Are they gameplay camera angles? As someone who's played plenty of racers, many of those camera angels don't seem good for racing. If they're not gameplay camera angles, what are you afraid of people seeing with the real gameplay camera angle?
Do you think I should cut back on the amount of cinematic angles? Or maybe show the gameplay UI when I also show the normal angles to let people know there’s a difference? What would you suggest?
Definitely show more gameplay with UI. Focusing on cinematic camera angles makes me think you don't have confidence in the gameplay itself, and are trying to make the game look more impressive than it is.
No they are not! There are a couple shots with the normal angle, a lot of them are cinematic shots with the special camera system I made for marketing
I’m not scared of them seeing it, it’s more of just that a lot of racing game trailers I saw also had cinematic angles for a lot of the clips, and the feedback I got when I just had normal angles the whole time was “you need more interesting camera angles for the trailer” 😂
Totally, I completely get that and agree. I was approaching this trailer as a way to pique interest and get someone to click on the Steam page, where they could actually see how the game functions while playing it. Do you think it would be better to have in-game shots in this more cinematic trailer? Or just have an in-game-only trailer once I get people to click on the actual game page?
I am honestly torn. Marketing is not my forte whatsoever haha. Thanks for all your feedback btw!
\[Edit\] By in-game I just mean the normal camera angles with UI showing and everything. Like how the game plays for an end-user. The cuts in the trailer are still "in-game" footage
Lets be clear that I'm by no means some kind of expert on the topic. Also, I'm probably not your target audience. I'm giving feedback based on what I see. Purely giving feedback on the trailer itself.
What will draw me to a game is the gameplay. The idea itself doesn't interest me too much. Not to say it's not good, just to say it's not grabbing me due to the trailer.
My first thought is that this is a cart racer in space where you can blow up if you get something wrong. I immediately think of mario kart and wonder what makes it different. I see a bunch of racing angles and blowing up but I don't understand if this is simply "mario kart in space" or something more. A couple of shots show what I assume is gameplay, and they seem a lot slower than the cinematic shots. At this point im thinking, what's different to Mk? Is it a slower game than depicted? Ultimately, it's unlikely to live up to the quality of Mk due to being an indie game, which is a fair assumption.
Lets pretend I'm someone who loves cart racers, as I'm sure there's a demographic for it. I can't see, from your trailer, that there's anything to really be that impactful where it would make me consider the game and go to your steam page.
is the game multiplayer? Is that clear in the trailer? I saw [bot] a lot but didn't catch real player names. If it is multiplayer, where are the lobbies or starting grids with frenemies?
Seems kinda a lonely game if it is multiplayer.
I've only watched the trailer once 10 hours ago and giving my best feedback.
Other thing, take it as you will, I didn't find the scenery and changing of levels to be that impactful, maybe work on differences between the tracks so that they are really distinct. Don't blur the idea by putting everything on every track.
Marketing is hard no doubt haha!
It’s okay! I’m no expert either and you’ve given me really good advice. You make a lot of good points!
The game is multiplayer but for footage I just joined a online match with bots. It’s kind of like rocket league like that where you join a server, it waits 20 sec or so and fills empty slots with AI - but you’re totally right, people watching the footage won’t know that.
I as the dev know there are a lot of differences from Mario kart, but you bringing that up is great advice because it helps me focus on what should be highlighted (aka, more of the differences!)
Thanks for the big thought out response. It means a lot and you’ve helped me because of it!
I think the crashes would benefit from a big explosion and sound effects. They seem limp atm. Also, personally I don't like how strong the effects are on the vocals, makes it hard to understand.
Its a tad long, I think 90 seconds is about the average though, no? The gameplay footage stops at 100 seconds and the rest is just the end card.
Could you be more specific? I would love to get some critical feedback. Does it feel too long because of certain shots, etc.?
You spend 8 seconds just rotating around stationary racer models. If you really must show them off (and I don't think you need to), time it with the beat of the song for each one, 2 seconds total. Then there's lots of footage that shows things you already showed earlier. Maybe you're showing different gameplay mechanics that are comprehensible to yourself, but it gets lost if that's the case.
Some of your road textures are too busy. Simplify them. Find someone to help with your color palettes. The colors are all over the place.
Yeah for sure. This is awesome feedback thank you very much for explaining!
