Josh Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 The name of the third version of our engine is going to be "Leadwerks3D". Why? "Engine" is a term associated strongly with older FPS engines, and typically describes a system with a more primitive workflow and a programming-centric design. I think the term has negative connotations. Leadwerks Engine was designed to be a programming library. Our new software is a visual game design tool. I want to make that clear to the public. "Leadwerks Engine" is two long words. Trying to promote a product with a two-word name is harder. A lot of people don't know what an "engine" even means, and will think we make cars or something. Having 3D in the name gives people at least an idea of what we do. The company name is being legally changed to "Leadwerks Software" (from Leadwerks Corporation). We can't just call the product plain "Leadwerks", because it is not clear whether the company or the product is being referred to. It also looks funny in the editor titlebar. The "3D" suffix punctuates the name and gives balance to the capital "L" at the beginning. In retrospect, naming the product "Leadwerks Engine" was a good idea, because this whole time we have only had to promote one name. I think a company like Stonetrip (Shiva) has a harder time putting their name out, because they always have to choose which they should promote. Quote My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L B Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I agree that: "Leadwerks Engine" is long. The engine has to be differentiated from the company. However, the company must not promote 2 names, especially being focused on a single main product Reasons to not go with Leadwerks3D: "3D" seems to refer to rendering only, and not the game engine. Think Ogre3D Engine has no negative connotation in my humble opinion, but I'm curious to hear people's opinion The main product branded with Leadwerks is the engine, as as such would really rarely create a confusion with the company itself. The "Software" suffix is enough to differentiate the company in these cases. Single-word is simply bad. Typography geeks would probably disagree that a single-word is better to give balance to capitalization. Suggestions: Leadwerks 3 (companies don't have a version number) L3 as an abbreviation. (Pun on 1337 speek for the previous people who would look for the "Engine" in the name. Leadwerks 3D, if you really care for that name, please add a space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canardia Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Leadwerks 3D sounds like the 3D is some product, so Leadwerks3D is better. The other engines also use ShiVa3D, Unity3D, Blitz3D. Quote ■ Ryzen 9 ■ RX 6800M ■ 16GB ■ XF8 ■ Windows 11 ■ ■ Ultra ■ LE 2.5 ■ 3DWS 5.6 ■ Reaper ■ C/C++ ■ C# ■ Fortran 2008 ■ Story ■ ■ Homepage: https://canardia.com ■ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I agree with Metatron here. Leadwerks3D is just fine, works for many other companies so why not with Leadwerks. Quote AV MX Linux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixel Perfect Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Leadwerks3D is a nice concise name and I like it. It doesn't convey any real sense of what it is ... but neither did Leadwerks Engine 2. I guess most people will come across it in the context of a game engine search, a reference somewhere or better still plastered across the latest game they bought and loved so much .... so it’s probably irrelevant. Quote Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ywa Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Or just use Leadwerks3 as a product name? If you get Leadwerks3D, it would imply that Leadwerks2 is 2D (sort-of) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canardia Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Leadwerks3 would be confusing when there comes version 3.1 out, then it would be Leadwerks3 3.1 or Leadwerks3.1. The best is to have Leadwerks3D 3.1, or if Josh wants to start version numbering from start again, then the first version would be Leadwerks3D 1.0. Quote ■ Ryzen 9 ■ RX 6800M ■ 16GB ■ XF8 ■ Windows 11 ■ ■ Ultra ■ LE 2.5 ■ 3DWS 5.6 ■ Reaper ■ C/C++ ■ C# ■ Fortran 2008 ■ Story ■ ■ Homepage: https://canardia.com ■ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fallingbrickwork Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Leadwerks 3D sounds like the 3D is some product, so Leadwerks3D is better. The other engines also use ShiVa3D, Unity3D, Blitz3D. Unity is just Unity, not Unity3D. The web address is unity3d, but that is just because unity.com is long gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ywa Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Adding 3D gives me a feeling that it's a basic 3D engine, like in the old days. It could be worse too, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macklebee Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 ah that explains the L3D comment in your blog... and it reminded us of L4D... which considering how much you play that game maybe that is an unconscious decision? Quote Win7 64bit / Intel i7-2600 CPU @ 3.9 GHz / 16 GB DDR3 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 LE / 3DWS / BMX / Hexagon macklebee's channel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Hmmm... seems that just Leadwerks is a name to concider. No problems with versions, no problems with what it sounds like. Quote AV MX Linux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Betke Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I think the term "engine" is not that bad. Especially its combinmed with "werk" associated with work. And that's doing. It's an engine that works. We have CryEngine UnrealEngine and lots of other engines. Its a modern and well known term for a game toolset with programmable extensions. Leadwerks3D sounds like a fork of Leadwerks. Like some kind of 3D modeling tool if I would get in touch with this engine the first time. Even if its Leadwerks3D you will have to explain that its a 3D engine on the webpage so you still have to use the term "engine". I would go with Leadwerks Engine 3.0 but shorten it up in most cases. Like LE.3, LE3D or LE.III. For different versions you could use "LE.3 ArchViz", "LE.3 Academic", "LE.3 Games" and whatever more...just without the word "edition" behind the purpose to shorten it up. All in all simplified but recognizeable. A little bit like id software did it with