I've been tossing around the idea of re-titling "Rogue of Vallas" for a while now. At this point I haven't yet invested much time in serious marketing efforts, so this would be the time to do it.

One thing I learned about book covers is that they essentially act as "billboards" for the book. The saying don't judge a book by its cover is certainly not true. The cover is the first thing a reader sees when browsing the bookstore.

For a game, the job of the cover is passed on to the title screen and screenshots.

I'm pretty happy with the cover image. I think it conveys exactly what I want: the city in the distance-a sense of adventure, Marika's expression-her character, the storm in the background-impending danger.

The title, on the other hand, falls short. I've been considering a new name: Idorsa: The Electric Renaissance

Idosra. The Electric Renaissance
Full size image

Background

First a brief summary of the story. The game takes place about 5,000 years in the future, after an apocalyptic event triggered by a rise in the sea levels. Vallas is the name of the empire that emerged and is uniting city states. One of these city states is Lyrika, which is in a severe economic downturn and is happy to be annexed by Vallas.

The sea levels are falling again, exposing ancient ruins. One of these ruined cities, named Idosra, lies in Lyrika's territory. Lyrikan and Vallan scholars are studying these ruins. They are believed to hold clues of the lost knowledge of electricity generation.

Marika becomes suspicious of the Vallan emperor, Golga, and his intent during an election cycle that includes the election of a governor for the new Lyrikan province. Several prominent scholars have disappeared. Marika's brother, Cata, is a scholar. She worries what may become of him.

Rogue of Vallas

The title Rogue of Vallas would make more sense if Marika was a "rogue". The story has evolved over the years, and "rogue" just doesn't make sense. Marika is a young adult who is trying to find a place in a world that is quickly changing and has already left her behind.

Her adventures lead her to believe Vallas has already uncovered electric artifacts from Idosra and is using them to power strange new technologies--the most prominent of which are "electric eyes" which govern various military devices. This is told at the end of the opening level.

Marika stumbles out of the woods. "The rumors are true?" she asks herself. As she reaches a clearing, she sees more towers peppering the landscape. "How do they fire without the command of man?" she wonders.
Full size image

Marika considers whether to investigate the towers in the field, or return to the village.
"Rayda will be interested in this," she thinks. Before heading off, one final thought crosses her mind. "They don't fire at the guard. How do the towers know to discriminate?"
Full size image

Idosra. The Electric Renaissance

The title Idosra would link the game to one I designed in 2016 for my entry in "Stencyl Jam 16". This game, Temple of Idosra, defined much of the story in this game's world, even though I wouldn't consider Temple of Idosra canon yet.

The subtitle, The Electric Renaissance, describes the game's backstory much better. It also better ties the background music into the game as well. Most of the BGM songs have a lot of synth and electronic instruments.

I did consider renaming the game to just Vallas. That would solve the problem of "rogue" being misleading. However, it turns out that there is a well-known game series from Japan called "Valis". It was ported to North America on the Super Nintendo--but I grew up with MS-DOS games--so I never played it. Vallas was generated from a random name generator. The similarity may not be a big deal, but if I'm going to go to the trouble of changing the title, I feel I should try to avoid that potential conflict.

All around, I think the new title would do a better job selling the game for what it is. This is the most important factor (from a marketing perspective) that I can think of. Misrepresentation almost always leads to bad reviews. The trick is connecting with the right audience.


You must log in to comment.