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Because most game developers aren’t trailer editors, most indie game trailers aren’t very good. Years of watching and making game trailers revealed the most common mistakes people make. These aren’t mistakes because if you’re doing something you’re not aware of, it’s just a lack of experience and knowledge, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you do any of these things.
Here are the top nine “mistakes” that we see in Indie game trailers. Hopefully, you can use this as a guide to improve your trailers and check your work! These are arranged roughly from easiest to most difficult to repair.
Unknown Logos and Names
Indie game developers who have yet to establish their name and brand should not begin trailers with their logo because it means nothing. Consider yourself the inexperienced and vulnerable stand-up comedian performing for the first time at an open mic. Nobody cares about you; they’re only interested in seeing if you can make them laugh. When it comes to games, the audience wants to know as soon as possible if your game looks good!
So, don’t begin with your logo or “[Developer Name] Presents…”, instead, put your logo or name at the end of the trailer, and begin it with gameplay footage.
>>Read more: How to Make a Cinematic Trailer: 5 Amazing Tips for Cutting Your Own Trailer
Slow Introduction
This has the same effect as the unknown logos. Slow introductions are less engaging in general, especially when they are not viewed by an audience during a live event. Game trailer viewers are eager to see what the gameplay looks like, so starting with even ONE gameplay clip will increase engagement and earn you goodwill.
This is why every movie trailer begins with a six-second teaser for the trailer. Slow intros can be cool, but when you’re the new kid on the block, people have less time for you.
The trailer should include at least one clip of the game being played in the first shot(s) of the trailer.
>>Read more: Should you invest in designing game trailers?
Repetitive in Game Trailers
Repetitive content will make your game appear smaller. This is why you should keep your trailer as short as possible. The audience realizes “Huh, did they not have enough variety to fill 90 seconds?” at the moment you start repeating content. A shorter trailer with no repetition will not have the same impact because they don’t know if the game is small; it could simply be a very tightly edited trailer!
Some things, such as player verbs and other content, DO need to be repeated for emphasis but avoid including shots where nearly all of the content.
>>Read more: 8 stages of animation series production
No Game Audio in Game Trailers
Including game sound effects improves the audience’s FEEL for the game (and makes your sound designer happy). The tone and feel of the game are greatly influenced by sound. A game trailer without game audio is flat and gives a negative impression of the game.
To be clear, it is simple to turn off the game’s music and record the game audio, but it is more difficult to integrate sound into a trailer effectively. But we believe it is worthwhile to make the effort because so much is lost when there is no game audio.
Bad Eye Trace in Game Trailers
Eye trace is being aware of where the audience’s gaze is directed and not forcing them to move their gaze around the screen in order to see the primary focus of the shot. For instance, if the audience is looking at the right side of the screen and the next shot’s focus is on the left, they must shift their gaze to the left.
If, on the other hand, the next shot’s focus is on the right, they’re already looking in the right direction! Some shaky-cam fight scenes are difficult to watch because of poor eye trace. The same is true for fast-cut trailers.
The Music Isn’t Structured for Game Trailers
Trailer music should have a strong beginning, middle, and end with many dynamic beats and changes that build and build excitement or emotion to a final climax. The issue is that a lot of game music is designed to loop indefinitely, so it lacks the structure required for a trailer.
This is why there are so many game trailers where the energy of the music at the end of the trailer sounds exactly the same as it did at the start. Composing music for trailers is a specialized skill that the game’s composer will have to learn. It is, however, worthwhile to create a dramatic arc for the game trailer. Because music is the lifeblood of a good trailer, making it good is one of the most valuable things you can do.
Unfocused Game Capture
Many game trailers are made up of footage from someone who played the game for several hours and then used some of that raw footage for the trailer. This approach can work, but a better approach is to first map out the ideas within the trailer’s story structure before capturing those specific needs.
So, you need to practice and capture until you have something that best illustrates the idea you’re attempting to communicate with each trailer shot.
Information Overload
A typical game screen may have a LOT of information on it, depending on the genre. HUD and UI elements, subtitles, dialogue bubbles, narration, mission text prompts, damage numbers, status effects, and much more could be included.
Trailers must have as much information removed as possible in order to be understood because trailers are cut very quickly and there isn’t much time to absorb any information. As a result, the more overloaded each frame is, the less likely people are to remember what they saw.
This is why we recommend turning off the HUD, removing text from the screen that you don’t want to be read, and intercutting text with gameplay footage rather than showing them in one shot. Don’t expect someone to be able to read the text and watch gameplay in the same shot, especially if the shot is too short.
Solution: Limit each shot to the essentials required to communicate its concept. Anything that does not serve that purpose should be removed.
Not Differentiated from other Game Trailers
This is evident when you watch a trailer in which the game does not appear to be noticeably different from other games you’ve played or are aware exist. Except for outright clones, people rarely make something that is exactly the same as another game; there is usually at least one difference that is the reason they made it.
The most important thing a game trailer needs to do is distinguish the game from other games on the market or games in a similar genre space. This is not to say that the game’s design and content are without comparison. This means that there is SOMETHING in the game that is unusual and appealing; this is the game’s hook.
The reason this is the most difficult is that it begins with the game’s fundamental design, as the trailer cannot create a design feature that does not exist in the game. A game’s hook can be the design, art, animation, story, music, sound design, or any combination of these elements.
Assuming the game has a good hook, the trailer’s job is to draw attention to it and demonstrate why it’s interesting. A lot of game trailers feel rushed to highlight generic features and content, but those things are meaningless unless they exist within the context of an intriguing hook.
If the trailer only shows the number of levels, secrets, player upgrades, a variety of enemies, and boss battles, the game will sound like almost any other game.
So, you need to highlight the game’s distinguishing features as soon as possible, then flesh it out with examples of how it overlaps with other games.
Conclusion
Just because these are common errors does not mean they have simple solutions; begin at the top and work your way down. Making good game trailers can be difficult, but I believe that once you start thinking about how to make game trailers, you’ll notice the characteristics that make the process much easier!
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Animost – Vietnam 3D Animation Studio
hello@animost.com