id-Tech4, id-Tech5 and so on. Quote Pure3d Visualizations Germany - digital essences AAA 3D Model Shop specialized on nature and environments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canardia Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 3D sounds a bit restrictive too, there are tools like Cinema4D, because it supports also time, for animations, well at least movies. And if reality is 10D, what is missing from an engine with only 3D? I think it's hard to get rid of the name Leadwerks Engine, and it's easy to say LE2, LE3, when you talk about a specific version of the engine. You could also say LE2.5 if there is some special feature in that specifc version, but usually it's enough to say LE2, because we are talking about the same engine commands and features sets. Quote ■ Ryzen 9 ■ RX 6800M ■ 16GB ■ XF8 ■ Windows 11 ■ ■ Ultra ■ LE 2.5 ■ 3DWS 5.6 ■ Reaper ■ C/C++ ■ C# ■ Fortran 2008 ■ Story ■ ■ Homepage: https://canardia.com ■ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamecreator Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I think anyone who comes across Leadwerks already knows that they're looking for. They won't mistake Leadwerks Engine for an automobile company just as they won't mistake Leadwerks3D for a computer animation film studio. But strongly agreed that the shorter the better. The easier it is to say, the easier it is to talk about. There's a reason it's called GMail, not Google Mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixel Perfect Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I think anyone who comes across Leadwerks already knows that they're looking for. They won't mistake Leadwerks Engine for an automobile company just as they won't mistake Leadwerks3D for a computer animation film studio. Exactly Quote Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Yes, but someone who has never seen the name Leadwerks before will instantly know it has something to do with 3D or games if they see "Leadwerks3D". There is a reason for this, but you won't find out for a few months at least... We have CryEngine UnrealEngine and lots of other engines. Its a modern and well known term for a game toolset with programmable extensions. No we don't, we have "UDK" because Epic's marketing guys figured out that "Engine" sounds too intimidating to a beginner. Quote My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 No we don't, we have "UDK" because Epic's marketing guys figured out that "Engine" sounds too intimidating to a beginner. Yet beginners who come across the work UDK have no idea what it even means so I think the messed up there. I think adding something to Leadwerks is required and if Josh thinks Engine is scary for beginners, then 3D seems the next logical choice I guess. I don't think I'd ever refer to it as anything but LE3 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canardia Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Unscary Leadwerks Engine Leadwerks Game Maker Leadwerks Virtual Reality Designer Leadwerks Simulation Architect Leadwerks Multimedia Creator Leadwerks Realtime Studio Quote ■ Ryzen 9 ■ RX 6800M ■ 16GB ■ XF8 ■ Windows 11 ■ ■ Ultra ■ LE 2.5 ■ 3DWS 5.6 ■ Reaper ■ C/C++ ■ C# ■ Fortran 2008 ■ Story ■ ■ Homepage: https://canardia.com ■ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Leadwerks Multimedia Creator You need to get with the times. "Multimedia" is a term no one uses anymore because it is so vague. Yet beginners who come across the work UDK have no idea what it even means so I think the messed up there. Yeah, I agree with that. Quote My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L B Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Leadwerks Game Studio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I like the term Game Studio. Gives you the feeling there are many tools to help you in making your game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisV Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Why not go for something like Leadwerks SDK, or Leadwerks GDK (Game Development Kit)? And, you could add a number at the end specifying the version number. Just my two cents... Cheers Quote My Artwork. ZBrush 4R7 64-bit - 3DCoat 4.5 BETA 12 - Fl Studio 12 64Bit - LE 3.2 Indie version - Truespace 7 - Blender 2.71 - iClone 5.51 Pro - iClone 3DXChange 5.51 pipeline - Kontakt 5 - Bryce 7 - UU3D Pro - Substance Designer/Painter - Shadermap 3 - PaintShop Photo Pro X7 - Hexagon - Audacity - Gimp 2.8 - Vue 2015 - Reaktor 5 - Guitar Rig 5 - Bitmap2Material 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futan Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 You need to get with the times. "Multimedia" is a term no one uses anymore because it is so vague. Isn't that kind of where you're going with 3D opposed to Engine though? Don't get me wrong, vague is usually a good thing in terms of marketability. Makes it easier to attract a broader market. And it will also make people question what it is and they'll look into it(if they are intrigued enough). Kind of like how stores will do anything trying to get customers into the door. Of course they usually use different ways like with sales and such. But I don't care about the name really. A rose by any other name, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixel Perfect Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I can't pretend that Leadwerks Engine 2 is a very memorable or descriptive name and yet we all have very positive associations with it which is purely down to familiarity The name is in many respects irrelevant so long as the product is impressive. Then it simply helps if the name is memorable. Most people initially will come across the engine by searching for game engines or references to it in game development forums and what's important at that stage is not the name but more the fact that the product ticks all the boxes. If it does, or certainly enough of them then people will remember the name. Sometimes a totally unrelated name can be just as effective. No name alone has ever led me to to buy a product. It's what people say about the named product, the demos and the specifications that are likely to make me buy it. Quote Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamecreator Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 So we're agreed on Leadwerks 3D Multimedia SDK Engine Game Maker Studio then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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