A new web address - Here's your chance to weigh in

Game Talk The Drawing Board
1

I’ve decided to spring the cash to pay for hosting, and I want some suggestions

The obvious choice is “www.cataclysmdda.com”. That’s doable. I’m not sure how much of a benefit it provides over what we have now.

We also have another option. Come up with a name for our development or project group, and register THAT instead. Then we could use something like “www.cataclysm.darklingcrew.com” - basically, the subdomain could be whatever, and if we end up having multiple websites of some sort (potentially not DDA specific) we could easily add them under the same domain name.

What do people think?

DO NOT SEARCH FOR THESE DOMAINS TO SEE IF THEY ARE REGISTERED. If you don’t know what you’re doing, that can make things a lot more difficult for us later on. Many places will temporarily purchase all domain names that are searched for with their services, so they can rent it out! We don’t want that.

2

I prefer cataclysmdda, more generic, but not very clear with the dda. What about cataclysm-dda, or cataclysm-roguelike, or cataclysm-z, or something else…

Or rename the game with the next big update, for something more unique than the common cataclysm word… Catapunk-Z…

3

Cataclysm-dda is available. Personally, I tend to have trouble remembering dashes in web addresses though.

4

A new name wouldn’t be a terrible idea. The downside being that it makes it look like we’re abandoning the fact that it’s still mostly Whales’ work. A more memorable and less WoW affiliated name would be nice.

5

We’d also run a severe risk of people looking for us not finding us. I think the addition of the DDA will be more than enough to sto the WoW conflict and help narrow things down, but I’m worried that a name change at this point combined with a domain change could effectively reset us to roughly where we were at the beginning of the month without a clear connection for people to follow and slower growth afterwards. If it’s something we want to do, we should do it ASAP, but I think the current name works.

6

Can’t you continue redirecting the current URLs to the new domain until you feel people have transitioned?

7

Of course. Changing the domain itself isn’t a problem, I’m not worried about that. I was just commenting on concern over changing the branding. That’s a bigger issue, since it destroys word of mouth potential - recommendations to “go play Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead” will be met with, at the least, confusion, and most likely a bunch of people never actually finding the game. Like I said, though, this gets worse the more time passes.

Obviously changing the domain is less of an issue, as there’s no reason to ever disable the current address, it will display the new one, like it does if you leave off the www.

8

I’m ok with dda as a name, it’s a nice subtitle and makes a clear distinction from vanilla cataclysm without abandoning the link entirely.

9

If you’re going to be collaborating on things other than just CataDDA, then figuring out your coder crew name would be better than a specialised site.
If the only reason you’re here is for CataDDA, then a specialised site, similar to what whalesdev currently has (Homepage with links to items of note and blurb and whatnot) would make it easier to distinguish what that site is for and as a result, easier to find.

but that’s just my 2 cents.

10

The best thing for the game itself would be a dedicated domain like www.cataclysmdda.com.

I really like the subtitle Dark Days Ahead, though. If you decided to go that route and omit cataclysm, that could work.

A domain like www.cataclysm.darklingcrew.com would be cool for you, if you have more projects, but it doesn’t look very sexy at all from a player’s standpoint.

11

I say we burn the bridge and call it: www.CataclysmContinued.com
Mainly it sounds like some kind of weird text game thing. But we are continuing cataclysm and this is a great name.

12

Not really, I’d like to move away from the continuation project thing at some point, especially if Whales ever plans on returning to Cataclysm, in which case it will be a bit odd to have the continuation project and base game running at the same time. At this point we’re more of a variant than anything else.

13

Well, I don’t think it’s such a bad thing if we’re the equivalent of SAngband/ZAngband/ToME(pre.v4).
Too bad you can’t really modify “cataclysm” and still make sense.

Hmm… DDAC. Doesn’t roll off the tongue. CDDA. Barely better.
Dataclysm… While possibly catchy, definitely the wrong theme. (A Hacker’s RL… not a bad idea.)

Yea, I’d vote sticking with the current name/title, or moving to purely Dark Days Ahead.
If Whales won’t approve (not a large possibility) then I guess it would be the spurring event to redo the mapcode, inventory, etc… :-/

14

Well the code is open source and unlicensed, so legally, Whales could do jack shit if he disapproved. That being said, I have respect for the man, so I’d consider any complaints he had fairly before deciding on anything.

15

I’m pretty sure the lack of a license makes it distinctly not open-source, except insofar as he said it is, but I’m not sure how binding that is. I’m pretty sure this unlicensed work could all be shut down by him at any point, since he never actually included an open-source license that would keep it open-source.

I trust he won’t, but he could.

16

I think it would be best to change the name to Dark Days Ahead: A Cataclysm Variant. www.darkdaysahead.com reads better and the new name won’t clash with WoW if you search it in google

17

[quote=“GlyphGryph, post:15, topic:171”]I’m pretty sure the lack of a license makes it distinctly not open-source, except insofar as he said it is, but I’m not sure how binding that is. I’m pretty sure this unlicensed work could all be shut down by him at any point, since he never actually included an open-source license that would keep it open-source.

I trust he won’t, but he could.[/quote]
I shall defer to your wisdom on the matter then.

This is a fairly good idea IMO. And Variant is probably the best term, as Whales stated he wanted the game to be more about wandering from town to town and such, whereas I want it taken in a more ‘fortify your area and drive off the zombies’ direction.

18

Every reasonable variant of “dark days ahead” is very very squatted.

19

Fair point. This is the problem with wanting a catchy name.

20

(The) Dark Days
(The) Last Days
Zed Wasteland
The Wicked Morrow
Unforgiving Darkness
Unforgiving Outlook
Dark Outlook
Dark Forecast
Damnation Z
Forecast: Damnation
Forecast: Cataclysm
Forecast: Zombies
Infected Yonder
Survivor Z
Survival Improbable
Changed Landscape
Infected Landscape
Zombie Landscape
Terra Zombius
Carte Blanche Survival
Carte Blanche Z
Unending Waves
Rule 32 (Enjoy the little things.)
Somber Land
Zomber Land
Somber Outlook
Boomer Bonanza!

In case you were looking.