It sounds like Silhouettes is really similar to another RPG system out there, so I’m now considering changing the name to something else. Something that conveys the dungeon-like quality of the exploration, and the dragon-like quality of the final boss...

oh no

Ok ok so it’s a game where you’re playing a “run” through a world that’s all full of “shadows”

wait shit

I’ve got it now for sure

So it’s about a whole world right

And it’s super dark, just darkness everywhere

Hang on I’m being handed a note

goddammit

Oh I know

It’s about the paths we take right? And about finding the right ones? So maybe it’s like

Who ARE these people and why do they keep taking all the good names and why haven’t I heard of them

It’s like they’ve got a monopoly on all the names I want to give my game

Hmmm now there’s an idea

haha that’s a joke

No way am I call it the “Name Game”

Maybe I just need to focus on the setting more

Like here’s this realm full of all the things that have been forgotten

What the fuck kind of setting is that and why does somebody already own it

Maybe something a little more referential? Like it’s a metroidvania game but the premise is that you do the run all at once, like it’s the one best run, the prime one

But I’ll call it Two bc I just know one of y’all are gonna try and mess with me

And I’m gonna give it a subtitle too, one that makes SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO THE ECHO CHARACTER THAT ONLY EXISTS IN THIS GAME

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

You’re telling me this is a real game that somebody made. Who. Who is this person. Show me this alleged game. What was it, a solo indie project that got abandoned or something, what is it

Well I’ve never heard of it

Maybe one of the other roles. Like it’s all about weaving together a story. A really good story. Like one that might win an award.

No

You’re lying

There’s no way

This fucking guy

What if I just picked two completely random nouns and smashed them together here let’s see how it goes

Star Wars

There, no way can somebody have thought of that, what kind of wars would stars have

“Most popular science fiction franchise in history”? What does that even MEAN

Don’t be ridiculous

Nobody’s going to buy anything called “Star Trek” https://mobile.twitter.com/mutantcreecher/status/1259505640847757312

Maybe just “Rifts”

No that sucks

I know

This is the winner here

So yeah it’s a game with a very strict structure, which means that what makes it different every time is what you bring to the table, like you’ve gotta use role playing skills

Gotta
Use
Role
Playing
Skills

...

...

sigh

Okay but like really this game is about perseverance. Like you might get knocked down but eventually you WILL push that rock up the hill. It’s like Sisyphus but the opposite

Ok these look pretty cool and you should go check them all out but also THAT DOESNT HELP ME

https://itch.io/search?q=Anti-sisyphus

I may have gone too far down the rabbit hole on this. Better dial it back. Look at the systems.

Maybe I just need to resign myself to the fact that no matter what I call this, the name is going to be derivative. I don’t know. The whole thing seems like it’s just all come unraveled

Play A Ghost Lost In A Cold Corrupting Isolation

Anyway keep an eye out for my next game, PAGLIACCI, a name that sounds like something I should know but nothing comes to mind, I’ll ask my therapist about it later

In the meantime you can check out “Beyond the Rift”, a game where you run around and try to save a world that’s already lost. It’s very good and actually not very silly at all https://mnemonicrpg.itch.io/mnemonic-beyond-the-rift