WEBVTT 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:09.340 At a time when hundreds of new games are hitting the Steam shelves, the Switch eShop, and the 00:00:09.340 --> 00:00:14.410 PlayStation Store every single month, the most difficult thing about making games, might 00:00:14.410 --> 00:00:17.940 actually be just getting people to know that your game exists. 00:00:17.940 --> 00:00:22.060 Now, there’s so much involved in a strong marketing campaign. 00:00:22.060 --> 00:00:25.650 But one of the key components is a good trailer. 00:00:25.650 --> 00:00:31.599 This is about 90-odd seconds of uninterrupted footage of your game, beamed directly into 00:00:31.599 --> 00:00:33.300 your potential player’s eyeballs. 00:00:33.300 --> 00:00:38.910 So, you better not waste this opportunity - and it’s a good time to ask the question: 00:00:38.910 --> 00:00:40.990 what makes a good trailer? 00:00:40.990 --> 00:00:45.220 So, it’s important to know what a trailer is actually for. 00:00:45.220 --> 00:00:49.140 A trailer is not a random montage of gameplay clips. 00:00:49.140 --> 00:00:51.450 It’s not a dry rundown of features. 00:00:51.450 --> 00:00:53.670 It’s not your opening cutscene. 00:00:53.670 --> 00:00:55.660 And it’s definitely not a sales pitch. 00:00:55.660 --> 00:00:58.740 TRAILER VO: “Hey you, looking at the screen. Lemme ask you a question. 00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:03.150 Do you like awesome things that are awesome? Then you gotta play this game, dude. 00:01:03.150 --> 00:01:05.600 It’s frigging cool. And crazy addictive". 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:13.220 Yugh. Instead, the primary purpose of a trailer is to tell players what makes your game unique. 00:01:13.220 --> 00:01:18.810 You see, every popular indie game has a hook, which Crypt of the Necrodancer developer Ryan 00:01:18.810 --> 00:01:23.830 Clark describes as “some interesting bit of information about the game that compels 00:01:23.830 --> 00:01:26.590 people to try it, or to discuss it”. 00:01:26.590 --> 00:01:31.190 It could be a clever game mechanic, like a dungeon crawler where you move to the beat 00:01:31.190 --> 00:01:32.190 of the music. 00:01:32.190 --> 00:01:35.870 Or an RPG where you can talk enemies out of fighting. 00:01:35.870 --> 00:01:42.400 It could be an exciting mash-up of genres, like a deck-building roguelike, or a stealth platformer. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.580 It could be a unique setting or story that we haven’t seen before. 00:01:46.580 --> 00:01:48.780 Or a particularly strong art style. 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:53.210 The trailer is a chance to explain your hook to the player, and the press. 00:01:53.210 --> 00:01:59.170 Both of which will then share that idea in conversations, tweets, headlines and so on. 00:01:59.170 --> 00:02:03.940 Derek Lieu is one of the most prolific trailer makers around, and says “I think it's important 00:02:03.940 --> 00:02:08.520 to consider how someone will talk about a game after seeing the trailer; I think the 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:12.910 simpler you make an idea to share, the more it will get shared”. 00:02:12.910 --> 00:02:17.500 Now, a beautiful game like GRIS practically sells itself. 00:02:17.500 --> 00:02:22.200 But if your hook is a clever game mechanic, you’re going to need to explain it. 00:02:22.200 --> 00:02:27.060 If the idea is particularly complex and can’t be easily communicated through visuals alone 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:32.500 - like branching narratives and procedural generation - then maybe explicit communication is 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:33.670 the way to go. 00:02:33.670 --> 00:02:36.849 That might be through pop-up text-based title cards. 00:02:36.849 --> 00:02:38.910 Or, a voice over track. 00:02:38.910 --> 00:02:42.200 For example, listen to this trailer for Heaven’s Vault. 00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:46.099 ALIYA: “I’m an archeologist. I dig stuff up. 00:02:46.100 --> 00:02:51.440 Every inscription I decipher is a piece of the puzzle. 