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[oyog]

I wonder if most English names sound as inherently silly to native speakers as Finnish names do to me.

Only some of them.

[Pineapple]

"Alpha Station"

[Ant]

I still like the name you currently have myself, though I'm a bit of a fan of mysterious nondescript titles.

[Hangedman]

ES alpha (leave it up to the imagination)
Alpha Environment
Station A
Biostasis
Self-contained
Organica

[Pineapple]

I've got it.

Biostation Alpha

[rivon]

That sounds very good. Whatever you choose though, I think that "Station" should be a part of it.

[Sean Hogan (seagaia)]

Maybe something related to the story or the game themes that's more specific than the general words we've been throwing out?

[Scott]

I'm gonna have to be against popular opinion and say that I actually really like the name. When looking through the list of short names in devlog, I always click on this one because it looks interesting, mysterious as one poster put it.

It makes my imagination very active before I even see the screenshots, remember that I've looked at this before, and get more excited as I remember I was excited the last time.

Just sayin - it is not often you can successfully break the "rules" but when you can, it works. I think just because this breaks standard naming rules, doesn't make it bad. I think it works. For me.

[Scott]

... unless of course everyone votes for luonnonsuojelualue 

[HarrisonJK]

What about something like

Verdant Star

or H.S.E. Icarus Station (His Supreme Emperor's Icarus Station).

I've always liked acronyms like HMS for ship names and the S could stand for Ship instead of Station.

I do like Environmental Station Alpha though as well. For one it implies the existence of other such stations elsewhere in the galaxy. Why have the designation Alpha if it is alone? Also it passes the google test, being the first thing to come up when the name is typed into google.

What about

Designation E.S.A.

Probably just keep what you already have...

[Hempuli‽]

Yeah, I agree that the 'alpha' part fits pretty well, since it makes the place sound less 'unique' in a way, adding a feeling of there being stuff elsewhere.

I'm not a huge fan of the 'bio' -prefix, but technically 'biostation' would sound pretty nice, I suppose.

Another Finnish word I was considering (as suggested by Noby, the composer) was 'eristys' ('isolation').

[mokesmoe]

Eristys Alpha
Eristation Alpha
Eres Station Alpha

Also you could use the alpha symbol: α (Looks lame in this font but whatever.)
α α α
Α
Eristys α
Eristys α
ERISTYS α (Stole the style from Droqen)

[/silly]

Biostation Alpha sounds pretty neat.

[sergiocornaga]

Including Alpha in the title may cause people to think the game is an alpha release.

[Sean Hogan (seagaia)]

Silly question, but is the space station called Environmental Station Alpha? If so you could get away with calling it Eristys alpha (the name and the game..). only problem is no one knows how to spell or pronounce eristys.

[TacoBell_Lord]

The color definition is making love to my eyeballs. what platforms are you planning on heading to? I would love to play this on my PSPhone

[oyog]

My vote is for the name you've got already.

It's mysterious and communicates a huge amount of the story while still leaving a lot to the imagination before the first playthrough. In my opinion gameplay wouldn't need a huge amount of backstory in order for the game to feel coherent and satisfying, plot-wise because the name communicates a story so well.
I hope that made sense.  I'm feeling a little scattered due to coffee. 

[Scott]

^ What oyog said. That was better articulated than my explanation above!

[Pineapple]

My vote is for the name you've got already.

It's mysterious and communicates a huge amount of the story while still leaving a lot to the imagination before the first playthrough. In my opinion gameplay wouldn't need a huge amount of backstory in order for the game to feel coherent and satisfying, plot-wise because the name communicates a story so well.
I hope that made sense.  I'm feeling a little scattered due to coffee. 

The only issue with "Environmental Station Alpha" (which isn't a big one at all, but it still is one) is that it's a bit long and doesn't roll nicely off the tongue like a title should.

[oyog]

The only issue with "Environmental Station Alpha" (which isn't a big one at all, but it still is one) is that it's a bit long and doesn't roll nicely off the tongue like a title should.

I admit it's not as marketable as something short and sweet like Psychonauts or Halo or Half Life but it appeals to me on a personal level.  I think, aesthetically, if anything about the name needs to change it's "Environmental". It's unwieldy but it still seems to capture the atmosphere of the game perfectly.

Personally I think Eristys is a beautiful word and defines the game well but would need to be explained to non-Finnish players.

Nature Station Alpha?
Preserve Station Alpha?
I dunno.

(Totally unrelated, I think it's an amusing coincidence that the first three results for ESA on google fit the theme of this thread so well:
European Space Agency
Ecological Society of America
and
the Entertainment Software Association.)

[Graham-]

Station Alpha: E