有16%，而2个半月之后这个比例飙升至了51%。

人人都知道在标题中使用的字词在搜索过程中通常具有更高的权重。MobileDevHQ所执行的实验证明，在标题中植入关键字，可以让你的应用在Google Play搜索结果排名中上升10.3%左右。

至于App Store的情况，我们可以使用Tanktastic搜索优化情况为例。我们仅针对其标题进行更改，就令其从“tank”一的搜索查询结果排名从第70位上升至第30位（现在它在美国该搜索结果中排名第12位）。

你只能在标题中植入最合适的查询字眼，也就是说这种查询字眼必须适合游戏，并且具有关联性。尽管这听起来像是老调重弹，我还是要提醒大家用户只会下载符合其即时需求的应用。如果应用不符合他们的预期，用户就可能从设备中删除应用，而这会严重影响应用的评价和排名。

在我们客户easy ten的案例中，其标题添加了“外语”这一词后，该应用就顺利在搜索查询结果中名列第8位（现在居于第3位）。

要让用户更易于找到你的游戏。你的应用名称获得通过之后（如easy ten案例），最好添加你计划发布市场的当地语言关键字。例如，面向美国发布easy ten – learn any language，向俄罗斯Google Play发布easy ten -иностранные языки（它在当地“外语”搜索查询结果中居于前三位）。这样你就可以打造一个人们未来会主动搜索的品牌。

easy ten(from gamasutra)

正如我们所知，Google Play中标题符号的最佳数量是25，尽管你实际上最多可以添加至30个字符（注意如果你这么做，应用的全称就无法完全显示在搜索结果中）。记住，含有30个字符的标题无法在5英寸屏幕上正常显示，所以最佳字符量是25。App Store的最佳字符量是35，含有冗长字词的标题可以缩短。App Store所允许的最大字符量是255，但iPhone用户在应用页面只会看到前面70个字符。

换句话说，你的标题中含有2-5个关键字。尽量植入可以让潜在用户在首次看到应用时就能清楚了解游戏内容的关键字。例如The Pooches（在“儿童游戏”搜索查询结果中位居第二，在俄罗斯Google Play“家庭”类别搜索排名第13）的应用标题就只有2个词，其标题成功融入2个高频率搜索查询的字眼，同时为用户提供了一些关于应用详情的重要信息（它有一些含卡通角色的迷你游戏）。

还有一例就是Sword vs Sword，你瞥一眼这个名称就能够轻松猜出其主要内容。我们也不觉得它有必要植入其他任何关键字，因为“sword”本身就是个已经很热门的查询字段。许多发行商倾向于在游戏命名时使用关键字。我们认为开发者在为游戏命名之初就要将ASO因素考虑入列。（本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao）

Mobile Games & Apps Naming

by Yura Yashunin

Naming in flagship games

Pac-Man

The original name of the game was Pakkuman (the Japanese word “paku-paku” is used to describe the sound people make when they champ), however, somewhere on the long way to the market, the game changed its name to Puck-Man. The main hero is nothing else but a round pizza that is missing one slice. But when it first entered the American market, the developers did not want to risk having the game sound similar to Fuck-Man and, upon consulting with American marketing specialists, they decided to re-name it to “Pac-Man”.

Tetris

The creator of Tetris obviously did not go out of his way trying to come up with a unique name. Instead, he combined two words – Tetromino and tennis – into one. Tetromino is a geometrical shape that consists of 4 squares, while tennis is simply the most favorite sport of Alexey Pajitnov – the game developer.

The legend of Zelda

Shigeru Miyamoto called the female character of his game Zelda simply because he liked the name of Scott Fitzgerald’s wife very much. Link was initially called Chris in honor of Shigeru’s godfather. But the creator finally decided to give his protagonist the name that would symbolize the link between the game world and the player.

Halo

Halo is known to have suffered from re-naming more than any other game. At first, it was called Solipsis in honor of the planet where the main events take place. However, at different stages of its development, the game was called Star Maker, Star Shield, Hard Vacuum, The Crystal Palace and, for some unknown reason, The Santa Machine and Monkey Nuts. The latter was declined almost immediately because one of the co-founders of Bungie Studios could not tell his mom he was working on the game called like that. Eventually, the spherical Solipsis became Halo, inspired by the popular science fiction culture of Iain M. Banks novels.

Useful tips

Keep it reasonably short

Use 1 to 3 words in the name of the game. Apparently, the names that consist of three words have some ‘irresistible attraction’ that I’m going to talk about later. Avoid using abbreviations, and if you are willing to use just one word in the name, make sure it is concise enough or even invent a new word.

Avoid using junk words

Using words like Fun, Game etc. in the name of the game is a cliché, a banality and a total waste of valuable symbols. The only reason why you might want to use the word ‘Game’ in the name is to single out your product from other products in the same category. For example, if your product is an application with recipes, call it The Ultimate Cooking Game instead of The Ultimate Cooking Guide. Distinguish yourself from your competitors. Hardest Game Ever is probably the only game that has ever been able to succeed with such a name.

