Making a video of your game to show the general public is quite a non-trivial task for a small independent team. That's how we solved it..
The development of the indie project constantly forces us to yield and seek compromises. Much of what is available to major publishers and well-known studios is simply impossible to implement for several people. In the case of our digital board game called Fated Kingdom and even less - only 2 developers. But this does not mean that you can make a mediocre product!
We are approaching the release. The project went through all the necessary procedures in order to be released on Steam, and the issue of presentation of the game arose sharply. Of course, we already have some promotional materials, but to create a page in the store you need a trailer. Many perceive it as if it's enough just to load the cutting of gameplay moments, but everything is a little more complicated.
Trailer - this is a brief overview of the game, which has 2 goals at once. First, it must demonstrate the basic mechanics and features. This is necessary so that the viewer can understand what to expect from the game. Secondly, the trailer promotes the game, advertises it. Therefore, a good trailer always shows the game a little better than it is.
Indie development imposes a lot of restrictions, but both of these tasks are quite feasible if you approach the matter consistently and wisely. First of all, we sketched the general plan of the trailer: a short video synchronized to the beat of a stylistically suitable music, which shows the most important features of the game:
- Classic tabletop experience in digital form;
- 4 player co-op;
- Sandbox with no forced rules;
- Realistic physics;
- Dark and cruel fantasy world.
In the team there is nobody to make cool cutscenes and write music, so we immediately refused the first one and began to search the network for the second. In the end, the choice fell on the composition "Division" for the authorship of the Kevin MacLeod, who provides his music under the license CC BY 3.0. Of course, we had to try hard to sort out the rubble of his music, but it was worth it.
Next, we shot footage with GeForce Experience (supplied with the drivers of modern Nvidia graphics cards) and started editing in Sony Vegas. First two short animated splash screens with the logo of our studio and the Unity Engine that we use, then the gameplay, and in the end - an animated Fated Kingdom key art with the mention that the game will soon appear on Steam.
The most difficult thing was to adjust the video with the music so that all transitions occur in the same rhythm. Also we needed a little understanding of the work with layers and effects to make a beautiful splash screens. Otherwise, the trailer is quite simple, but it does not look like the some average gameplay cut.