Right name for the game
Anything I say here is not to be taken as legal advice. I am not a lawyer.
I don't think it would be illegal, but does it make sense? Would combining those 3 words make sense not only for the language but for your specific game as well? The name "Angry Temple War" comes across to me like the temple's themselves are angry, and they are fighting. Sure, it could be interpreted as angry people fighting over temples, or in temples, but it is a matter of interpretation. Does your game fit any of that?
I know you were just using those 3 words as an example....but the point fits. Unless something just happens to fit, I wouldn't name a game forcing words from other game names. Also, I don't think it will help much with the searching, but I'm no expert on search engines so I could be wrong.
Part of the battle is indeed getting people to know about your game. The other part is getting people to convert into buyers. Assuming people search for Angry Birds, and somehow run across your game due to you using the word "Angry," do you think that will make them buy your game? In my case, if I'm looking for Angry birds, but maybe I can't remember exactly what it's called, I type Angry into google. Maybe I happen to run across your website in the search results, but I don't see myself clicking on it unless it somehow piqued my interest, because I'll see it and know right away it wasn't what I was looking for.
Anything I say here is not to be taken as legal advice. I am not a lawyer. (Every reply to this post should start that way.) :-)
I think it's mostly common sense. I mean yes, you see ridiculous frivolous lawsuits where someone sues and actually wins based on a case with zero merit. (I mean anyone with an ounce of musical talent knows what stealing is and isn't and only those who know nothing about music composition would even begin to pretend that's an infringement.) But in general, you know when you're stealing somebody's stuff. You just do. Don't steal other people's stuff.
There's several different types of law that can come into play with trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. The game title is probably a trademark. That's going to be pretty specific. If you take 3 words from the top games out there and combine them they are not going to be an infringement unless the form the name of another game that's out there. If you have a unique name you have a unique name. No one owns the English language. No one owns the word "the". (Well, I do. And you need to pay me a quarter every time you use the word the in written or spoken form. I'll forgive your former infringements, as long as you pay me back penalties for everytime you've used the word "the" in spoken or written form during your life time. I'll have investigators verifying how many times in the past you have used the words I own.)
Even something like "Angry Burrs" may be a significantly different intellectual property if it is a substantially different work. Now if you take Angry Birds and change all the birds to thorn then maybe "Angry Burrs" is on shaky ground. But come on. You know when you're ripping people off. Don't rip people off and you'll be fine (Unless you write a song called Blurred Lines... then you're %#$%$%'ed). Come up with your own ideas.
>> They said 65% optimizing downloads is key words. The other 35% is word of mouth
best in class, and marketing, marketing, marketing (including SEO and word-of mouth) gets you downloads which convert to sales. in the end, sales is all about best in class (building a better mousetrap), everything else is just telling the world about the existence of your new, better mousetrap.
>> Is this legal?
probably - depending on the words chosen. "Angry birds of Warcraft" might have issues for example.
>> Would it help?
no not really.
coming up with a good title for a game is one of the hardest parts of game development. it should be cool, catchy, descriptive, etc, etc. and UNIQUE!
start by making a "best of class" game, until you have something competitive to sell, you really have nothing worth selling. i personally find that "only in class" (IE sufficiently unique to have no direct competition) is an easy way to be "best in class". Otherwise i probably couldn't even be competitive as a lone wolf indie.
while building your "best of class" game, be thinking of an appropriate title that captures the spirit of your game. while doing so, research your choices to make sure they don't conflict with existing titles - which will cause confusion and possibly cost sales. it might even get you a bad rep for misleading advertising.
the company name + a descriptive word or phrase is an easy way to be both appropriate and unique, IE "Microsoft Money", or "Rockland Software Productions AIRSHIPS!" ( i know - it's a little on the long side. <g>).
when its time to release, go with the best name you've come up with so far - it's all you can do.
while developing, do your marketing to create buzz about the product. choose your unique target key phrase - the search you want to "own" (be the #1 result for on all search engines). do your SEO - and don't spam the spiders! it will take about 3 months to lock in #1 results for a unique search phrase.
a quick example:
google for "caveman"....
you get a ringo star movie, facebook and twitter pages for a band, paleo diets, Neanderthal gene studies - all kinds of stuff. typical for a very generic search phrase - nobody "owns" it.
a google for "caveman game" will reveal a variety of older abandonware arcade games with a caveman theme, with perhaps one result for my game. nobody "owns" that search phrase either - its still too generic.
ok, now google for "rockland caveman"...
9 of the top 10 results are me!
but quite frankly, until you can build best in class, i'd have to say, build games: yes, sell them: no. time spent trying to sell a non-competitive product would probably be better spent learning how to make a competitive product.
when potential customers start emailing you asking when the game will come out and how much it will cost, due to buzz generated by your pre-release marketing, you'll know you're on the right track. until then - don't quit you day job <g>.
So to make a unique game. I'm 50% into this. The other 50% is from what people already love. You catch attention. And its a little new to keep attention.
From the research they say the name title is theost influenced part for searching for a game. I believe using key words for the name title effects downloads by 20times. Otherwise, if I use other words, I'm going to have to pay a lot for advertising to get the game rolling. I don't really want to do this for a first game. There are many great games. But some do poor optimization. Some do poor advertising. One simple thing can change a good game into a great game. I need to keep researching to get all the facts right. Then I can build. Yes. I do have a good game idea. Different than game idea of war now since I realize I need more work to finish it. This is more basic. Thanks for your input. :)
