Deathfire Official Title is Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore
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For us this was every bit as satisfying as it was surprising. For months posters in various RPG forums had been ranting against the title, and the constant dissent over the name had truly raised concern in us. However, if the focus group has shown us anything, it is that one of the key reasons why people do not seem to like the title (Deathfire) is that they do not know what it means. The numbers clearly showed us that once we had explained to everyone that it is the name of a horrific, outlawed spell, suddenly people took a liking to it. And strongly so.
Overall it was very interesting to observe how a little bit of additional information created a real bias within participants, how middle-of-the-road undecidedness became opinion that people expressed. The comments that came with the re-rating of the title, clearly showed that now people felt quite strongly about the names, and in the feedback section that concluded our focus group, it became evident even more so how people felt about the title of the game.
I should also point out that there were some pretty good naming suggestions coming in as well in the (Suggest your own name) part of the grading. One or two of them we really took into consideration but ultimately felt they did not represent the game well enough.
So, where does all of this leave us? Well, with the game's final title. After reading and interpreting all the result and after taking all those comments and advice to heart, we decided to call the game (Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore.)
We decided to use a two-part name for a number of reasons. For one, it gives the game a more epic scope, indicating that it may be part of a series. While we do not have exact plans for future sequels of the game, there certainly is the possibility, depending on the game's overall success.
The other reason we decided to use this two-part name was that it allows us to reflect the different aspects of the game. (Deathfire) is the part of the title that suggests a dynamic game, filled with combat and dark powers, while (Ruins of Nethermore) clearly plays up the traditional aspects of the game with a title that conjures up associations with classic computer and pen&paper role playing games.
