Post by SongRune on 2022-10-01 04:06:32
Punny quest titles are great. No opinion on 'pop culture', but anything too 'modern' (and particularly anything political) risks hitting weirdly for portions of your audience. I like "Theseus" (because the name is cool on its own as well), "It's a me!" (when the quest only lightly hints of a Mario reference), and "I'll be Bach" (if the quest is related to music, not Terminator), but "Make love, not Ashes" should be a reference to the age old saying, not a TV episode that itself referenced that saying.
The key to this sort of thing is to make it subtle, to make sure the name relevant to the quest first and foremost, and avoid making the quests "about" the reference in any meaningful way. If the quest stands well alone, and the title isn't forced, a subtle reference or punny name can be great. When you start making the references "real" or "the point", though, it gets cliche fast, and the quests (and references) generally get stale and out of place over time. A good rule of thumb, I feel, is that if your reference isn't still as good in 20 years as it is today, don't use it. MMOs can have a long life, if nothing else. Beyond that, name your quests after you've created them. Don't build them around the reference. If you do both of these things, I find these sorts of titles tend to work well.
The key to this sort of thing is to make it subtle, to make sure the name relevant to the quest first and foremost, and avoid making the quests "about" the reference in any meaningful way. If the quest stands well alone, and the title isn't forced, a subtle reference or punny name can be great. When you start making the references "real" or "the point", though, it gets cliche fast, and the quests (and references) generally get stale and out of place over time. A good rule of thumb, I feel, is that if your reference isn't still as good in 20 years as it is today, don't use it. MMOs can have a long life, if nothing else. Beyond that, name your quests after you've created them. Don't build them around the reference. If you do both of these things, I find these sorts of titles tend to work well.