I’ve been working on a game called Signy and Mino for roughly five years now. It’s a combo-centric RPG adventure about a girl and her dog who get mixed up in a conflict amongst the gods. Today, I’m excited to announce a brand-new name for it:
Designated Demigod!
…And you can wishlist it right now!
But why the change? A few reasons, actually. First and foremost, everyone kept asking how to pronounce “Signy.” Was it… “Sig-KNEE?” or “SIGN-ee”? What about “Sidney?” Or worst of all, was it actually “Singey?”
Correcting the pronunciation for your game title isn’t the worst problem… at least someone is asking. But it’s hard to build a solid identity for your project with such an obvious stumbling block. Signy and Mino themselves are not being renamed. But their time as namesakes had to come to an end.
It also gave potentially misleading information about the game’s genre. This is a bit anecdotal, but I realized the “Main Character and Sidekick” naming convention was giving me 3d platformer vibes. Jak and Daxter? Ratchet and Clank? Banjo and Kazooie? Worse yet, it simultaneously gave no information about the game’s genre. In the constantly evolving hellscape of indie game marketing (current year: 2024), you have to convey as much information to your audience with as little as possible. Unless my characters are previously established, naming a game after them offers very little for a potential player to grasp onto.
Changing the name was a long and stressful process. We pored over a list of potentials for months. So how did we settle on Designated Demigod? For starters, it’s quick and punchy. It’s to the point, and incorporates clear and concise words. “Demigod” conveys actual information: we’re in some form of magic or fantasy world where gods exist, at least at some point in time. “Designated” is a little more open-ended, but paired with the key art (Signy launching an attack at the screen), it should provoke a lot more curiosity. Our boy Mino is still a major character, and just as integral to the game’s story, but I realized throughout development that this is Signy’s journey. I wanted the title to reflect that.
I’m not saying it’s a perfect choice. “Designated” can be clunky to pronounce, and you could argue that we’d benefit from more conventional RPG words like tale, story, legend, and so on. But I think “Designated Demigod” really does embrace what the core narrative of the game is about. On that note, if you want a closer look at the game’s development, I post (almost) weekly updates in my Discord Server! And if you just want the big news, follow the game on Steam and join the Mailing List. This blog doesn’t get updated very often, so those are the best ways to stay connected. More to come soon!