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:58.900 Every moon I sail to, reveals a new path to explore. 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:08.280 And every new discovery, can change the story, entirely”. 00:03:08.290 --> 00:03:12.319 These few words neatly describe the core of this game. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:16.770 You’re an archeologist. You translate inscriptions. You travel through space. 00:03:16.770 --> 00:03:19.170 And the story changes based on your actions. 00:03:19.170 --> 00:03:24.250 It’s not just random scraps of dialogue, but a clear description of the game’s idea. 00:03:24.250 --> 00:03:28.470 And best of all, the devs got the actress for the game’s main character, to read the 00:03:28.470 --> 00:03:33.610 script - which feels more natural, less like a sales pitch, and also introduces us to one 00:03:33.610 --> 00:03:35.410 of the characters in the game. 00:03:35.410 --> 00:03:39.730 But if the game can speak for itself, it’s best to just let it. 00:03:39.730 --> 00:03:43.709 I think viewers end up watching the trailer more actively when they’re forced to figure 00:03:43.709 --> 00:03:47.290 out what’s going on for themselves - which is more engaging. 00:03:47.290 --> 00:03:51.989 This can achieved by clearly and simply showing how the game is played. 00:03:51.989 --> 00:03:57.190 In this trailer for the bonkers rule-changing puzzle game Baba is You, we start by seeing 00:03:57.190 --> 00:04:03.670 the sentence “Baba is You” change to “Rock is You”, and then the rock starts moving around. 00:04:03.670 --> 00:04:08.860 That elegantly sums up the way players get to fiddle with the game’s most fundamental rules. 00:04:08.860 --> 00:04:13.459 Here’s another game: Way of the Passive Fist, which is about parrying attacks until 00:04:13.459 --> 00:04:17.799 the enemy is knackered - and then knocking them out with a single touch. 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:22.860 To show this, the trailer begins with the main character fending off attacks for 10 seconds. 00:04:24.580 --> 00:04:29.800 Then, the action slows, the music stops, and the hero pokes an exhausted enemy to send 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:32.260 them flying across the screen. 00:04:32.260 --> 00:04:37.630 And then in the trailer for Return of the Obra Dinn, we see a corpse, the pocket watch, 00:04:37.630 --> 00:04:42.630 some death vignettes, and - finally - recording information about the corpse’s death in 00:04:42.630 --> 00:04:44.060 the log book. 00:04:44.060 --> 00:04:48.331 You don’t need to turn your trailer into a full tutorial, but players shouldn’t be 00:04:48.331 --> 00:04:51.410 left confused by what they actually do in the game. 00:04:51.410 --> 00:04:57.490 Trailer maker M Joshua says “consider this your first major hurdle: players can’t imagine 00:04:57.490 --> 00:05:01.419 themselves inside of a game they don’t understand”. 00:05:01.419 --> 00:05:07.150 Now, there’s no point explaining your game if you’ve already lost your viewer’s attention. 00:05:07.150 --> 00:05:11.419 Pacing is critical, and if you don’t get it right your viewer will click off your trailer 00:05:11.419 --> 00:05:14.450 quicker than players abandoned Fallout 76. 00:05:14.450 --> 00:05:18.650 And to get this right, you could do a lot worse than cribbing from Derek Lieu’s graph 00:05:18.650 --> 00:05:22.880 of rising intensity, which looks like this… 00:05:22.880 --> 00:05:26.419 So step one is the cold open. 00:05:26.419 --> 00:05:31.000 The beginning of the trailer is crucial to get right, so Derek often starts strong with 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:35.760 an intense action moment, a slice of gameplay, or even a joke - 00:05:35.760 --> 00:05:41.220 DELILAH: Manifest tells people not to go too far in there - it’s pretty dangerous. You’re in it, aren’t you? 00:05:41.229 --> 00:05:43.710 HENRY: It doesn’t seem that dangerous - woah, ah! 00:05:43.710 --> 00:05:44.710 DELILAH: Henry! 