Real-talk: Should The Sexy Brutale change its title?

[Katana]

"That's The Sexy Brutale. It's got a *terrible title* that most people will by no means want to understand, or want to go anywhere near. Might I suggest that you try and ignore that, and give it a shot." - TotalBiscuit
"Have to say though, the title *really* doesn't do it any favors. I'm pretty sure just about everybody got the wrong idea from that." - a Redditor

I think it's the opinion of a lot of this game's players, and hopefully of the game's own developers, that The Sexy Brutale really deserves a lot more attention. But, thinking it through thoroughly, the game may have to take a few cues from the very boring world of marketing.

Steam gets so many games these days that the cover art for a game - even the *first words* of a game's title - start to form impressions that may lead someone to make a decision within SECONDS of whether they're even going to investigate the game further. I honestly think that a solid look at TSB's trailer - of murder, mystery, a chibi art style and a haunted mansion - are enough to captivate the attention of anyone interested. BUT, it's not even a given that every Steam browser will go that far.

I'd suggest some people read the interview with Ken Levine over the cover art for Bioshock Infinite - artwork that reduced the idea of a floating city and a girl that can travel through portals, into a game about a scruffy guy holding a rifle next to a burning flag.
https://www.wired.com/2012/12/bioshock-infinite-box-art/

This cover art was never meant for the core fan that understands the art of the game inside and out. It's more of a marketing item to make sure this game is reaching the right demographics and not being turned aside as "Probably a dating sim...?"

One thing I want to be clear about is that since it encompasses so much dialog and artwork in the game, I do not think it would make sense to change the name of the *casino* within the game. That would be putting too much work on things. But, there are undoubtedly creative avenues that one could try to, vaguely, distantly, convey what the game is about - I'm not even sure I have the best ones, but they're primarily intended to suggest to someone who's a fan of murder mysteries that, no, this game is not simply trying to bait your attention with a half-naked, sexy woman.

The Brutale Cycle
Spy at the Brutale Casino
Brutale
Mask of Brutalite (accent mark on end?)

I can't deny that to lawyers, developers, everyone involved, changing the actual title of a game is a huge amount of work - usually relegated to sneaky early access games that want to shed their stigma, or those victimized by a Bethesda lawsuit. But every impression I've seen of the game suggests it really might help gain some impressions.

[stevo]

To hell with the title, I'd rather have puzzles with a little more substance.

[PsychoDino]

Revolving Ocelot の投稿を引用：

The title is great. Divisive, maybe. But hey.

the question is, does the title alienate people who may have purchased the game? it doesnt tell me anything about the game.

[Dom]

PsychoDino の投稿を引用：

Revolving Ocelot の投稿を引用：

The title is great. Divisive, maybe. But hey.

the question is, does the title alienate people who may have purchased the game? it doesnt tell me anything about the game.

There aren't many titles that tell a lot about a game. Unless it's titled 'Something Simulator'.

The game's name and store banner create enough questions for someone to click on the title and at least see what the game is tagged with. From there on it's a pretty easy hook, even if the user skim reads half of the store page.

People who dismiss a game on it's title and banner probably aren't the kind of people to enjoy these sorts of games anyway.

You have to also consider that this will pop up in recommendation queues and on the storefront itself for people who have played or showed interest in similar games, so they're being shown more info than they usually would.

[Katana]

Thumbs Up Cat の投稿を引用：

PsychoDino の投稿を引用：

the question is, does the title alienate people who may have purchased the game? it doesnt tell me anything about the game.

There aren't many titles that tell a lot about a game. Unless it's titled 'Something Simulator'.

The game's name and store banner create enough questions for someone to click on the title and at least see what the game is tagged with. From there on it's a pretty easy hook, even if the user skim reads half of the store page.

People who dismiss a game on it's title and banner probably aren't the kind of people to enjoy these sorts of games anyway.

You have to also consider that this will pop up in recommendation queues and on the storefront itself for people who have played or showed interest in similar games, so they're being shown more info than they usually would.

Well, even if titles don't expressly tell a lot about a game, people tend to *think* they know about it from the title. I'll make up some examples, and what thoughts may go through someone's head for a half-second as they read them.

Murder Force - A team of characters killing lots of enemies
Piki Piki - Some kind of Japanese game, maybe a VN, centered around cuteness? Definitely not similar to Murder Force.
Aqua Messenger ExTend Plus - Unknown? Sounds very Asian, likely a remaster or sequel to "Aqua Messenger", whatever that is. May investigate further to at least see what kind of game it is, but unless I'm into Asian RPG games it's probably out of my interests.
Omagarei - Total mystery what this is; the name "Omagarei" gives me no familiarity. Could be an adventure, a horror game, or an action game for all I know, or something else...? Maybe I'll look at it.
Sex Party Plus - A game for lonely basement dwellers. All I need to know.
Dress Hack - Something to do with girly outfits, but I'm not sure what the "Hack" refers to...? May at least look at the artwork to make sure it's not something excessively girly.
Nab the Frisbee!! - Sounds like a pretty simple-oriented party game, especially from the exclamation points. Maybe the player(s) play as animals.

