This Steam game is "desperately" trying to avoid a Disney lawsuit

The roguelike bullet hell game currently has a demo on Steam under the StarLords name

Marvel and Disney might be the last vestiges of monoculture, but that doesn't mean the average person is guaranteed to know every major superhero or comic book character. Dark Dimension, the developers behind StarLords, claim they didn't know about Guardians of the Galaxy up until very recently. Now the team is apparently scrambling to figure out an alternate game name.

StarLords is a hand-drawn sci-fi bullet hell game with roguelike elements. Think Enter the Gungeon, but with base-building mechanics and a cartoonish, Borderlands-like style. The game lets you pick between 10 "StarLord" commanders, each with their own unique loadout, training facilities, and strategic options. The Spore Entity, for instance, can terraform the battlefield, while the Clone Master excels at overwhelming the enemy with endless units. There's no specific release date, but you can already play a StarLords demo on Steam.

The game looks intriguing, but the Chinese developers are feeling some anxiety after reportedly discovering there's a major Marvel character who is also named Star-Lord. "No one on the team watches Marvel movies," one developer wrote on Reddit. "We desperately need a new name before Disney notices."

The developers are taking suggestions from fans on potential names, promising that if any submission makes the cut, the person behind it will receive a free Steam key as well as a listing in the game's credits. The developer notes that the small studio has not consulted a lawyer on the matter, but the team would rather not mess around and find out.

"Between AI, Google, and helpful players warnings, it's risky enough that we'd rather just play it safe and rebrand," a developer wrote on Reddit.

Changing the name in such a public way also presents a great marketing opportunity, obviously. Not so incidentally, StarLords just launched a Kickstarter page. But the small amount of money the developers are seeking — just under $2,000 — and the fact the game does look fun means that some people are giving the developers the benefit of the doubt.

If nothing else, it's fun to read the names people are coming up with. Some title suggestions, like Space Carnage and BulletLords, are serious. Other title ideas, not so much.

"How about starwars instead?" one person joked. "If the game also involves crafting, I think StarCraft is a good option," another wrote.

StarLords' creators say the core campaign and gameplay loop are already finished, as are all the commander options. But the team is hoping to add more content to the base game, like custom planetary headquarters and co-op multiplayer. You can check out StarLords on Steam.