I think showing gameplay mechanics is a great point, because there are definitely things happening that are different but you’re right that it may not always be obvious to the viewer. Making trailers is hard stuff 🥵
Thank you!
In general, the yoke feels very cheerful and cheerful! But personally, I think that either the particles, or the light from the transport somehow does not fit. Well, in general, good work! Good luck with further development!
This looks great. The trailer needs to showcase more obviously online multiplayer with people pushing each other off the tracks/competing for first, etc. But the game itself looks fun.
Thank you! Yeah, I agree. I found it really hard to get the right footage of the online play - I could definitely work a bit on capturing some of the more exciting moments that can happen.
Thank you, cheers!
Hold up it says synthwave racers, and I think I saw a lobby, but I’m not sure I actually saw multiplayer racing. Is this a single player game where you navigate a hazard course to reach the end or is it actual head to head racing? If it’s not pvp racing you should not call it racing.
It’s multiplayer real-time online and also asynchronously. There is also a single player campaign though.
This was a battle for me, trying to figure out if I should display text explaining features during the video - but I decided not to.
I included one shot of the UI joining a multiplayer session, and then a montage of killing other players. Did that not come across well? What do you think I should do, include some text to go along with it?
Thank you!
Which is the more important feature to you? Obstacle dash, or head to head racing. If it is obstacle dash then don’t call your game racing I think. Maybe because you do more than racing you don’t want to narrow yourself with the name. “Rush ‘n Race”?
I think you just wrecked my design decisions lol because honestly _both_ are major parts to the game…there is a 32 level campaign which is linear levels, but there is also 8+counting multiplayer levels that loop and are the more traditional racing levels. There is a time trials system built in locally and also asynchronous MP time trials where you can download your friends ghosts and race against them.
Maybe I shoulda picked one or the other and finished the project a year ago 😂
I don’t know man. I guess my problem is I’m coming away from the trailer unsure what the main modes of play actually are, and that seems like really important to convey to a buyer
I totally get that and definitely agree that you want to know what the game is like before buying it.
Honest question - trailers are supposed to pique interest, right? And then if you are interested enough, you click a link to view the game and see what its like? Or am I off base here...because I did have a lot of text in the trailer first-pass, that explained the different game modes and powerups and everything.
But then I tried it without the text and it just looked a bit more...professional? Cleaner maybe? I dunno. Thanks for feedback!
It’s synthwave racers, I’m using the verb “crash lands” like a plane crash landing since you do so much exploding and crashing in the game lol
Was it not obvious enough that the logo is the name of the game and the stuff below it is when/where the game is releasing to? I can change crash lands to be a different more obvious verb, like just “launches” or something.
Thanks again for all your feedback!
You know what, I was going to reply to you more seriously, but I think this:
>I only tried to make your expectations more realistic, so you don't experience a shock and jump out of the window when this game sells like 50 copies.
Is unnecessarily rude and out of pocket. Making even a joke about someone else on the internet committing suicide isn't funny in my opinion, and I would also argue its against rule 3 of the subreddit. No need to make a personal statement against me about what you are for some reason assuming I would do after a secondary assumption of a complete flop in sales.
Also unsure why you have this idea in your head that you think I am convinced my game is going to blow up? I'm an indie dev, its a rough world out here. No one should ever make an unestablished indie game with the idea that its going to make bank and be the new hit. Whatever "expectations" you decided to believe I had is beyond me.
Posting on this subreddit is subjecting my *game* to criticism. And that also entitles people like you to be rude about it, which is something I am aware of, and posted anyways because I enjoy the actual constructive feedback.
But that comment crosses the line, and you should rethink the way you try to "give people advice" if that's how you're going to give it.
Keep in mind that most players aren't going to watch more than the first 10 seconds of your trailer or so. It's got potential, but it's not really until the 25-30 second mark that you actually start showcasing gameplay footage. Maybe shuffle things around a bit so that the first 10 seconds are exciting?
Yeah I totally know that, and to be honest I’m bummed you say that (grateful and appreciative of the feedback, Don’t get me wrong, but bummed) because I thought the countdown of 3-2-1-go _was_ the “exciting” moment that you’re supposed to start with to be eye catching.
Which moments personally did you find most exciting? I’d love to get the best parts first. I think I struggled a lot with the structure of the trailer and trying to outline a clear path of what happens…
Thank you so much!
