cube & sauer naming, branding

by Aardappel_ on 05/05/2006 01:26, 55 messages, last message: 06/08/2006 09:53, 23499 views, last view: 05/18/2024 05:08

Ok, this is an odd topic, since I normally couldn't care less about what things are called. But I thought I'd lay out my plans, just incase anyone else has any smart ideas.

Also, I will be overhauling the webpages pretty soon, and this ties into that.

So. The situation is that sauer is where the action is, and cube is now in its final incarnation. I feel we have made a lot of very cool progress with sauer, and more to come. Yet 95% of the world still only knows about cube, which has to do with the fact that cube is linked from 1000s of places on the web, the names, and the way the website is set up.

So the funnel more people to sauer, this is what I intend to do when I overhaul the website:

- make the names "Cube 2" and "Sauerbraten" more sinonymous. I wanted to move away from the name "Cube", but it seems a lot of people have trouble understanding the relationship, whereas "Cube 2" is immediately clear to a larger audience.
- Start referring to cube more as "Cube 1", to put even more emphasis on this.
- revamp cubeengine.com to be a start page that points to all cube & sauer related engine/game projects, and clearly shows the difference. Cube will still be there, it has its own gameplay, maps, and is worth playing even as sauer continues to grow, and will always be available, but it will slowly take more of a backseat to sauer. cubeengine.com will continue to host the forums catering for all engines/games, and sauerbraten.org will be specific to sauer.
- make the distinction between engine and game more clear. Focus more on promoting both as GAMES that happen to have open source engine code, than the other way around.
- create some room for the sauer RPG.. I have yet to name it.

Like it? hate it? ideas for making all this even clearer or what cubeengine.co, should look like?

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#16: ..

by makkE on 05/07/2006 02:08

Yes, that´s what I thought after reading the post before. People mainly visit for forums, so if the forums were at sauerbraten.org, I guess it would automatically shift the focus towards it.
Maybe even have a sub forum for cube to make even more clear that it´s the "old" thing (call it "Cube Corner" or whatever).

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#17: ..

by hygraed on 05/07/2006 08:12

\"Cube 2: The Bad Day.\"

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#18: Re: ..

by CC_machine4 on 05/07/2006 10:52, refers to #17

"Cube 2: Sauerbraten"? would be simple.

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#19: ...

by Esprit_ on 05/08/2006 06:28

It seems you're rather set on this Sauerbraten thing, but it got a lot of condecending comments thrown back at it when I mentioned it to a few friends over drinks yesterday. One made a comment that a game named after a german entree couldn't possibly be worth playing.

Aside from that, I really do like the name Cube. Not only is it cool sounding, it so perfectly captures the uniqueness of the engine and in-game editing.

If ditching Sauerbraten is beyond consideration, I suggest "Sauerbraten: Cube 2", with "Cube 2" stamped in smaller letters onto the bottom-right corner of the sauer logo, or so. -- Then I'll have a name to spread the word of mouth with, without getting laughed at.

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#20: Re: ...

by Aardappel_ on 05/08/2006 09:35, refers to #19

I am aware that people don't like the word "sauerbraten". One side of me wants to fix that, the other thinks, well, if people are so shallow that they won't try a game based on the sound of a name, then I don't want those people trying it anyway.

Remember that this project for me is non-commercial, I am trying to maximize the number of cool people that try it, not the number of people.

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#21: Re: ...

by Passa on 05/08/2006 10:09, refers to #20

Look, people that say 'HAHA SAUERBRATEN WHAT A GAY NAME' obviously are not the people youd want to attract to the Sauerbraten community anyway. I think the name Sauerbraten , although hard to spell at first, is rather unique. Really it would be better to leave the name as is, but to avoid confusion you might like to add Cube 2 as suggested before to the logo, just to make it clear.

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#22: Re: ...

by MeatROme on 05/08/2006 11:27, refers to #21

Hehe - even "us germans" - that have no difficulty with the word as such seem to split up into "what a <CENSORED> name!" and just plain laughing at it.

But they NEVER forget it! ;-)

If the cubeengine.com splash page makes the evolutionary aspect from Cube -> Sauerbraten -> RPG clear enough I guess we'll see the traffic move to the latest development step soon enough.
Always assuming that the specific sites contain more than a couple of screenshots and links back to where you came from ;-)

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#23: Sauerbraten the name

by metlslime on 05/09/2006 01:56

On the plus side it's unusual. On the negative side:

* it doesn't communicate anything meaningful about the game, or even that it IS a game.