Think about how fast "Sex Party" gets dismissed from that list. Even "Omagarei" gets more attention even though I just made up that word. The unfamiliarity of it makes people curious - the problem comes when people think they know what they're getting from just the words they recognize.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the banner, just that as someone mentioned before, when you're reading the title first there can be some prior implications about what the banner is about.

PS. Here's hoping my "problem title" in the list above doesn't get censored by Steam.
PPS. Whoops, it did! It began with a "V", but I'll swap it out to give the same idea.

[CeliriaRose]

People need to just stop juding the proverbial book by the cover. The devs shouldn't be forced to change their perfectly good and fitting title just because some people are close minded and stupid.

[Da Wrecka]

CeliriaRose の投稿を引用：

People need to just stop juding the proverbial book by the cover. The devs shouldn't be forced to change their perfectly good and fitting title just because some people are close minded and stupid.

In a perfect world, this would be exactly right. Thumbs up, A plus to you, et cetera.

However, we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a crapsack world full of pigeon ♥♥♥♥, terrorists and Digital Homicide. (well, okay, not so much the last one any more) And the simple fact is that people DO judge the proverbial books by their proverbial cover. When I was pitching this game to my mother, (before I found out her laptop is far below the stated minimum requirements) I didn't feel I could simply tell her that the game was called "The Sexy Brutale" before I told her about the murder-mystery, time-travel-twist style of the game, because that title simply produces too many negative mental images of games trying to sucker in horny teenagers with sex.

Marketing exists for a reason; because you generally only have a few seconds to catch the attention of your target, and a false impression can be a death sentence. So far it seems The Sexy Brutale has managed to garner enough word-of-mouth attention to do well, but it could've done better with a less provocative-sounding title and that hurts me.

TL:DR; while I agree that the devs shouldn't have to change the name if we were in a perfect world, we are in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ world of death and spiders and I really do believe that the title "The Sexy Brutale" has caused a good proportion of people who WOULD have enjoyed the game to do the metaphorical equivalent of looking pointedly into the middle distance and walking quickly away.

[CeliriaRose]

Da Wrecka の投稿を引用：

CeliriaRose の投稿を引用：

People need to just stop juding the proverbial book by the cover. The devs shouldn't be forced to change their perfectly good and fitting title just because some people are close minded and stupid.

In a perfect world, this would be exactly right. Thumbs up, A plus to you, et cetera.

However, we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a crapsack world full of pigeon ♥♥♥♥, terrorists and Digital Homicide. (well, okay, not so much the last one any more) And the simple fact is that people DO judge the proverbial books by their proverbial cover. When I was pitching this game to my mother, (before I found out her laptop is far below the stated minimum requirements) I didn't feel I could simply tell her that the game was called "The Sexy Brutale" before I told her about the murder-mystery, time-travel-twist style of the game, because that title simply produces too many negative mental images of games trying to sucker in horny teenagers with sex.

Marketing exists for a reason; because you generally only have a few seconds to catch the attention of your target, and a false impression can be a death sentence. So far it seems The Sexy Brutale has managed to garner enough word-of-mouth attention to do well, but it could've done better with a less provocative-sounding title and that hurts me.

TL:DR; while I agree that the devs shouldn't have to change the name if we were in a perfect world, we are in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ world of death and spiders and I really do believe that the title "The Sexy Brutale" has caused a good proportion of people who WOULD have enjoyed the game to do the metaphorical equivalent of looking pointedly into the middle distance and walking quickly away.

So because we don't live in a perfect world screw trying right? Just because people are idiots doesn't mean everyone should just back off and go along with it. If you cater to the lowest common denominator then you stifle any chance for things to rise above it.

[Hannibal]

Social justice snowflakes outraged again. Who cares about the title. Go back and hide in your safe room. The world is just to hard on delicate creatures such as ypurself

[Dom]

ӇƛƝƝƖƁƛԼ の投稿を引用：

Social justice snowflakes outraged again. Who cares about the title. Go back and hide in your safe room. The world is just to hard on delicate creatures such as ypurself

You completely missed the point of this whole thread

[Skirlasvoud]

Am I the only one who thought the title was great and that it instantly drew my attention?

Might be a European vs an American culture thing.

I read "Sexy Brutale", saw the masks and instantly thought of Venice and France. I guessed it was either a Casino Simulator, or some sort of adventure/puzzle game. I would have been right in the latter. Either way, it looked stylish enough to instantly draw my attention. Even without the pictures! By no means did the title turn me off any more than any other title would have done.

An American might read "Sex* *******" and doesn't make it past the first 3 letters because heaven forfend their prudish sentimintalities.


