This release calendar you've concocted sounds fantastic! Hopefully it funnels some traffic and interest into this project - it certainly deserves it.
I do think "Divine Dreams" has a better impact as a *title* than "Drealm," though I love the latter's ingenuity. As a previous comment mentioned, Divine Dreams is two six-letter words so you still get that continuity. While both are viable titles, I do wonder how each relates to the full scope of the story being told, assuming it is based on Mardek's storyline to the extent I (and likely others) are expecting.
One thing I actually disagree with is your claim that Mardek as a title was not meaningful or informative. Those games (as I played them) are Mardek's story, simple as that. The subtitles provided useful context on the plot events taking place, but the fact remained that this was a game about Mardek and his journey. Mardek's trajectory through the 3 games certainly lines up with the "hero's journey" archetype, something I don't recall you mentioning explicitly but I'm sure you're well aware of. Part of why the games remain so compelling (at least to myself) is that he only ever makes it partway through. I believe this is one reason the many nostalgics (such as myself) will always clamor for a continuation but never be satisfied by it. That absence of an ending, and the endless possibilities that come with it, are in some ways better than anything that could have actually existed.
Anyway, this is a very long-winded route to get back to my point, which is that Mardek, though not the perfect title in itself, was the perfect title for that game. This is not going to be that game, so it would no longer be the perfect title, but to find that for this game I feel one must distill its core essence. Your current title options are mainly about setting. Certainly many an RPG has used its setting as the title (for an extremely literal example see most every elder scrolls game). But these are often games about self-insert protagonists, where you are your character. The setting becomes the most important thing because it is the defining aspect of that game. But Mardek was a game about characters, and lots of them. And they had their own personalities and charms and even if they weren't perfectly developed in every aspect, they took your interest. I wanted to know Emela's secrets back in chapter II, long before they were revealed. I wanted to find out the history of Legion's souls, and Solaar, and Enki, and the Manta. And when bits of this information were given to us, it was so satisfying, because we wanted it. It wasn't just exposition and explanation being thrust on the player. Not just any game has the subtlety and intelligence to do that so successfully. Mardek had a level of world-building that was truly shocking for a flash game at the time. I know this remake will not be using the worldbuilding from the original series, which is, again, something I am a bit sad about, because there was so much good content there. I hope you can perhaps incorporate some things into this new world, but more importantly I hope that this remake contains the level of care and detail that you gave (though I'm not sure you always recognize it) the original Mardek series. I'm not particularly worried about that, though.
I apologize for getting slightly carried away this comment - your revisiting of the series has sparked my interest greatly and I have about a decade of thoughts on the series to share... I remain very excited to see what happens next on this project.
2
Tobias 1104~4Y
I'm glad to hear you feel the characters' stories were the most interesting and important aspect of the games, since that was how I felt myself. It's why I feel that doing something like this calendar is more true to what the game's going to be than if I were to, say, boast about all the POWERFUL SKILLS!!! you'd be able to perform gameplay actions with or whatever.
I'm definitely aware of the Hero's Journey, and I've been thinking about it a lot recently as I plan this remake, wondering to what extent it actually fits with what I've got planned. Now that you've mentioned it, I'm curious to try to explicitly use it a bit to shape what I've already got.
Personally - though I'm saying this as someone who had at least a vague idea of where the whole eight chapters would go - I feel that "ROHOPH" would have been a better title for the series than "MARDEK". I imagined Mardek as a character who's sort of dragged along with the plot rather than driving it, while Rohoph's at the heart of everything (though we all interpret stories differently!). When I talked about a remake a few months ago, I wondered whether to call it "ROHOPH" for this reason. Similarly, "DHARMA" seemed a possibility for this version's title, since that's what he's called now.
I'm leaning towards Divine Dreams as a title because "Drealm" is just a setting name, whereas Divine Dreams is multilayered, and all those layers are applicable (the two-sixes is also deliberate, like with Taming Dreams). The world was literally dreamed up by the gods, so it's a setting name in that sense. But each character also has a personal motive or 'dream', which drives them; I'll probably do what I did with Taming Dreams and give each character a brief 'motto' encapsulating their personal dream (eg from Taming Dreams, Deugan's was "I wish a was a warrior instead of a worrier"). Divine also means to discover, especially through intuition or mystical means, and figuring out dreams - both in the 'hopes and purpose' sense, but also more literally later - is a big part of the story.
Perhaps that's the better title by far, actually...
I'm excited to see where this goes too, and appreciate your input!
2
JohnnyBoi45~4Y
Thanks for such a detailed reply! I definitely support your leaning towards Divine Dreams - I hadn't even thought of the connection of using Divine as a verb, which is great now that I see it.
I suppose I don't have the knowledge of where the series was going, but I certainly understand why "ROHOPH" would make sense as a series title. I'd say it's a strange choice because in my mind Rohoph was clearly shaping to be the main antagonist (though I imagine that was your intention), but Lord of the Rings is technically named after the antagonist as well so there's no reason that isn't valid. I always felt that the overarching plot was not just Rohoph's vigilante quest to destroy the rest of the GdM and enforce his views on others, but maybe that events were inevitably spiraling towards a real confrontation between Rohoph and Mardek, which I'd hoped Mardek would have outlasted. Of course, those were only my speculations and hopes for the series. Maybe those notes that you intend to put in the re-release will put some of my mind to rest.
1
Astreon152~4Y
The first paragraph of your answer (Tobias) made me think of a possible "goofy" feature : skills become more powerful if you press CAPS before you select them.
