The Joomla framework that runs this website had been lying around on my machine for quite some time before it was actually called into action. I had originally been tweaking it to use as an upgrade for my Haldane website. When circumstances changed, I decided it could serve a higher purpose and act as a portal for all of my sites.

To do this, I needed a few different color schemes and some additional graphics. The troll queen to the left is the artwork Jason Engle (see the disclaimer at the bottom of the page). I have mocked up several other templates to rotate on the main site. In addition, sub-sites, such as the Haldane site, will each have their own template, adding distinction and variety.

Welcome to SwordFin Games online, formerly known as bavindale.com. What happened to bavindale? Well, I was never really happy with the name, which I pronounced “Bay-vin-dale” and everyone else pronounced “Bavin-dale”. Since some reworking of the old sites and forums were necessary anyway, so I decided that it was a good time to revisit the domain name.

When I started looking, I quickly discovered that most of the simple, short, and cool domain names were taken. No real shock there. My search forced me to look at what I wanted from a new name. Obviously, first on the list was something easy to pronounce and spell. Given my experience with bavindale.com, this was top priority. Second, I wanted something that was reflective of myself, as well as the gaming hobby. Third, I only wanted a .com address—no .net’s or .info addresses would do the trick.

While this task sounds reasonably simple, it turned out to be harder than I had envisioned. Good domain names are dwindling rapidly, and unless you want something like davescoolgamingsite.com, a tad of creativity is required. During the selection process, I considered many names (such as flatoak.com, stringfly.com, crackedhelm.com, slowcreek.com, etc.), but only SwordFin seemed to fit the best. Those of you that know me are aware that fishing, as well as gaming, ranks high on my list of hobbies. Combining elements from both only seemed natural.

The next decision was whether to split or join the individual words. Checking around, I quickly determined that this would simply be a matter of personal preference. Therefore, I looked at the following: Swordfin Games, Sword Fin Games, and SwordFin Games. I chose the last for no other reason than I thought it looked the nicest.

I hope you enjoy SwordFin Games online!