Vocabulary/Naming Brainstorming

[JustinPierce]

It can be tricky to name things and establish vocabularies for a game so I figure I'd reach out for help.

To start, I've been trying to think of good vocabulary for weapons/equipments and loadouts. So far I've been using this:

• Weapons - primarily used for damage/offense, equipped in loadout slots 1 and 2.
• Equipment - various uses, usually not a focus on damage, equipped in loadout slots 3 and 4.
• Loadout - a set of 2 weapons and 2 pieces of equipment that you can equip.

Here's the problems:

• Singular of 'weapons' is 'weapon' -- nice, single word. 'Equipment' is tricky, as it's noncount noun. Equipment for both a single instance and the group would be confusing and 'equipment' for a single instance seems weird anyway ("Grapple is an equipment"). For the group, using 'equipage' or 'equipments' seems weird. "A piece of equipment" for singular is not really ideal, either. So maybe I should go with something other than 'equipment'? Maybe tools or devices? Something else?
• It'd also be nice to have a term that refers to either weapons or equipment. I guess right now I'd say "loadout item."

Thoughts? It needs to be intuitive so a new player reads the word and can make assumptions about what it is.

[PrettzL]

Going to suggest these:

• Damage: Directly describes what the equipment is capable of doing, 'damage'.
• Utility: Directly describes what the equipment is capable of doing, 'useful'.

Loadout is probably fine since it's in common use.

A 'loadout' would be the configuration and mixture of Damage and Utility equipment.

[JustinPierce]

"Damage" describes what weapons do, but people already know that weapons usually do damage and "weapon" also communicates a physicality/usage. I think 'weapon' works as is and I want something like that to describe the utility items. I can say "Multicannon is a weapon" but I can't say "grapple is a utility" -- I'd have to say "grapple is a utility loadout item" or something similar. "Grapple is a device" and "grapple is a tool" would work, but then it becomes a question of connotations -- which one creates a more accurate picture in a new player's head: similar hierarchy to the weapons -- not a mere 'pack' item, add-on, or accessory -- a significant part of your loadout that is fundamental to how you'd play.

Or maybe there's a better alternative to device/tool that I haven't thought of.

[PrettzL]

Well you could go with something like this,

"A 'Loadout' is a custom set of 2 weapons and 2 utilities."

Then define weapons and utilities separate as lists.

[JustinPierce]

But there'll be times, like in the wiki post for Grapple, where I will want to say "Grapple is a ____" -- having a clear, single word term would be ideal. Like "Grapple is a device."

[Ilses]

Grapple is a gadget?

[JustinPierce]

So far I think I like device and gadget. Wish there was a similar word but for larger objects (devices/gadgets are usually small on a human scale and the mechs are much larger). What do you guys think of "Instrument"? I kind of like the musical quality of it (affect the rhythm of a match), but on machines, instruments usually mean the dials and stuff so I'm worried new players will think they're choosing stuff for their HUD.

[JustinPierce]

Now I'm thinking "loadout" might not be a good name. With this in mind:

One thing I really value about MOBAs is how there's so much choice. I sort of touched on this in my article on the current FPS paradigm. In FPS games, there's usually only a handful of weapons (or a bunch of weapons that are barely different from one another) -- instead, variety in FPS games is usually delivered through the various modes and the many maps you can play on. In MOBAs, there's basically one mode and one map -- the variety in MOBAs come from the wide breadth of heroes that have distinct play styles, the various approaches to team composition, and the synergy you get between all these possibilities. That's the direction I'm taking Arms of Telos, except instead of using classes I'm essentially letting you build your own heroes from a wide variety of weapons and tools. The game obviously isn't there yet -- right now I'm still getting the core foundation solid before I start expanding it.

"Loadout" is a very popular term in FPS games and in a game like Call of Duty, your loadouts basically amount to a collection of small deviations from the core CoD play style rather than the fundamental differences between the playstyles of different MOBA heroes. Since I'm trying to break from the mold in this respect, it might be helpful to have a term that better communicates the "build your own hero" angle.

[Veyzer]

"Kit" is a common phrase in MOBAs that expresses those aspects very well.

[JustinPierce]

Good point! Funny enough, the default key to bring up your loadout is already "K" (and I was thinking "kit").