CAPTAIN'S BLOG

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Winter & Names

Captain's Blog Stardate 91522.91

So the winter event is set to start December 5th until January 16th. I'm so excited and I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it! ... ok I'll stop singing now. According to the dev blog, the wonderland is getting a nice revamp including a Gingerbread Colony which sounds awesome, as well as new prizes that I'm looking forward to. This week they'll be releasing more information about it so keep your eyes open! In the comments let me know what you'd like to see in this year's winter event!

Now I'd like to take a moment to talk about a new tool I developed for this site. Ever since STO came out I've never been a fan of the random name generator built in the game. It just pulled a name from a list of random names, but they never felt unique. I always set out to figure out a good unique name for my characters and bridge officers. I feel that having unique names makes my STO experience better.

Then the Foundry came out and I know myself among many other Foundry authors have a hard time coming up with character names. There are just so many races in STO and they each have unique sounding names. Coming up with names for every character in every story is a hard task on its own. So I've aimed to make it easier for everyone.

Introducing the Random Name Generator! I put this tool together over the weekend and it works by creating completely random names for nearly every race found in STO based on some rules that seem to apply to the chosen race. I looked at many examples of names for each race from both canon and non-canon sources (including STO) to get a feel for how those names should look and sound. I then built this tool to generate the names from scratch so they would have a similar look and sound.

I urge all of you to take a look and spread the word about this tool. If you think that names for a particular race don't feel right, please let me know. I appreciate your feedback so I can continue to make it better.

Written by Attilio on December 01, 2013 at 09:34 pm

Comments

sidhall (Member) said...
December 02, 2013 at 11:33 am

Can't wait for the Winter Wonderland to start! It has always been very enjoyable and a place to meet new friends.
Thanks "Q" happy Holidays to all!

Reply to sidhall

Nyxadrill1962 (Member) said...
December 03, 2013 at 09:22 am

It looks like the free ship will be the Breen Frigate "Plesh Brek" according to speculation on the STO forums. Some people seem disappointed by that but I don't care it will be a nice addition to the collection! :)

Anything free is good :)

I've been looking forward to the winter event ever since the summer one ended! lol

Love the name generator Atillio, very handy!

Reply to Nyxadrill1962

goatcheesexx (Member) said...
December 03, 2013 at 11:40 am

Merry Christmas 2013 everyone!

Reply to goatcheesexx

Warburton1881 (Member) said...
December 04, 2013 at 06:53 pm

I like the random name generator. I've felt that the names in the STO version were just too much alike -- i.e. they have a list of names for humans and a second list of names for anybody else -- no distinction between Romulans, Vulcans, Klingons or Brachiozoids (o.k., I just made that one up). One suggestion for your name generator, if possible it would be nice to have a list of gender specific names. After all, Obisek is clearly a guy and Sela clearly isn't. Having only one list of names risks having the equivalent of a bunch of boys named Sue and girls named Fred.

Actually, I usually name my characters without regard for their species and I usually leave my BOFFs with whatever name they had when I acquired them. It will be nice to have the option of giving them names more appropriate to their species.

Reply to Warburton1881

Chris (Member) said...
December 06, 2013 at 11:31 am

I'm already enjoying seeing the STOA site transition to a winter wonderland!

Background looks neat with the layout.

Chris

Reply to Chris