Week 6

— GDS314 —

Class notes

Lecture Notes

Trailers are for attracting attention to your game.
There are multiple trailers to show off a game, e.g. teaser trailer and gameplay trailer, but there's a complication in conveying the right message for the game.
Don't open your game trailer with logos lol
It's important to highlight the genre and hook of a game in the trailer (e.g. showing a racing game that is funny and fun to play with friends), not the big list of features (BOSS BATTLES!!! LOTS AND LOTS OF WEAPONS!!! EPIC GAME MODES!!!).
Once the trailer is made, engage with the community, e.g. post on social media.
Developing a trailer:
- Identify the USP and call to action
- Initial script around this
- Trailer storyboard
- Trailer previsualisation
- Create the trailer

Copy of Game Trailers

Trailer Examples

Heroes Arena Super Bowl ad

Genre: Hero MOBA game
USP: League of Legends alternative for mobile devices
Tone of game: serious game with tongue-and-cheek themes
Would you check this out: yes because it looks like a well-made MOBA game
Audience: sports fans, especially with the "get Captain Gridiron for free!" tagline

Super Smash Bros N64 ad

Genre: character-based fighting/brawling game
USP: it's famous Nintendo characters fighting each other
Tone of game: more light-hearted, ridiculous and cartooney figthing game
Would you check this out: yes because it's an unbelievably ridiculous concept that I'd really want to check out
Audience: kids, Nintendo fans, friends/groups that enjoy multiplayer and fighting games

Laid back Leviathan: Warships ad

Genre: competitive ship fighting game
USP: customise your ships and pit them against other players
Tone of game: trailer is deceptive, game seems to be more serious and competitive
Would you check this out: I thought yes, but apparently not because this game died out months later
Audience: I thought fans of the genre, but actually for meme lords and people who want to play with friends for laughs

Meet the Heavy TF2 ad

Genre: Third-person team-based shooter

USP: XXXX

Tone of game: more light-hearted, comedic and cartooney, yet mature with blood

Would you check this out: XXXX

Audience: multiplayer fans, shooter fans, players who have stopped playing

Factorio trailer

Genre: Resource-management factory-building game, base defence game

USP: Trailer shows factory scaling up, getting bigger over time with such intricate parts and designs

Tone of game: ordered chaos

Would you check this out: Yes because it looks like a fun game that you would easily want to commit to

Audience: fans of the factory/simulation genre, creative people/pioneers

Leviathan: Warships gameplay trailer

Genre: competitive ship fighting game, both turn-based and realtime
USP: customise your ships and pit them against other players
Tone of game: more serious, competitive
Would you check this out: possibly because it accurately shows the tone of the game.
Audience: fans of the genre, players who enjoy co-op games with friends

Mass Effect 3 trailer

Genre: I say sci-fi alien third-person shooter, others say RPG game

USP: intricate story, "the end" of the series

Tone of game: epic finale, serious

Would you check this out: it would get me to check out the first game, not immediately pick up the third game

Audience: fans and veterans of the series, sci-fi fans (but they won't want to play the third game at first, they'll want to check out the series)

Notes for Project

Andrew suggested that the passive income rate and prestige counter should be on the same screen as the profit counter, and prestiges should be displayed in stars rather than just prestige levels.

Bookmarked Music/SFX

Research Points for the Ethics Report:

Page updated

Report abuse