EDIT: Thanks everyone who helped give suggestions for the game's name. It is now Seeds of Time Online, and the website is SeedsOfTime.net. The alpha test will begin on Halloween (Oct. 31), 2007. I hope to see many of you there. You can put your e-mail address on the reminder list if you want to be reminded as soon as the alpha test starts. OLD POST: I'm having trouble deciding on a good name for my online, web-based RPG (written in PHP with MySQL), so I've opened this thread in hopes of receiving suggestions for a name. I have made substantial progress on the game so far in the short time (couple of months) that I've been developing it*, but deciding on the right name has been very difficult. I suppose that's because I've been so focused on the actual programming that I hadn't even started writing the main storyline until last night. :) *aside from a trading/auctioning system and a wrapper for PvP battling, most of the game's features have already been implemented, so I'm mostly focused on adding specific content/locations/quests/items/spells/monsters for the time being. Bolded parts are ideas which can be incorporated into the game's title. Here's the basic synopsis: - played with a web browser, something of a tick-based game - automated battle system - many elaborate sidequests in addition to the main questline - Theme: generally a medieval setting, with a few remnants from a destroyed technologically-advanced civilization.. the world is full of monsters, most of which have been genetically-engineered (explained further in full story..) There will eventually be a nation of the world inhabited by monsters alone (you could imagine this part of the story as a war between races [human/monster], and it should play a big part in the main storyline) - a series of quests in the main quest storyline will involve the player traveling through time in attempts to alter history (not so different from Chrono Trigger).. this will only be a fraction of the main questline, though. Stand-out features: -ability to catch monsters (they don't fight for you in a Pokemon way; instead, they have unique abilities which can boost you in or out of battle.. they gain exp as you do.. nearly all monsters you find in the game will be catchable, and even some bosses will be catchable.. oh, and you can trade/auction-off your rare ones for items, gold, and other monsters) -unique spell system to complement the automated battle system-- magic is "Activated" and then automatically cast when appropriate. The number of spells you can activate at a time depends on how much MP you have (think of each MP point as a spell slot, with each spell requiring different amounts of MP to be activated) Current name ideas (along with the best currently-available domain name for each) .. the "Mutant" thing comes from the variety of diverse monsters in the game, most of which are products of genetic-engineering of other monsters (as told in the game's main quest storyline): Mutant Quest - mutantquest.com Mutant World Online - mutantworld.net Mutant Chaos - mutantchaos.com Age of Mutants - ageofmutants.net Age of Monsters - ageofmonsters.com Empire of Mutants - empireofmutants.com Monster Kingdom - monsterkingdom.net Kingdom of Monsters - kingdomofmonsters.com Seeds of Time Online - seedsoftime.net As you can see, most of the names are rather dull at the moment.. that's why I need suggestions. :) [Edited by - josh1billion on October 18, 2007 7:22:16 AM]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions guys, it's very appreciated. :)

Kest: I don't have any names yet for that continent, but that definitely could be a good idea in coming up with the name.. hmm.. I'll have to try to think of a name for the monster-run continent.

I'm now focusing mostly on these two names: Mutant Quest (mutantquest.com) and Seeds of Time Online (seedsoftime.net). Which of these do you think sounds best, or which new ideas do you have?

I have chosen Seeds of Time Online for the name, and I have registered seedsoftime.net. Thanks for the feedback, everyone! :)

The game will be available at http://www.seedsoftime.net in the near future.

I aim to open up a short alpha test by the end of the month (mostly to test out how balanced everything is: the economy, the various classes, battling/monsters, etc.)... then a beta test after that, if more pre-launch testing is necessary, then the official launch after that. :)

I'd rather if you guys just bookmark it and check back later (around Halloween) because I might forget to come back and post about it when the alpha launches. :P But I'll see if I remember to.. maybe I'll even add a little "enter your e-mail and be notified when testing starts" thing onto the placeholder page later.

Regarding the amount of content..

For the alpha test, my plan is to have a small amount of content (but enough to test the waters).. enough content so that I'll be able to test out the general balance of things (economy, monster difficulty, class strengths and weaknesses, spells, abilities of caught monsters.. that sort of thing), and also to make sure there aren't any bugs that I've missed.

For the beta test (if there is one, which there probably will be, otherwise straight to official release), more content than the alpha. Not sure about the beta because I'm not sure if I'll need one (only if more pre-release testing is necessary/helpful).

For the official launch, I'll have a solid amount of content but I'll keep adding more and more content continuously. The launch will preferably start with enough content to keep players busy until new content is added, so that I can try and stay a step ahead of the most active of players as far as adding new content goes. Perhaps a major update every month would suffice... we'll see how it goes.

Update: The alpha test will begin on Halloween.

Registration will be open on Halloween at 12:00 AM central. (to clarify, that means the first minute of Halloween, NOT the last minute of Halloween)

I hope to see many of you there. :)

Until then, I'll be focused mostly on adding content. Right now, I'm putting the finishing touches on the PvP battle system.. other than that, all of the features (other than actual content- locations/monsters/quests/spells/items) will have been implemented, with the exception of trade skills (mining/smithing/fishing/cooking), which are planned for introduction sometime in the future and will most likely not be finished in time for the alpha test's start.

Perhaps a major update/patch will be in order for trade skills (which would be something like a small expansion pack, but free and a part of the main game, no unlocking/purchasing necessary). If that's the case, I could throw in a new location with an emphasis on the trade skills (including new quests relevant to the trade skills).. name the update (example off of the top of my head: "Tradelands" or something) and release all of that with one single upload. :) That's how I plan to handle major updates, instead of just seeding new content in tiny little pieces all the time.