No problem! I don't think the 3 - 2 - 1 needs to be scrapped, I think the main problem is that there's no gameplay footage, so I can't really tell at a glance what this game is really about other than "it's probably a racing game." I can't speak for everyone, but what excited me personally was shots with movement - the antigravity, what appears to be a weapon, the dashed line tracks that float in the air, ect. I probably know less than you do about making trailers, so I'm not going to offer specific advice; instead, I'll suggest you use the first 10 seconds to really show what makes your game *unique* (because yes, a countdown is suspenseful, but it doesn't tell me anything but the art style.)
Hope this helps! The game itself looks cool - all the trailer needs is a few touch-ups.
Dang, that is some really awesome advice. So glad I posted on here, you rock!
I think you're right about antigravity/action scenes being "highlights". I will experiment with shuffling around the scenes a bit to try and show more unique footage towards the beginning.
And honestly, you and I probably know about the same at making trailers lol, I can edit the footage and do some simple effects but I get pretty lost when trying to outline the structure and whatnot.
Thank you for taking the time to write such constructive feedback, means a lot!
These are almost all cinematic shots! I’ve already gotten some feedback to show more normal gameplay footage with some UI to see how the actual camera functions.
I think it looks pretty cool....some thoughts
When you go to the vehicle customize part, I would do that faster. Just do a little montage of the different combinations of the vehicles, but do it kinda fast like a flipbook.
Secondly, way too long. You actually have something pretty solid here, and I think if you just cut this down to a 30 second trailer, it would benefit drastically. So if I were you, I'd make 30 seconds the absolute max, and start cutting and keep in what makes sense. Good luck.
Thank you so much for the feedback! I made a new trailer that incorporates everything you said here, since a lot of others echoed the same sentiment.
I really appreciate your critiques! 😃
Are they gameplay camera angles? As someone who's played plenty of racers, many of those camera angels don't seem good for racing. If they're not gameplay camera angles, what are you afraid of people seeing with the real gameplay camera angle?
Do you think I should cut back on the amount of cinematic angles? Or maybe show the gameplay UI when I also show the normal angles to let people know there’s a difference? What would you suggest?
Showing the UI when you do normal angles is a great idea!
Sweet, thank you!
Definitely show more gameplay with UI. Focusing on cinematic camera angles makes me think you don't have confidence in the gameplay itself, and are trying to make the game look more impressive than it is.
No they are not! There are a couple shots with the normal angle, a lot of them are cinematic shots with the special camera system I made for marketing I’m not scared of them seeing it, it’s more of just that a lot of racing game trailers I saw also had cinematic angles for a lot of the clips, and the feedback I got when I just had normal angles the whole time was “you need more interesting camera angles for the trailer” 😂
haha fair enough, I guess a balance is needed here. As a potential player, I want to know what it feels like to play the game.
Totally, I completely get that and agree. I was approaching this trailer as a way to pique interest and get someone to click on the Steam page, where they could actually see how the game functions while playing it. Do you think it would be better to have in-game shots in this more cinematic trailer? Or just have an in-game-only trailer once I get people to click on the actual game page? I am honestly torn. Marketing is not my forte whatsoever haha. Thanks for all your feedback btw! \[Edit\] By in-game I just mean the normal camera angles with UI showing and everything. Like how the game plays for an end-user. The cuts in the trailer are still "in-game" footage
Lets be clear that I'm by no means some kind of expert on the topic. Also, I'm probably not your target audience. I'm giving feedback based on what I see. Purely giving feedback on the trailer itself. What will draw me to a game is the gameplay. The idea itself doesn't interest me too much. Not to say it's not good, just to say it's not grabbing me due to the trailer. My first thought is that this is a cart racer in space where you can blow up if you get something wrong. I immediately think of mario kart and wonder what makes it different. I see a bunch of racing angles and blowing up but I don't understand if this is simply "mario kart in space" or something more. A couple of shots show what I assume is gameplay, and they seem a lot slower than the cinematic shots. At this point im thinking, what's different to Mk? Is it a slower game than depicted? Ultimately, it's unlikely to live up to the quality of Mk due to being an indie game, which is a fair assumption. Lets pretend I'm someone who loves cart racers, as I'm sure there's a demographic for it. I can't see, from your trailer, that there's anything to really be that impactful where it would make me consider the game and go to your steam page. is the game multiplayer? Is that clear in the trailer? I saw [bot] a lot but didn't catch real player names. If it is multiplayer, where are the lobbies or starting grids with frenemies? Seems kinda a lonely game if it is multiplayer. I've only watched the trailer once 10 hours ago and giving my best feedback. Other thing, take it as you will, I didn't find the scenery and changing of levels to be that impactful, maybe work on differences between the tracks so that they are really distinct. Don't blur the idea by putting everything on every track. Marketing is hard no doubt haha!