Beware of twin-words

Don’t use more than one twin-word (the words that your competitors use) in the name of the game. If you see that there already are plenty of “Fruit Slicers”, try to find a better alternative to one of these words. When checking out possible names, don’t just focus your attention on the category that your product falls under.

Find a catchy word

Attract the attention of your users with the word that they don’t often come across in their day-to-day life. You don’t often get to see or use words like “swirl”, “whirl”, “prelude”, “pandemic”, which can make them a perfect external trigger and help promote downloads. On the other hand, the word “butt” is widely popular these days, still people have not got used to seeing it in the names of products. Such words are sure to catch everyone’s attention. Mind that catchy words like that have to be used with great caution.

Readability

When working on the name of your product, try to imagine that you are aiming it at the user whose reading skills are at a third-grade level. No one will be able to read something like “Agathokakological”, and instead of clicking on Install, the user will simply shrug their shoulders in surprise and annoyance and go looking for a game whose name they can actually read.

Invent a new word

Think of Pajitnov and invent a completely new word by combining 2 existing ones. With a unique name, you will easily beat the competition, moreover, such a name will stick in the minds of your users. Be careful when inventing a new non-existent word to avoid making the mistake we mentioned above. Thus, “Indestructotank” (Indestructible and Tank) would be a bad choice for it is a poorly readable word with recurrent syllables. A good example, on the other hand, is Exorbis – Ex Orbis, where Orbis means the aura of a planet (ancient astrology).

The magic of three words

Clash of Clans, Age of War, Age of Sparta, Call of Duty, World of Tanks, King of Thieves, Mirrors of Albion, Heroes of Atlan.

All these games occupy TOP positions in Google Play with many of them being rated as “Editors’ Choice”. The names of these games consist of 3 words and one of them is the conjunction “of” which is not translated into Russian but used to express the genitive case (whose?)

Names that only have 3 words in them are also good in the context of optimization.

Through the prism of ASO

The name of an application is an essential aspect of its ranging and along with the icon, it is the main method of attracting the attention of users. About half of App Store and Google Play users use the Search facilities when looking for a new app.

What are they looking for? Most frequently, search queries contain either general phrases that match the name of the categories (e.g., “puzzles”) or key words that reflect users’ individual interests (up to 80% of all search queries). And the demand, as we all know, breeds supply.

Back in spring 2013, the share of apps whose names contained key words was only about 16%, while 2,5 months later it was 51% (according to Tune).

Everyone knows that words used in the title are usually granted higher priority during the search process. The experiment carried out by MobileDevHQ proved that by placing a key word in the title, you can improve your app’s search position in Google Play by 10,3%.

Speaking of App Store, we can use our Tanktastic search optimization case as an example. We were able to promote the app for the “tank” search query from the 70th position to the 30th position over just one update due to the change of its title (by the way, it now occupies the 12th position in the United States).

You should only place the most appropriate queries in the title, meaning the queries that are relevant and applicable to your game. As trite and obvious as it may sound, users only download the applications that meet their immediate needs. If the app fails to live up their expectations, it will be removed from the device, which can affect severely the app’s rating and positions.

As in the case with our client easy ten, adding the phrase “foreign languages” to its title allowed the application to start from the 8thposition for this search query (it now takes the 3rd position).

Make it easier for users to find your game. Approve the main title of the application (e.g., easy ten) and then simply add key words in the language of the country where you plan to publish it. For example, easy ten – learn any language for the USA and easy ten -иностранные языки for Google Play in Russia (TOP-3 for the “foreign language” search query). Thus, you will form a brand that will be intentionally searched for in the future.

position for a highly-competitive search query

As we know, the optimal number of symbols in the title for Google Play is 25, although you are allowed to use up to 30 symbols (mind that if you do that, the full name of the application will not be shown in application search results). Keep in mind that titles with 30 symbols might not show up correctly on devices with 5″ screens. 25 is the optimal number. For App Store, the optimal number of symbols is 35, at that, the titles that contain long words can be shortened. The maximum permitted number of symbols is 255, however, the user will only see the first 70 symbols on the application page (for iPhone).

In other words, you will have 2-5 key words for your title. Try to include the words that will give your potential users the best possible insight into what the game is about when they first come across it in the store. For example, The Pooches -  TOP-2 for the “games for children” search query; TOP-13 in Russia in the “Family” category on Google Play. Having only 2 words, the title managed to fit in 2 high-frequency search queries and, at the same time, provide its users with some important information on the specific nature of the application, which consists of a few mini-games featuring some popular cartoon characters.

Here is another example – Sword vs Sword. When you read the name of the game, you can easily guess what it is about. At the same time, we didn’t feel the need to include any other key words, since the “sword” query itself is popular enough. Many publishers prefer to use key words in the naming of their games. This brings us to the conclusion that ASO has to be taken into consideration at the very early stages, when creating the name of your game.（source：gamasutra）