According to programmer Rebecca Heineman, the name of the overall series was to be "Tales of the Unknown", and the three games were to be entitled "The Bard's Tale", "The Archmage's Tale", and "The Thief's Tale". This is supported by the cover art of the original "Bard's Tale" release, which proclaimed the game as ""Tales of the Unknown", Volume I." However, the immense popularity of the first game prompted Electronic Arts to re-brand the series under the more well-known name. Michael Cranford, however, stated that an Electronic Arts agent they worked with had come up with the city name (Skara Brae, named after a real-life settlement in prehistoric Orkney) and the game's title, "The Bard's Tale" (from originally: "Tale of the Scarlet Bard"), and that "The Destiny Knight" was never going to be called "The Archmage's Tale".