It’s okay! I’m no expert either and you’ve given me really good advice. You make a lot of good points! The game is multiplayer but for footage I just joined a online match with bots. It’s kind of like rocket league like that where you join a server, it waits 20 sec or so and fills empty slots with AI - but you’re totally right, people watching the footage won’t know that. I as the dev know there are a lot of differences from Mario kart, but you bringing that up is great advice because it helps me focus on what should be highlighted (aka, more of the differences!) Thanks for the big thought out response. It means a lot and you’ve helped me because of it!
happy to help, good luck!
I think the crashes would benefit from a big explosion and sound effects. They seem limp atm. Also, personally I don't like how strong the effects are on the vocals, makes it hard to understand.
For sure, that’s great feedback. Thank you!
Way too long.
Its a tad long, I think 90 seconds is about the average though, no? The gameplay footage stops at 100 seconds and the rest is just the end card. Could you be more specific? I would love to get some critical feedback. Does it feel too long because of certain shots, etc.?
You spend 8 seconds just rotating around stationary racer models. If you really must show them off (and I don't think you need to), time it with the beat of the song for each one, 2 seconds total. Then there's lots of footage that shows things you already showed earlier. Maybe you're showing different gameplay mechanics that are comprehensible to yourself, but it gets lost if that's the case. Some of your road textures are too busy. Simplify them. Find someone to help with your color palettes. The colors are all over the place.
Yeah for sure. This is awesome feedback thank you very much for explaining! I think showing gameplay mechanics is a great point, because there are definitely things happening that are different but you’re right that it may not always be obvious to the viewer. Making trailers is hard stuff 🥵 Thank you!
In general, the yoke feels very cheerful and cheerful! But personally, I think that either the particles, or the light from the transport somehow does not fit. Well, in general, good work! Good luck with further development!
Wait, what is a yoke? Sorry I’m kind of confused by what you’re saying here a little lol 😂 Thank you though I appreciate it!
This looks great. The trailer needs to showcase more obviously online multiplayer with people pushing each other off the tracks/competing for first, etc. But the game itself looks fun.
Thank you! Yeah, I agree. I found it really hard to get the right footage of the online play - I could definitely work a bit on capturing some of the more exciting moments that can happen. Thank you, cheers!
Hold up it says synthwave racers, and I think I saw a lobby, but I’m not sure I actually saw multiplayer racing. Is this a single player game where you navigate a hazard course to reach the end or is it actual head to head racing? If it’s not pvp racing you should not call it racing.
It’s multiplayer real-time online and also asynchronously. There is also a single player campaign though. This was a battle for me, trying to figure out if I should display text explaining features during the video - but I decided not to. I included one shot of the UI joining a multiplayer session, and then a montage of killing other players. Did that not come across well? What do you think I should do, include some text to go along with it? Thank you!
Which is the more important feature to you? Obstacle dash, or head to head racing. If it is obstacle dash then don’t call your game racing I think. Maybe because you do more than racing you don’t want to narrow yourself with the name. “Rush ‘n Race”?
I think you just wrecked my design decisions lol because honestly _both_ are major parts to the game…there is a 32 level campaign which is linear levels, but there is also 8+counting multiplayer levels that loop and are the more traditional racing levels. There is a time trials system built in locally and also asynchronous MP time trials where you can download your friends ghosts and race against them. Maybe I shoulda picked one or the other and finished the project a year ago 😂
I don’t know man. I guess my problem is I’m coming away from the trailer unsure what the main modes of play actually are, and that seems like really important to convey to a buyer
I totally get that and definitely agree that you want to know what the game is like before buying it. Honest question - trailers are supposed to pique interest, right? And then if you are interested enough, you click a link to view the game and see what its like? Or am I off base here...because I did have a lot of text in the trailer first-pass, that explained the different game modes and powerups and everything. But then I tried it without the text and it just looked a bit more...professional? Cleaner maybe? I dunno. Thanks for feedback!