00:05:44.710 --> 00:05:46.840 HENRY: Seriously, it’s completely fine in here. 00:05:46.840 --> 00:05:47.840 DELILAH: Damnit!” 00:05:47.840 --> 00:05:51.919 Don’t bore your viewers with exposition right out of the gate. 00:05:51.919 --> 00:05:56.729 And unless you’ve got some serious clout, hold back on the studio logos, as well. 00:05:56.729 --> 00:06:00.410 “From the makers of FTL” is a hook in of itself. 00:06:00.410 --> 00:06:05.910 But Constipated Gorilla Studios doesn’t mean anything because I just made it up. 00:06:05.910 --> 00:06:10.620 Now, you can’t keep that level of intensity going throughout the whole trailer. 00:06:10.620 --> 00:06:16.110 Non-stop action is exhausting, and viewers will start to zone out and stop paying attention. 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:19.310 So it’s time for step two - introduction. 00:06:19.310 --> 00:06:23.150 At this point, Derek takes a moment to slow down and turn the viewer’s attention to 00:06:23.150 --> 00:06:24.990 something less intense. 00:06:24.990 --> 00:06:30.610 This is a good time to set up the story, introduce the world, or - as before - explain the main 00:06:30.610 --> 00:06:32.310 game mechanic. 00:06:32.310 --> 00:06:36.720 With the viewer’s attention secured by the cold open, and their basic understanding of 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:42.259 what’s happening achieved in the exposition, we can move onto step three: escalation. 00:06:42.259 --> 00:06:44.150 Here, we can build on things. 00:06:44.150 --> 00:06:49.771 We can slowly increase the intensity, add in more mechanics, ramp up the action, show 00:06:49.771 --> 00:06:53.250 more explosions, and reduce the time between cuts. 00:06:53.250 --> 00:06:56.620 It’s really important to have lots of variety here. 00:06:56.620 --> 00:07:00.950 If you’re always seeing the same type of enemy, or the same location, the viewer will 00:07:00.950 --> 00:07:03.569 start to think “is that all there is?”. 00:07:03.569 --> 00:07:06.540 Make a point to show different things with every cut. 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:10.889 There’s a cute trick that a lot of trailer makers use where the main character doesn’t 00:07:10.889 --> 00:07:16.100 move, but the backgrounds or enemies or costumes do, to indicate oodles of content. 00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:21.960 It’s a bit played out, but still better than a title card that says “60 levels”. 00:07:21.960 --> 00:07:23.569 Step four is the climax. 00:07:23.569 --> 00:07:29.259 This is where the action builds up to its most intense point - and then stops. 00:07:29.259 --> 00:07:34.390 We don’t want to show everything, and ideally we want to leave lingering questions in the 00:07:34.390 --> 00:07:35.630 viewer’s mind. 00:07:35.630 --> 00:07:39.290 This Hyper Light Drifter trailer ends with an eeery boss fight. 00:07:39.290 --> 00:07:43.380 And this Firewatch trailer expertly sets up a mystery that makes you want to play the 00:07:43.380 --> 00:07:45.410 game and see what happens next. 00:07:45.410 --> 00:07:48.980 DELILAH: “Wait, you’re already there? You’re not in your tower? 00:07:48.980 --> 00:07:50.500 HENRY: No, I’m not. 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:54.020 DELILAH: Then who is?”. 00:07:54.020 --> 00:07:59.319 It’s here that we finally reveal the game’s name or logo, and relevant information like 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:01.300 platforms and the release date. 00:08:01.300 --> 00:08:06.469 And maybe a call to action - just, don’t give your viewer decision paralysis: ask them 00:08:06.469 --> 00:08:08.590 to do just one thing. 00:08:08.590 --> 00:08:11.229 And, sometimes, there’s step five. 00:08:11.229 --> 00:08:12.229 The button. 00:08:12.229 --> 00:08:17.240 a cute extra joke, or bit of action, or a tease after the end of the trailer. 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:19.760 You want to end on a high note, after all. 00:08:27.620 --> 00:08:30.539 Presentation for trailers is particularly important. 