Octopus Overlords

For about the last year and a half I have been working on a board game about running a dinosaur park. Gameplay is about 90% of the way it needs to be, really just down to little balance fixes, art is coming along but the name continues to elude me.

As I am nearing the end I really need to get to promoting, which is hard to do if you have nothing to call the thing. My placeholder name has been Triassic Park, but as I don’t want to get sued and in reality, the Triassic period was pretty dull, that doesn’t work.

I don’t really like any of the names I’ve come up with so I’m coming to you guys!

Game is about running competing dinosaur parks roughly in the style of something like Agricola. Tone is more on the serious side but features elements like corporate espionage and black market dealing.

Names I’ve thought of but don’t really like. Vote on them or suggest your own!

Dinosaur Tycoon ( I do NOT want to call it this)
Paleo Incorporated
Paleo Inc
Prehistoric Paradise
Prehistoric Gardens
Prehistoric Wonders
Paleo Land
Dino Incorporated
DinoCity
Dino Islands
Dinolands
Genetic Enterprises
ReGenetics Corp (this is the name of the lab ingame)
Mesozoic Lands

Appreciate any input!

How Long Until The Tourists Get Eaten?

How about Primeval Pursuits or Project: Primeval?

"Paleo" connotes early humans to me, not dinosaurs. (I think the "paleo diet" has ruined the term that way.)

I like including "Incorporated" in the name. It lets you know right away that this is a modern setting with dinos rather than a game set in dinosaur times.

What if the company name was dinosaur-specific? Rather than ReGenetics it could be DinoGenetics, and you could call the game "DinoGenetics, Inc." This immediately conjures a Jurrassic-Park-style scenario without stepping on anyone's copyright. (Unless, of course, the movie somehow used "DinoGenetics," but I don't recall.)

Beware: Stream of consciousness brainstorming ahead.

I think that a good board game name should, in a few words, give players both a feel for the setting and an idea of the concept.

Parks, corporate espionage, competing companies, and dinosaurs. Title has to tell people it is dinosaurs, that much is a given.

Of your list, the following make me think of dinosaurs:

Dino Incorporated
DinoCity
Dino Islands
Dinolands
Mesozoic Lands

Only the first makes me think of corporations.

'Dino', by itself, makes me think it is a kids game. It could work, but needs to be used carefully.

Holman wrote: What if the company name was dinosaur-specific? Rather than ReGenetics it could be DinoGenetics, and you could call the game "DinoGenetics, Inc." This immediately conjures a Jurrassic-Park-style scenario without stepping on anyone's copyright. (Unless, of course, the movie somehow used "DinoGenetics," but I don't recall.)

This I really like, but I would make it catchier:

DinoGen
DinoGen, Inc
DinoGen Enterprises

Any of those work, and DinoGen is just reminiscent enough of InGen to remind people of Jurassic Park without being too blatant about it. It also flows well, is catchy, and is short enough to work as a logo.

Dinosaur Park Manager
Dinopark, Inc.

Both are probably generic enough to avoid getting sued, but still give the theme.

Dinosty
Parkasaurus Incorporated
Tricerra Top Gaming
The Land of the Found (and then Monetized)
Dinopoly
Archeology Now
Herps R Us
Big Lizard in my Back Yard
Lagartija Grande

LordMortis wrote: Herps R Us

The sci-fi version could be Space Herps R Us!

No Longer Extinct
Extinct Enterprises
Colossal Zoo
Playable Fossils

LordMortis wrote:Big Lizard in my Back Yard

I won't have to feed him anymore!

I was thinking of things along the same line - Terrible Lizard Inc. or Thunder Lizard Inc. but they just didn't feel right.

Dino Parkitecht

Jurass-Inc

Cylus Maxii wrote:Jurass-Inc

I was about to say the same thing (although I might lose the hyphen and spell out Incorporated).

Park Administrator Rex

I like the concatenation of Jurassic and Inc in some form.

When should we expect the Kickstarter?

Thanks for the input. I like the idea of DinoGenetics but would actually prefer not to use the shorted “Dino”. In my head it gives the wrong impression. The art and general tone is a bit more on the serious/dramatic side. Some things to think about for sure though.

What about an acronym of some sort with a subtitle?

example;

S.A.U.R.U.S. Initiative:
A Dinosaur Theme Park Simulator

Daehawk wrote: Extinct Enterprises

I really like this one. Maybe Extinction Enterprises?