Besides, I also have curators and my youtube channels to back me up on my choice. I don't rely on thrawling through the new releases and go purely by title. I rely on the likes of Jim Sterling, TotalBiscuit and AGR to spot talent for me and they all spotted the Sexy Brutale. Reason I follow those three reviewers is because I have certain tastes and I guess I was always destined to stumble upon the Sexy Brutale. Title has very little to do with it.

[Delta]

skirlasvoud の投稿を引用：

Am I the only one who thought the title was great and that it instantly drew my attention?

Might be a European vs an American culture thing.

I read "Sexy Brutale", saw the masks and instantly thought of Venice and France. I guessed it was either a Casino Simulator, or some sort of adventure/puzzle game. I would have been right in the latter. Either way, it looked stylish enough to instantly draw my attention. Even without the pictures! By no means did the title turn me off any more than any other title would have done.

Yeah, the title is unique and eye-catching, far moreso than something more mechanical like "Stop the Murders" would be, as someone was suggesting higher up.

Basically the name makes me think "What an unusual name, it could be a total train wreck, but I'm intrigued enough to look further".

I heard of the game through Jim Sterling's coverage too, and jolly glad I did.

[Zoпe]

Well Cavalier Game Studios and Tequlia Works, I think this thread settles it.

When marketing prodigies and design geniuses like random steam users and redditors suggest a change to your game’s name, it would be foolish to discount such sage advice. I mean, sure you have industry veterans from Blizzard, Sony, and Weta, but do any of your staff even possess a fragment of the game design/marketing knowledge of Katana et al.?

I expect to see some of these suggestions implemented post haste. Be sure to notify your 50+ staff members (not including lawyers, accountants, or other “non-dev” staff) of the impending arrival of some of these top gaming minds – hell, you’ll probably want to fire that Raúl Rubio chap and make some of these posters CEO in his stead.

I think I, a random steam user, can speak for all game developers when I say that the entire point of game design is to make as much money as possible while appealing to as wide a demographic as you can. To help facilitate this, and to ensure that my 97 year old blind grandmother with Alzheimer’s can understand the purpose of your game by title alone, I would like to suggest the following new titles as my stellar contribution to your company’s success:

Masked Murders in a House
White Hair Guy Solves Crimes
Violent Casino
Catch Bad Guys with Your Watch and Mask
Rewind Time to Beat Crime

In addition to these priceless title contributions, I will also be emailing your company my resume. I know nothing about game design, but I am sure that my advice will be of incredible value all the same.

Regards,

Zone

[Skirlasvoud]

Zoпe の投稿を引用：

Rewind Time to Beat Crime

... that one's actually pretty good. I'mma borrow that one for when I create a game that's actually about time-based crime stopping.

[Skirlasvoud]

Come to think of it, none of the complaint makes any sense. It's the game that informs the title and not the other way around.

I wouldn't know that Halo is about a guy in power armor shooting aliens until I saw the game. For all I'd know, it's a Christian game about saints.
I wouldn't be able to tell apart Shadow of the Colluses and Titanfall purely by title until I saw the game.
Is Angry Birds a flight sim?

None of these titles would have given me a clear idea of the game until their reputation or mechanics preceeded me.

It's the game that makes the title.

I can't think of any reason for blaming Sexy Brutale for being non-descript. Sexy Brutale is Sexy Brutale.

[Katana]

skirlasvoud の投稿を引用：

Come to think of it, none of the complaint makes any sense. It's the game that informs the title and not the other way around.

I wouldn't know that Halo is about a guy in power armor shooting aliens until I saw the game. For all I'd know, it's a Christian game about saints.
I wouldn't be able to tell apart Shadow of the Colluses and Titanfall purely by title until I saw the game.
Is Angry Birds a flight sim?

None of these titles would have given me a clear idea of the game until their reputation or mechanics preceeded me.

It's the game that makes the title.

I can't think of any reason for blaming Sexy Brutale for being non-descript. Sexy Brutale is Sexy Brutale.

I did try to address that a bit in one of my posts. When you hear "Halo", you don't know what it's about - so it evokes a bit of curiousity and mystery. Most titles don't tell you much more than "has to do with...", so just knowing SOTC and Titanfall involve large creatures (robotic or otherwise) is all they really need to say. Then someone might look at the box art, and then screenshots, to decide further.

The problem is when people THINK they have a clear idea of the game just from the title. "Girlfest 2017!!", much like Shadow of the Colossus, doesn't tell you what the game's about, but it gives people a pretty good feeling of what the game's NOT about, without even clicking it to look at cover art. You'd be very surprised to see Girlfest 2017!! is actually an FPS about killing terrorists at a summer break party.

The basic idea is, weird titles are fine. "Ampersand Gavel" is so odd that some will click it to figure it out. I don't know if everyone in this conversation would give Girlfest 2017!! more than 5 seconds' consideration in the Steam storefront though, not with so many great and trash indie games out there.