Hi everyone,

A few years ago, someone drew me some excellent graphics for a character in my game. The problem is, even now, years down the line i can't think up a good name for him.

I had decided that a good first name might be 'Eric', but this is open for discussion. I need to come up with a good name (first name and surname) for the character which alludes his position, and what he does for a job. Maybe some kind of pun would be good.

The game is a quirky puzzle game and the character is the owner of a firework factory, who is more than a little crazy and has a shady past. He is your boss in the game and pops up to offer tutorial hints and exposition between levels.

At some point, if disk space permits i am hoping to have a voice for him, perhaps someone might have some good feedback on what to look for in that too?

I have included a video of the character for inspiration.

Thanks for any advice!

Edit: Updated video with babbling and blinking

He looks like an irish sprite ( http://s2.hubimg.com/u/8738179_f520.jpg ), and first think I thought of was the song whiskey in the jar, and therefore at its character Captain Farrel, so... what about Mr. Farrel ?

lol, thats mighty good to-be-sure, i'll stick it on my list :)

Buren.

He looks like a Buren to me at least!

Buren.

He looks like a Buren to me at least!

buren as in sounds like "burn"? :D

No, more like "Bu-ren"

(Bu is similar to how russians would pronounce Bjo)

Probably comes from Bjorn originally, with more emphasis on the U and REN

I think a good voice for him would be something booming like a Brian Blessed style as that would be kind of apropriate for a fireworks salesman, maybe he has to shout due to being partially def from too many loud fireworks or something?

As for a name, I think it would help to think of it linked to the fireworks. If it is his firework factory, the fireworks will likely carry his name, so if you can think of something funny to work with that it may be good.

Mr Boom's Fireworks or something like that.

Mr Boom sounds appropriate, i quite like the idea of him shouting because hes half deaf, and maybe not realising hes shouting all the time...

"WHAT? CAN YOU SAY THAT AGAIN" :D

Tom Kabom

Give him a southern accent and way of speaking, use alliteration in his dialogues with plosives (b, p, t, d)—enough to make it noticable and entertaining, but not so excessive it becomes annoying. Southern speech can be quite graphic, so you can bring humorous firework anecdote tidbits or analogies into his dialogue that seem natural to his way of speaking. Use plenty of "zip, bang, kabom, kaboom" etc. in his language. E.g., after selling/giving some fireworks to the player: "Ye ain't gon' be blastin' that off in me shop now mister, are ye? Me had that happen to me once. Just zip–bang–boom! whole shop was on fire. Looked pretty, though."

Good luck with your game and have fun! :)

Cheers,

Chris