I’m currently working on my first CoG project.
I finished my sketches of the plot (main plot and side quests) and I think in the next few weeks you will see a first short demo, i.e. the first and maybe the second scene.
But I still need a title.
The setting is a city of the late 1950ies - better: a dark and gritty version of a 50ies metropolis.
The main protagonist - the player’s character - is a mysterious man with coat and hat who fights against the omnipresent crime. The player will play (and so also create) some parts of his background story and then play night after night of his life for about one month.
The player will have to set priorities whether to save whoever he could or concentrate on the big cases.
Take a break to heal the wounds?
Allow yourself some time to rest, while possibly someone gets killed?
Fighting the crime by all means… even more violent and brutal than those you fight until you yourself crossed every border?
…and: can you trust this lady in the blue dress, since you’ve been working alone for the last 40 years.
…40 years of fighting? How old are you? And what happened to you that made you the way you are today?
I want to create some kind of Film Noir feeling:
Long nights, an opressive gritty atmosphere.
A some-kind-of-detective as a main protagonist who works (usually) alone.
A lot of internal monologues.
(The story will be written in first person. The choices should not feel like questions from the story to the reader - with answers the other way around, but decisions of your inner voice.)
Flashbacks.
And an artwork of which you can see a first small sample as my current avatar.
My working title at the moment is
“Dark Noir”
maybe including a subtitle:
“Dark Noir - The Beehive”
(since a instituition called “beehive” is the starting point of the game)
But, let’s be honest:
“Dark Noir” sounds like a boring cliche - not really like a thrilling dark and gritty crime-fighting story.
I would like to include the “noir” in the title, to reach an audience who likes that style.
@Marajade
Yes, you can only play a man…
that’s less about gender but about the idea of having a very in-character focus about moral dilemmas and such. So, the most of the background will be fixed and the story focusses on your conclusions.
Since the character is fix, obviously his gender is also fix.
But…
@Nocturnal_Stillness
I was thinking about making a second part/spin-of of the story that would have a female protagonist and the subtitle “Lady in Blue”.
@Wyrmspawn
“Noir” (as in “film noir”) means something like the list of cliches I wrote above.
It’s a cineastic style that includes dark scenes, internal monologues by the main protagonist, rain, well-dressed people in a run-down environment…
If you know the typical stereotype-scene of a beautiful women entering the office of a smoking detective, with a rotating ventilator casting a shadow on his table and his voice from the off saying “When she entered my office, I knew that my life would change.” - that scene is 100% Noir.
So from the description, the protagonist is anti-mafia? Wow, that’s innovation.
Anyways, hmmmm. I personally think the addition of Noir in the title is a bad idea. You won’t get that to work without sounding a little weird, (“Dark Noir”, well kind of redundant, noir means black in french so “Dark Black” I don’t know, just my thoughts).
So onto some of my ideas…how about “Midnight Liberator (or perhaps another synonym of hero)” “Midnight Salvation”? “Midnight Warrior”
How about a simple word “Principals” “Virtue” “Ideals” “Temperance”
Oh please make the puns stop, I could pun for days on the whole Beehive/Behave thing without even starting on Bee and Buzz, and it wouldn’t give the sort of gritty feel you’re looking for. Beehive itself doesn’t strike me as being particularly noirish.
So instead you have some bee terminology to play with I think.
Queen Bee.
Drone.
Sting
Hive Mind.
Hmm I like something playing with the word Sting since the dictionary meanings are
to prick or wound with a sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organ.
to affect painfully or irritatingly as a result of contact, as certain plants do: to be stung by nettles.
to cause to smart or to cause a sharp pain: The blowing sand stung his eyes.
to cause mental or moral anguish: to be stung with remorse.
to goad or drive, as by sharp irritation.
Slang. to cheat or take advantage of, especially to overcharge; soak.
As well as the noun meaning
a. confidence game.
b. an ostensibly illegal operation, as the buying of stolen goods or the bribing of public officials, used by undercover investigators to collect evidence of wrongdoing.
So you could play with the meaning. Keeping it simple The Dark Sting - A Noir Tale, Or The Noir Sting or even Sting of Despair. At least there you’re tying into your plot with the beehive.
Hehe… I see, I should have written less information, because most of it lead most of you in direction I did not intend.
The “beehive” thing will probably be just one part of that one single story. Since I was thinking about writing more than one story in that world, it would not fit as an overall title of the series.
…but, I know:
When my girlfriend (we work together at the story) told me her idea of the beehive, I could also not stop punning.
But thank you - maybe I will change the subtitle to one of those… or pun the hell out of my chapter names.
As a more neutral and series-related title we came up with the idea:
“Nightwatch Noir”
(I like the alliteration and that it spotlights not the city, not the main character but the “job which has to be done”… and the “Noir” which would probably help to attract readers who like that style)
I like Noir Nights. It also makes me think of Noir Knights and it ties in with the Nightwatch without sounding quite as clunky as that title. And then the subtitle’s a good idea. I like alliterations almost as much as puns.
