CITY TALES

PROBLEM:

Developers Irregular Shapes had created a new kind of historical city builder game which fused free-form city building and management with branching narratives from key residents. But they needed a name for the game.

SOLUTION:

A future-facing naming system and identity inspired by the different stories players can experience as they build their cities. We developed an overarching name for the franchise - ‘City Tales’ - and a system that enables Irregular Shapes to easily name any future game in the series, whether set in Medieval England or Industrial Revolution era Paris.

ROLE:

Creative Consultant, Writer, Designer

NAMING & BRANDING

We developed the name ‘City Tales’ to quickly state that this wasn’t an ordinary city-builder. Every citizen had a story, and so the name had to evoke the themes and ideas in the game in a clear yet intriguing way. ‘City Tales’ was then set up as the franchise name, allowing multiple games in the series. But what to call those? The names of each game had to express the period of history it was set and so we settled on a clear concise naming structure. This also had to follow suit from a design perspective, with the franchise logo being more timeless and the game logo illustrating the era of the game. We also gave the logo a simple icon which could highlight the types of buildings you’ll be erecting from castles to factories.

FUTURE GAMES and DLC

We then went on to develop names for future games set in the ancient world and during the industrial revolution. As well as naming for future Medieval Japanese and Medieval Arabian expansions for the first game; ‘City Tales: Medieval Era’.

ALTERNATIVE NAMES

Before settling on the more descriptive names, I also developed a series of names which were more evocative of the period and the materials you build with.