00:08:30.539 --> 00:08:35.610 With so little time, so many fast cuts, and with first impressions being literally all 00:08:35.610 --> 00:08:40.389 you have right now, it’s more critical than ever that you make every frame count. 00:08:40.389 --> 00:08:43.800 The most crucial thing is making the trailer readable. 00:08:43.800 --> 00:08:49.220 This means reducing clutter to only focus the viewer’s attention on the most important stuff. 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:54.460 Lucas Pope could have shown Papers, Please like this: this is how it appears in the game, 00:08:54.470 --> 00:08:59.730 after all: three different windows, all vying for your attention with loads of noisy information. 00:08:59.730 --> 00:09:05.900 But, instead, Lucas crops the viewpoint down to only what he wants to show - the line of immigrants. 00:09:05.900 --> 00:09:11.380 The faces. The documents. The stamp. The rule book. The photos. 00:09:11.389 --> 00:09:16.839 It’s generally a good idea to hide interface elements like the HUD and mouse cursors. 00:09:16.839 --> 00:09:22.420 And use crops, close-ups, or even custom-made areas to highlight the important bits. 00:09:22.420 --> 00:09:25.879 Don’t let noise compete for attention. 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:28.949 Clarity between clips is important, too. 00:09:28.949 --> 00:09:33.199 The viewer will try to focus on something on screen - usually the player character. 00:09:33.199 --> 00:09:37.360 But when the video cuts, they’ve got to find that point of focus again - which is 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.540 tiring and wastes time. 00:09:39.540 --> 00:09:44.889 Instead, try to keep the focus point in generally the same place between cuts. 00:09:44.889 --> 00:09:48.540 Beyond readability, we want trailers to look attractive. 00:09:48.540 --> 00:09:53.809 So think about composition, and use tricks like the rule of thirds, scenic landscape shots, 00:09:53.809 --> 00:09:59.050 tracking cameras, and heroic character portraits, to make the game look great. 00:09:59.050 --> 00:10:03.989 And remember that as the trailer maker you’re not just the director and editor, but also 00:10:03.989 --> 00:10:08.380 the actor: and so you want to show off gameplay that looks super slick. 00:10:08.380 --> 00:10:13.649 Derek records dozens of takes of the same action, like throwing this bottle in Firewatch, 00:10:13.649 --> 00:10:15.949 to get one that looks perfect. 00:10:15.949 --> 00:10:19.329 And unless you’re making a point about permadeath, you don’t really want to be taking damage 00:10:19.329 --> 00:10:22.179 or dying in your gameplay footage. 00:10:22.179 --> 00:10:24.339 Sound is super important, too. 00:10:24.339 --> 00:10:27.540 Music should ideally match the intensity of what’s happening on screen. 00:10:27.540 --> 00:10:31.559 So, sometimes the composer will write a specific song for the trailer. 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:35.000 Other times the OST can get chopped up to fit the marketing. 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:38.060 And sometimes the trailer gets cut around a song. 00:10:38.060 --> 00:10:41.740 Putting cuts on the beat is fun, and so is putting actions on the beat. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:46.920 Don’t forget sound effects, though. 00:10:46.929 --> 00:10:51.689 M Joshua says “your players feel the game through the sounds, though they might not 00:10:51.689 --> 00:10:52.879 realize it. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:57.270 If you’re showing a trailer with just music and no sound effects, more than likely, it 00:10:57.270 --> 00:10:59.449 feels dry and lifeless.” 00:10:59.449 --> 00:11:04.059 You know how important sound effects are in the games themselves, so maybe don’t mute 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:07.379 them for the trailer. 00:11:07.379 --> 00:11:09.699 So let’s look at it all of this stuff in action. 00:11:09.699 --> 00:11:13.480 Here’s the trailer for Subnautica, made by Derek Lieu 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:17.019 We start with 12 seconds of high intensity action. 