Or maybe it could be buff, like you cast the spell 'CAPS' (or reach a certain level of motivation if you go with emotions) and suddenly for a certain duration all skills' efficiency increase by a percentage, and they are written in caps when you select them: it's not "slash" but "SLASH" or it's not "healing song" but "HEALING SONG".
Though the sillyness of it might make it more consistent with Mardek's 1 chapter childhood period (like chunibyo, when you shout your moves outloud), and i don't know if you'll keep that in the remake.
I do think "Divine Dreams" has a better impact as a *title* than "Drealm," though I love the latter's ingenuity. As a previous comment mentioned, Divine Dreams is two six-letter words so you still get that continuity. While both are viable titles, I do wonder how each relates to the full scope of the story being told, assuming it is based on Mardek's storyline to the extent I (and likely others) are expecting.
One thing I actually disagree with is your claim that Mardek as a title was not meaningful or informative. Those games (as I played them) are Mardek's story, simple as that. The subtitles provided useful context on the plot events taking place, but the fact remained that this was a game about Mardek and his journey. Mardek's trajectory through the 3 games certainly lines up with the "hero's journey" archetype, something I don't recall you mentioning explicitly but I'm sure you're well aware of. Part of why the games remain so compelling (at least to myself) is that he only ever makes it partway through. I believe this is one reason the many nostalgics (such as myself) will always clamor for a continuation but never be satisfied by it. That absence of an ending, and the endless possibilities that come with it, are in some ways better than anything that could have actually existed.
Anyway, this is a very long-winded route to get back to my point, which is that Mardek, though not the perfect title in itself, was the perfect title for that game. This is not going to be that game, so it would no longer be the perfect title, but to find that for this game I feel one must distill its core essence. Your current title options are mainly about setting. Certainly many an RPG has used its setting as the title (for an extremely literal example see most every elder scrolls game). But these are often games about self-insert protagonists, where you are your character. The setting becomes the most important thing because it is the defining aspect of that game. But Mardek was a game about characters, and lots of them. And they had their own personalities and charms and even if they weren't perfectly developed in every aspect, they took your interest. I wanted to know Emela's secrets back in chapter II, long before they were revealed. I wanted to find out the history of Legion's souls, and Solaar, and Enki, and the Manta. And when bits of this information were given to us, it was so satisfying, because we wanted it. It wasn't just exposition and explanation being thrust on the player. Not just any game has the subtlety and intelligence to do that so successfully. Mardek had a level of world-building that was truly shocking for a flash game at the time. I know this remake will not be using the worldbuilding from the original series, which is, again, something I am a bit sad about, because there was so much good content there. I hope you can perhaps incorporate some things into this new world, but more importantly I hope that this remake contains the level of care and detail that you gave (though I'm not sure you always recognize it) the original Mardek series. I'm not particularly worried about that, though.
I apologize for getting slightly carried away this comment - your revisiting of the series has sparked my interest greatly and I have about a decade of thoughts on the series to share... I remain very excited to see what happens next on this project.
I'm definitely aware of the Hero's Journey, and I've been thinking about it a lot recently as I plan this remake, wondering to what extent it actually fits with what I've got planned. Now that you've mentioned it, I'm curious to try to explicitly use it a bit to shape what I've already got.
Personally - though I'm saying this as someone who had at least a vague idea of where the whole eight chapters would go - I feel that "ROHOPH" would have been a better title for the series than "MARDEK". I imagined Mardek as a character who's sort of dragged along with the plot rather than driving it, while Rohoph's at the heart of everything (though we all interpret stories differently!). When I talked about a remake a few months ago, I wondered whether to call it "ROHOPH" for this reason. Similarly, "DHARMA" seemed a possibility for this version's title, since that's what he's called now.
I'm leaning towards Divine Dreams as a title because "Drealm" is just a setting name, whereas Divine Dreams is multilayered, and all those layers are applicable (the two-sixes is also deliberate, like with Taming Dreams). The world was literally dreamed up by the gods, so it's a setting name in that sense. But each character also has a personal motive or 'dream', which drives them; I'll probably do what I did with Taming Dreams and give each character a brief 'motto' encapsulating their personal dream (eg from Taming Dreams, Deugan's was "I wish a was a warrior instead of a worrier"). Divine also means to discover, especially through intuition or mystical means, and figuring out dreams - both in the 'hopes and purpose' sense, but also more literally later - is a big part of the story.
Perhaps that's the better title by far, actually...
I'm excited to see where this goes too, and appreciate your input!
I suppose I don't have the knowledge of where the series was going, but I certainly understand why "ROHOPH" would make sense as a series title. I'd say it's a strange choice because in my mind Rohoph was clearly shaping to be the main antagonist (though I imagine that was your intention), but Lord of the Rings is technically named after the antagonist as well so there's no reason that isn't valid. I always felt that the overarching plot was not just Rohoph's vigilante quest to destroy the rest of the GdM and enforce his views on others, but maybe that events were inevitably spiraling towards a real confrontation between Rohoph and Mardek, which I'd hoped Mardek would have outlasted. Of course, those were only my speculations and hopes for the series. Maybe those notes that you intend to put in the re-release will put some of my mind to rest.
Or maybe it could be buff, like you cast the spell 'CAPS' (or reach a certain level of motivation if you go with emotions) and suddenly for a certain duration all skills' efficiency increase by a percentage, and they are written in caps when you select them: it's not "slash" but "SLASH" or it's not "healing song" but "HEALING SONG".
Though the sillyness of it might make it more consistent with Mardek's 1 chapter childhood period (like chunibyo, when you shout your moves outloud), and i don't know if you'll keep that in the remake.