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The story in a game trailer is our absolute favorite to make, especially when there’s dialogue to edit. These are what we refer to as “Lore Dump trailers,” in which the whole clip is spent describing mostly events from the game’s past. Simply put, there’s a lot of setup and backstory.
Why don’t these work in the same way as movie trailers do? Because all movie trailer watchers want is plot and backstory; it’s what they’re looking for. However, when it comes to games, people are most interested in learning how to play the game and who they will play as.
We can be persons and things in video games that we can’t be in real life (or maybe we just never tried). When we see a game trailer, we want to know who or what we’ll be inhabiting and playing as in the game, and the story takes a back seat.
Let’s take a look a the 2 examples of game trailers using a lot of setup and backstory.
First example: Game trailer for Grow: Song of the Evertree
Watch the trailer here!
Before even mentioning someone who could be the player character, this trailer goes on for about a minute. Everything prior to that is a voiceover about events from the past. It simply says: The world used to be lovely, but then it began to fade away, and now there is someone who will restore it to its former glory. This story trailer at least gets us to a point where we can have a basic sense of the gameplay, but many story trailers don’t even get that far.
Check your script to see how much of it corresponds to the actual game people will be playing against the narrative and lore of what happened before the player character came up while developing a video game story trailer.
The issue with a backstory-focused voiceover is that there are generally few (if any) images from the game to match it because the events mentioned took place in the past, while the game is most likely set in the present. This trailer for Carto tells a story while simultaneously demonstrating how the game works.
This is why cutscenes or motion graphics are frequently used to fill the space in lore dump trailers. None of the games can be utilized to explain what happened before. This is a problem because the trailer is for a video game, not a comic book, animated series, or film. Backstory and narrative dumps can feel like just another ploy to stall or play coy with the gameplay, which may not look or sound as exciting.
>>>Read more: How to Make a Cinematic Trailer: 5 Amazing Tips for Cutting Your Own Trailer
Second example: Celestial Tear: Demon’s Revenge game trailer
Watch the trailer here!
Again, there are around 45 seconds of talking and history before any gaming is shown, and even then, the text describing the gameplay is placed at the bottom of the screen. As a side note, it appears that they hired the narrator from “Honest Trailers,” which, at this time, is more likely to make viewers dismiss your trailer because the voice is now more linked with comedy and fun.
This may be a difficult pill to take for those who have invested a lot of time and effort into their game’s past and history, but the trailer is not the place to do so.
>>>Read more: Should you invest in designing game trailers?
Conclusion
If we enjoy the game’s lively story, plot, and characters, we may be interested in learning more about how it came to be. However, there are many things to consider in the game trailer prior to the story. If you have any questions about this topic, leave a comment below!
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Animost – Vietnam 3D Animation Studio
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