Unvanquished Forum

The purpose of this thread is to discuss changing the names of the alien classes. I am for a name change.

I understand that we are a spiritual successor to tremulous. I accept that we want to keep some concepts the same like having a sneaky alien class, an agile alien class, and a strong alien class. Their function is to be sneaky, agile, and strong; but this is where the similarity should end in my opinion. A strong alien does not have to play like the tremulous dragoon. There has not been much discussion on changes to the classes, to facilitate the discussion I would like to see the aliens renamed.

When I hear the name basilisk it automatically conjures up an image of the tremulous basilisk. Because of that I have a hard time stepping outside the basilisk mold. Any change gets shot down because "that's not what a basilisk should play like". A new name would make it easier to discuss changes. Otherwise it is too easy to shoot down cool ideas for how to achieve a fun gameplay simply because it is different.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are we need to decide what type of aliens we want. Then decide names for them. Create a list of secondary attacks and a list of primary attacks, and a list of misc abilities, then mix and match.

Everything should be stripped of a name during the design process. Later on when we have a more coherent idea of what will be included, then I'll guide the renaming discussion, because I see names as being part of the background story.

Yes, that is a good idea. However, keep the current models we have in the back of our heads as we design (I know this is kind of limiting, but it feels wrong to waste them)

Then let's pick some memorable temporary names. None of them have to sound cool or be appropriate, they simply need to exist so that we know what we're all talking about. They can even be silly. For instance, we could give the aliens various arthropod names:

Granger → Louse
Dretch → Roach
Basilisk → Mantis
Marauder → Scorpion
Dragoon → Spider
Tyrant → King Crab

At least use Giant mofo for the tyrant. For old time's sake <-- outdated.

Edit:
On second thought, why even bother assigning names to them. Leave the trem names alone. If we go all new, we should refer to the Tremulous aliens by their real names. Calling something else doesn't break any mold.

You're missing the point entirely.

When I hear the name basilisk it automatically conjures up an image of the tremulous basilisk. Because of that I have a hard time stepping outside the basilisk mold. Any change gets shot down because "that's not what a basilisk should play like". A new name would make it easier to discuss changes. Otherwise it is too easy to shoot down cool ideas for how to achieve a fun gameplay simply because it is different.

Besides, these new temporary names are for internal discussions only. They are not to be implemented in-game or shown to the public.

I'm not missing any point. It seems this will lead to "that's not what a louse should play like"

The first step to change is to admit that you want to change. A new name sends the signal to the community that there will be change. In that sense the new names should be made public.

In the next release make a line up like this and designate new names for the aliens.