Other thoughts:

Watch Out For Asteroids!
Benefits of Global Warming
Looking for Lysine

I just saw the cards you posted...is it more of a gene splicing game? If so, I like Archinerd's suggestion too - s.o.m.e.t.h.i.n.g. Initiative: tag line could be cool.

Operation R.E.X.
Primeval Menagerie
Dinosaurs!
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

stessier wrote:I just saw the cards you posted...is it more of a gene splicing game? If so, I like Archinerd's suggestion too - s.o.m.e.t.h.i.n.g. Initiative: tag line could be cool.

The cards are basically your resources. You send a worker meeple to harvest DNA, drawing those cards. The number in top right is how many of that DNA card you need to actually produce the dinosaur. Once you have the required set, you turn in the DNA at the ReGenetics facility and get to place the dinosaur in your park. Each player has their own park board.

Work in progress art.

Zaxxon wrote: When should we expect the Kickstarter?

I was hoping to launch in October but things kept getting delayed and February is more likely at this point. Launching in November/December is a bad idea.

S.A.U.R

Splice And Uncover Regenetics. (Use Sparingly)

Dinosaurs In Natrure Organisms

DNA i Nuncleases Ongoing .... Splice And u Research (Recombination)

Lordnine wrote:

Zaxxon wrote: When should we expect the Kickstarter?

I was hoping to launch in October but things kept getting delayed and February is more likely at this point. Launching in November/December is a bad idea.

Awesome.

stessier wrote:

Daehawk wrote: Extinct Enterprises

I really like this one. Maybe Extinction Enterprises?

Extinct Inc

coopasonic wrote:

stessier wrote:

Daehawk wrote: Extinct Enterprises

I really like this one. Maybe Extinction Enterprises?

Extinct Inc

I fear those sound a bit more like the intention of the game is to commit genocide than to run a dinosaur park…

Yeah, I can see that. I just like the sound of it. You can use it for the followup where we have to handle the escaped dinos.

Panic! At the Liz. Co.

Dinero Dinosaurs
Dinosaur Discord
Jurassic Assets
Primeval Parks

The Meal wrote:Panic! At the Liz. Co.

I just need to acknowledge the maximum effort here.

Grundbegriff wrote:Jurassic Assets

I don't know why, but I really like the sound of this one.

A lot of the names people have been suggesting are much better than what I started with, so thanks for that. Even more would be great if I had gone with a more light-hearted tone for the game. Some of the humorous ones are quite clever, unfortunately I think those would give the wrong idea of the style of game. (DNA theft, genetic manipulation and mutations, black market dealings, scandals, etc)

Right now I am leaning towards these ideas:

DinoGen, Inc (or DinoGen, Incorporated)
Helix Enterprises: A Dinosaur Theme Park Simulator
S.A.U.R.U.S. Initiative: A Dinosaur Theme Park Simulator
DinoGenics

The more I think about it in my head the more I like the sound of DinoGenics; renaming the science facility in the game to that and really playing them up as a named institution. Any thoughts?

Lordnine wrote:A lot of the names people have been suggesting are much better than what I started with, so thanks for that. Even more would be great if I had gone with a more light-hearted tone for the game. Some of the humorous ones are quite clever, unfortunately I think those would give the wrong idea of the style of game. (DNA theft, genetic manipulation and mutations, black market dealings, scandals, etc)

Right now I am leaning towards these ideas:

DinoGen, Inc (or DinoGen, Incorporated)
Helix Enterprises: A Dinosaur Theme Park Simulator
S.A.U.R.U.S. Initiative: A Dinosaur Theme Park Simulator
DinoGenics

The more I think about it in my head the more I like the sound of DinoGenics; renaming the science facility in the game to that and really playing them up as a named institution. Any thoughts?

I like DinoGenics as well. It sounds like the name of a corporation ("DinoGenics"), but it also sounds like the name of the technology they're exploiting ("dinogenics").

It also flows nicely on the tongue. The other names don't quite.

Sounds good to me.

I like S.A.U.R.U.S. Initiative: A Dinosaur Theme Park Simulator and DinoGen. DinoGenics sounds a little too much like a Scientology book.

I like DinoGenics and DinoGen, Inc as well. I lean more towards DinoGen for the same reasons as Hipolito.

I like DinoGen, Inc. It captures the theme accurately and succinctly.