Alien Language Font (+ PNGs)

[Neyjour]

Download here: Cybertek Chaylek Font (TTF) and PNGs


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This is something I've been working on, to be used as labels for a new sci-fi map:



It's my very first font, and I'd like to offer it as a free download. But... I'm stuck on naming it.
I was thinking something like: Cybernet (or Cybertech) _________? (something that conveys an "alien" feeling). If anyone has some ideas, please let me know!

This being my first font, I didn't realize that the thinner lines for the "uppercase" characters would disappear when it's converted to TTF.
So I'll be including those as PNGs only. But all the "lowercase" characters are mapped to the lowercase letters (a to z).

If anyone's interested in creating their own font (for free), this is the online convertor I used: MyScriptFont.com

[Mouse]

Ok. I'll be brave and have a go at it, based on the principle of taking a real word and changing it. (none of the below have been checked - I usually google things to make sure that no one else is using the word before I call it 'mine')

Cybertech

Cyberten... ten cybers? (whatever they are)
Cybertic... sounds like the first name of a really nasty disease!
Cybentic... too.... "Bennish"
Cynebtic... too close to synoptic, or synaptic!
Cynetar... too close to scimitar!
Cyntenar... hmmmn... not very good at this am I!

Cybernet

Cyberlet
Cybertel... a telephone company?
Cyberdal

Ok... I give up! sorry Neyjour

[Neyjour]

Hehe! Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be using Cybernet or Cybertech for the first part of the name (unless someone can come up with something I like better). It's just the second part (or parts) of the name that's got me stumped...

[Mouse]

I got the wrong end of the stick didn't I. LOL

Ok then. How about these:

Thranger
Skath
Kufla
Luthran
Zethrel
Grotar
Djuzali
Wanjel
Nazulk
Chaylek

None of them have been checked, by the way...

If nothing else, perhaps a spark of an idea from among them?

[Neyjour]

Oooh! Cybertech Chaylek... that sounds pretty cool. Really rolls off the tongue. Definitely a possible choice! Thanks!

If you can think of any more, please let me know! I'll wait a bit longer (perhaps until tomorrow) for some more suggestions before making a final decision. Once I throw it out there as a freebie, I won't be able to change it.

[Mouse]

I have actually got hundreds of them, and the capacity to generate millions. Do you have Excel? If you do, I can send you a real random name generator I made for this very purpose. It uses either vowels and consonant groups, or syllables, but never bits and pieces of other people's chopped up names (like so many of the online 'random' generators do).

The only drawback is that the functions simply won't work if you open it in anything other than Excel, and a fairly recent version at that.

[Mouse]

Oh dear. Sigh. I've just googled Chaylek for you, and discovered that its a first name. In fact there's a Chaylek on Deviantart.

Humph

Hey! How about calling it Cybertech Neyjour?

[Josiah VE]

That looks so cool!! What did you make that with?

Oh, Mouse. That program sounds really handy. How did you make it? I occasionally use online name generators.

[Mouse]

Oh, Mouse. That program sounds really handy. How did you make it? I occasionally use online name generators.

Hello Josiah.

I got fed up with online generators giving me cheesy things like "Pollycat", "Starwarren" or "Mousefiend", (apologies if there are any members here with those names), so I made a spreadsheet that randomly selects from lists of consonant groups and vowels, with a few conditions built into it to prevent the same vowel or syllable set occurring more than twice in the same generated word. Many of the words it generates are rubbish, but among them I have found a few tiny nuggets of gold, like Ajandrani, and Jerrosar (both of whom are characters in my books)

Here are a couple of screen shots of the active sheets, followed by one of the data sheets. You may also notice that I occasionally end up generating a real name, like Kojak in the first example. This only goes to show that I have the formula some way right. I'd be worried if it never happened. Its also the reason I have to google each of the words I think might be good for a name, to make sure it isn't the name of a real person already - or worse - something obscenely rude in another language (like Codari, which I was politely informed is a huge insult to a man in Polish the other day - or at least the phonetic sound of it is!)

If you look at the formula bar at the top of each spreadsheet you will see that the random selection is done on the data sheets, and the concatenation of those random elements to form the names is done on the name sheets.

If you know of anyone who can turn this into an app, I wouldn't mind sharing the sheets. I have offered the spreadsheet to others before now, but so few people seem to have Excel nowadays that I usually don't bother even telling anyone about it. It just doesn't run on cheaper spreadsheet apps. Its like they don't know what a formula is for!







EDIT: Here is a page that works by randomly selecting syllables. It was an attempt to iron out those irritating tendencies in the earlier sheets, where two R's or two L's can often appear before and after a single vowel which makes a word relatively awkward on the tongue. The disadvantage of going down the route of random syllables, however, is that it is limited by the syllables you have stored in your data sheet - ie not as versatile as random letters and consonant groups.

[Neyjour]

Mouse - Oh, darn. I would have really liked to try that generator (thanks for offering!) but I don't have Excel.

As for the name, since I'm going to use a combination of names, I'm not going to worry about it that much. I did a Google search for "Cybertek Chaylek" and nothing at all popped.

Josiah, thanks very much! The website I linked to has a template you download. You can either print it out and hand-draw your characters in the appropriate boxes, then scan it back into your computer to upload it to their site. Or, you can just do everything digitally. My printer/scanner is out of ink, so I had to do it all digitally. And... I don't have a tablet, so I decided to use simple straight lines that could easily be drawn with a mouse and the Pen tool. So, yep... it's all just done with the Pen tool, each one on a different layer, and then merged into a single layer after I was all done (to upload it to the website).

Actually, when I have more time, what I could do for the next one (as a work-around to not having any printer ink) is to hand-draw them on a piece of paper, scan them in, clean them up PaintShop Pro, and turn them into transparent PNGs. Then just size them down to place on the template.

EDIT: Here's a screenshot of them on the template. (The template is much larger than what I'm showing here). I guess it only picks up on the "black" so you don't need to fill in all of them.