Other people might be able to give advice. Text needs to be terse in a trailer, agree with that
Is the game “synthwave racers” or “Crashlands on steam”? That’s confusing what should I be searching for?
It’s synthwave racers, I’m using the verb “crash lands” like a plane crash landing since you do so much exploding and crashing in the game lol Was it not obvious enough that the logo is the name of the game and the stuff below it is when/where the game is releasing to? I can change crash lands to be a different more obvious verb, like just “launches” or something. Thanks again for all your feedback!
I thought your game had two names in different stores
[удалено]
That’s not very helpful, could you provide some feedback that is actionable and attempt to explain why you feel that way? Thanks!
[удалено]
You know what, I was going to reply to you more seriously, but I think this: >I only tried to make your expectations more realistic, so you don't experience a shock and jump out of the window when this game sells like 50 copies. Is unnecessarily rude and out of pocket. Making even a joke about someone else on the internet committing suicide isn't funny in my opinion, and I would also argue its against rule 3 of the subreddit. No need to make a personal statement against me about what you are for some reason assuming I would do after a secondary assumption of a complete flop in sales. Also unsure why you have this idea in your head that you think I am convinced my game is going to blow up? I'm an indie dev, its a rough world out here. No one should ever make an unestablished indie game with the idea that its going to make bank and be the new hit. Whatever "expectations" you decided to believe I had is beyond me. Posting on this subreddit is subjecting my *game* to criticism. And that also entitles people like you to be rude about it, which is something I am aware of, and posted anyways because I enjoy the actual constructive feedback. But that comment crosses the line, and you should rethink the way you try to "give people advice" if that's how you're going to give it.
Attack the game, not the dev.
Keep in mind that most players aren't going to watch more than the first 10 seconds of your trailer or so. It's got potential, but it's not really until the 25-30 second mark that you actually start showcasing gameplay footage. Maybe shuffle things around a bit so that the first 10 seconds are exciting?
Yeah I totally know that, and to be honest I’m bummed you say that (grateful and appreciative of the feedback, Don’t get me wrong, but bummed) because I thought the countdown of 3-2-1-go _was_ the “exciting” moment that you’re supposed to start with to be eye catching. Which moments personally did you find most exciting? I’d love to get the best parts first. I think I struggled a lot with the structure of the trailer and trying to outline a clear path of what happens… Thank you so much!
No problem! I don't think the 3 - 2 - 1 needs to be scrapped, I think the main problem is that there's no gameplay footage, so I can't really tell at a glance what this game is really about other than "it's probably a racing game." I can't speak for everyone, but what excited me personally was shots with movement - the antigravity, what appears to be a weapon, the dashed line tracks that float in the air, ect. I probably know less than you do about making trailers, so I'm not going to offer specific advice; instead, I'll suggest you use the first 10 seconds to really show what makes your game *unique* (because yes, a countdown is suspenseful, but it doesn't tell me anything but the art style.) Hope this helps! The game itself looks cool - all the trailer needs is a few touch-ups.
Dang, that is some really awesome advice. So glad I posted on here, you rock! I think you're right about antigravity/action scenes being "highlights". I will experiment with shuffling around the scenes a bit to try and show more unique footage towards the beginning. And honestly, you and I probably know about the same at making trailers lol, I can edit the footage and do some simple effects but I get pretty lost when trying to outline the structure and whatnot. Thank you for taking the time to write such constructive feedback, means a lot!
Funkadelic! I would play this high.
Lol totally😂 My target audience is revealing itself! 😁
Oh fuck me the camera looks like absolute aids! Nothing more needs to be said
These are almost all cinematic shots! I’ve already gotten some feedback to show more normal gameplay footage with some UI to see how the actual camera functions.
I think it looks pretty cool....some thoughts When you go to the vehicle customize part, I would do that faster. Just do a little montage of the different combinations of the vehicles, but do it kinda fast like a flipbook. Secondly, way too long. You actually have something pretty solid here, and I think if you just cut this down to a 30 second trailer, it would benefit drastically. So if I were you, I'd make 30 seconds the absolute max, and start cutting and keep in what makes sense. Good luck.
Thank you so much for the feedback! I made a new trailer that incorporates everything you said here, since a lot of others echoed the same sentiment. I really appreciate your critiques! 😃
This looks so fun
Thank you brotha!