* it is not easily pronounced, spelled, or remembered for a non-german-speaker.

Obviously it's a fun little project, so it's not critical that the brand name be perfectly positioned to maximise market awareness or anything.

Back to the main topic:

If you have one splashpage and three games, but two domains, here's how it might break down:

cubeengine.com -- splash page
cubeengine.com/cube -- cube homepage
sauerbraten.org -- sauerFPS homepage
sauerbraten.org/rpg -- sauerRPG homepage

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#24: Re: Sauerbraten the name

by eihrul on 05/09/2006 02:10, refers to #23

Names like "Unreal" and "Quake" are pretty generic and meaningless as well. The only real gripe maybe is pronunciation, but there are worse names for that even.. :)

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#25: All unnecessary

by charlieg on 05/09/2006 02:29

Cube is better known than Sauer simply because it's been in existance as a stable entity for a long time.

Sauer is still in development!? Once it's a stable game, just put a big fat sign on the Cube homepage saying, "Cube has been superceeded by Sauerbraten." Closely affiliate Sauer and SauerRPG and then karma is balanced.

All this 'Cube 2' branding nonsense will change nothing. Once Sauerbraten is a stable game the balance will change anyway. Just be clear that Cube has been deprecated on the Cube website and people will migrate.

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#26: Re: Sauerbraten the name

by Aardappel_ on 05/09/2006 04:37, refers to #23

the sauerrpg will have its own name and domain (soon to be announced).

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#27: What's in a name?

by enigma_0Zhttp://sms.napster.com/nweb/login/?return_url=http% on 05/09/2006 04:43

Well, here's my 0.02$...

Pros:
The name sauerbraten rocks. Plain and simple. I never forgot about that new game "Sauerbraten"...

1. Memorable
2. Funky-fresh
3. Not generic
4. ++Random

Cons:
When I first heard about 'Sauerbraten', I also kind of wondered what exactally it was.

1. Confusing
2. Pronounciation

Overall:
Good name, Don't change it.

---

While I'm on the subject, It is "SOUR-bra-ten" right?

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#28: Re: What's in a name?

by Passa on 05/09/2006 08:41, refers to #27

Heh, I pronounce it more like SOAR-bra-ten..

Only prob I rekon is that its hard to spell at first.

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#29: ..

by RealNitro on 05/09/2006 18:51

"Only prob I rekon is that its hard to spell at first."

Depens what your native language is. Dutch is my native language, and I had no problem at all spelling sauerbraten.

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#30: SorryCouldNotResist

by MeatROme on 05/09/2006 19:12

How about :

<pre>

---= OCTA -- Cube ][ =---
---Thumping Tessaracts---

..........or.............

-- = OCTA -- Cube ][ = --
-Tantamount To Tessaract-

..........or.............
...even...

-- = OCTA -- Cube ][ = --
The Tantalizing Tessaract

</pre>

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#31: ..

by Stakhanov on 05/13/2006 12:34

I have to admit Sauerbraten is a bit ridiculous... well at least I feel less embarrassed to refer to it as Cube 2 :>

The above post has a point though.
Octa sounds cool !

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#32: Re: ..

by kurtis84 on 05/13/2006 15:49, refers to #31

This decision has already been made, and put into action. The sites are updated, and the game names are set...this thread might as well be closed.

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#33: Re: ..

by Aardappel_ on 05/13/2006 21:13, refers to #32

True. But I still haven't updated cubeengine.com. The way that site presents matters will be the crucial difference as that is where 90%+ of visitors land.

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#34: link to document files

by MitaMAN in the cave on 05/14/2006 15:08

just a quick thought. if/when new website pages are made for cube/sauer, I think there should be web links IN BIG LETTERS pointing to document pages.

perhaps neewbs will take a bit of time to read some of the docs if easily viewed online. some direct links to several of the most asked/answered FAQ questions in the forum would be useful for neewbs.

mitaman

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#35: Re: link to document files

by Aardappel_ on 05/15/2006 02:51, refers to #34

it doesn't matter. Frankly, I know from myself, if I try out new games/software, and I don't yet know wether its going to be cool yet, I just scan the page for a download link and ignore everything else.

Only if I really like it and been using it for a while, and there's something I desperately need help with, MAYBE I will look at the docs. But usually its quicker to ask on a forum/irc channel.

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