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:20.040 Explosions. Fire. A disintegrating ship. 00:11:20.040 --> 00:11:26.279 The music is high tempo and the cuts are fast. 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:33.649 Then we change gears for the introduction. 00:11:33.649 --> 00:11:35.089 Things are calmer now. 00:11:35.089 --> 00:11:38.160 And we see what we’re actually going to do when we play the game. 00:11:38.160 --> 00:11:46.899 We’ll jump into the ocean, swim around, stab stuff, craft things. 00:11:46.899 --> 00:11:51.749 After a while there’s a voice over, which sounds like an AI voice from our drop pod. 00:11:51.749 --> 00:11:54.700 And it elegantly explains the core loop of the game: 00:11:54.700 --> 00:12:00.220 AI: “Utilising alien resources is a proven survival strategy. 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:04.280 Explore. Study. Catalogue new species. 00:12:04.280 --> 00:12:10.040 Secure food and energy. And gather data on unusual phenomenon”. 00:12:10.040 --> 00:12:16.520 Things get more intense with the escalation. 00:12:16.520 --> 00:12:21.199 The music swells as we see just how much stuff we can do in this game. 00:12:21.199 --> 00:12:22.709 All the things we can build. 00:12:22.709 --> 00:12:25.279 All the animals that are trying to murder us. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:26.829 Bones in the deep. 00:12:26.829 --> 00:12:28.529 Plus: review quotes! 00:12:28.529 --> 00:12:30.080 If you’ve got ‘em, flaunt ‘em. 00:12:39.620 --> 00:12:43.940 And then the climax, an ominous line... 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:45.440 TRAILER GUY: "We shouldn’t have gone so deep”. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:51.319 ... a mysterious chamber. And then the game name and logo. 00:12:51.319 --> 00:12:58.199 Oof! This is a really well paced trailer which explains how the game plays, and leaves unanswered 00:12:58.199 --> 00:13:00.949 questions that encourage you to play for yourself. 00:13:00.949 --> 00:13:05.449 It shows loads of variety, suggesting that there’s a lot to uncover in this game. 00:13:05.449 --> 00:13:09.799 And Subnautica’s hook - that it’s a game about crafting huge structures to survive 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:14.429 in an underwater alien world - is expressed really clearly. 00:13:14.429 --> 00:13:16.579 Top marks for this trailer. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:22.459 I guess the only thing left to consider is, if you follow these rules too closely, your 00:13:22.459 --> 00:13:25.470 trailer will start to look like all of the other trailers. 00:13:25.470 --> 00:13:28.959 And you’re back to your first problem: standing out from the crowd. 00:13:28.959 --> 00:13:31.879 So it’s important to be creative and different. 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:35.160 Use these ideas as guidelines, but not as a template. 00:13:35.160 --> 00:13:39.139 So, for example, take this amazing trailer for Factorio. 00:13:39.139 --> 00:13:44.249 It still shows off the game’s hook, tells you how the game works, and ramps up the intensity 00:13:44.249 --> 00:13:48.500 over time - but it does so in a single, continuous shot. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.279 And if in doubt, hire a professional. 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:57.470 I’ve put links to the websites for all the best trailer makers in the description, plus 00:13:57.470 --> 00:14:03.769 additional resources for things like capturing high quality footage, using ESRB and PEGI 00:14:03.769 --> 00:14:06.399 logos, and more. 00:14:08.380 --> 00:14:10.320 Hey! Thanks for watching! 00:14:10.329 --> 00:14:15.610 Obviously this one isn’t about game design, per se, but it’s still super important for 00:14:15.610 --> 00:14:19.439 those wading into the scary world of indie game development. 00:14:19.439 --> 00:14:25.419 I guess I should take my own advice now and do just one call to action. 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:30.029 Okay, this time I want you to… just have a really lovely day. 00:14:30.029 --> 00:14:30.879 Okay bye.