作者：Kevin Harwood

有位篮球教练曾经告诉我：“如果你想要变得更厉害，那就与那些比你厉害的人比赛。”这很伤我的自尊，但变得更厉害却是更长远的结果。而现在我也想在一部AAA级工作室的游戏玩法预告片中运用这一道理，即使这超越了你的项目预算，但我希望你能够理解一下更高级的理念并有效地利用它们。

《量子破碎》是Remedy Entertainment面向Xbox One开发的一款全新IP。这是又一款冒着高风险的交叉媒体开发（与一个真人秀节目一起）的游戏。

Quantum Break(from destructoid)

我将在此尝试着分析更多概念。

1.开发一个故事

你可能会注意到在前3分半钟没有出现任何“游戏玩法”机制。游戏的创意总监Sam花了大量时间去设置游戏故事以提供给玩家深深的沉浸感。为什么？因为他们需要强调背景故事从而让角色发展，叙述探索和情节线对于玩家来说是有意义的。在交叉媒体属性中，创造一个吸引人的故事在你的多个媒体平台上交叉分享是主要目标。

2.建造世界

书籍是作者向你介绍你们所阅读的世界的最有效方式。而在电子游戏中，音频和视觉体验也能够做到这点。就像Sam在谈论游戏的第一部分时所提到的，所有的世界建造组件都在向玩家呈现这个世界会发生什么：

市民感到惊慌并觉得失去了控制

戒严令很有效并定义了所谓的“权威”

初期的极权政体的整体氛围

你是一个失败的英雄

这些情绪和氛围本来是预告片中应该呈现出来的，但事实却没有。有没有特定的例子呢？我认为这个预告片中的最大主题便是你是一个失败的英雄。我发现很多方法可以表现出这个主题：

你偷偷行进着，并隐藏在一栋废弃的建筑后面，同时街道上到处都是民兵。看到玻璃外一些背后闪着警灯的人便表示你需要寻找其它路线了，因为传统的路线并不安全。你可以再三确认后爬出破旧的窗户。

角色是出于必要而不是专门知识做出的反应。当沿着建筑移动时，他们并非充满自信地前行，而是始终犹豫不决。开发者想要清楚地呈现这点，所以当灯光透过窗户照进来时，他让角色举起手去挡住光线。

被迫使用你所得到的东西。当进入一片新的区域时，角色的头将因为好奇而四处转动，就好像在分析自己所处的新环境以及他可以在此利用什么。

3.不要销售功能，而是销售利益

这是一种非常早旧的市场营销实践，你会在许多有效运行的公司中看到这种方法。不要讨论一台计算机拥有怎样的硬件，而是解释为什么这对于用户来说是重要的（例如，这台计算机拥有256GB的固态硬盘以及16GB的随机访问内存—-这台计算机需要15秒的启动时间并能够运行多个程序，所以你可以同时进行多个任务）。

Sam是真的清楚他的游戏带有什么利益。他说道：“当Jack使用时间能量时，敌人便会跟不上他而创造出让人兴奋的猫抓老鼠般的游戏玩法。”

4.节奏

最重要的概念—-记得你是在尝试着创造预告片中一个简短的故事。突然让一个角色行动起来会导致人们的不关心和困惑。你应该花些时间去讲述一个能够传达游戏基调的故事。任何时候只要你想呈现关于情节，机制或矛盾等内容，你都需要在玩家探索一下新内容前流给他们足够喘息的空间。

5.沉默

在打斗场景中你将会注意到总是有几分钟时间没有任何讲话内容。Sam描述了环境并为玩家将要看到的内容创建了不同阶段，所以这时候他会停止说话，从而让玩家能够看清楚这些内容。理解你的目标不只是让观众看着你的预告片，你还需要让他们能够沉浸于其中的内容。如果你发现只是自己不断地说着什么，你便需要后退并明确那些必须传达的最重要的内容，从而留出一些时间让玩家进行感受。

我的过程

我建议你从你的创造性指令开始—-这是能够定义你的游戏优势的主题或概念吗？基于此，想出3至5种你能够向用户解释这点的方法。将这些称为你的“方法”。最后，针对如何呈现这些方法去创造有帮助的技术。我将基于《量子破碎》列举一个创造性指令。

我们拥有能够使用多种我们所创造的方法进行定义的目标。

1.（创造一种互动的沉浸式体验）将让玩家能够改变时间结构而战胜敌人和阻碍

我认为没有什么比提供连续的音频和视觉上的世界建造内容更有效的方法去呈现这点。如果你回头看镜头的前3分钟内容，你会发现那是关于角色在充满冰冷且无菌的物体的可怕且阴暗的仓库中前行。你的玩家如果躲在阴影处并因为各种噪音而心惊胆战的话便反映出了玩家的内部心理状态。

2.创造一种互动的沉浸式体验（将让玩家）能够通过（改变时间结构）而战胜敌人和阻碍

很明显这是一个需要呈现出来的游戏组件。如果你是第一次向用户介绍这一机制，你可以通过一些明显的视觉和音频线索帮助他们轻松进入这些体验。例如暂停玩家的摄像机让他们见证视觉和音频功能所引起的时间冻结。这种情况在一开始就像艺术一样。

3.创造一种互动的沉浸式体验将让玩家能够通过改变时间结构而（战胜敌人）和阻碍

不管何时在教授任何人一些新内容时我们都需要谨慎考虑进程。在预告片中，首次战斗体验的前几秒应该用于描述角色面对敌人的情况。在回射前，角色隐藏在多个目标之后并有策略地移动着。角色在拥有时间扭曲的能力（游戏邦注：将体验变成经典的第三人称射击游戏）前，他们将基于传统的射击机制击倒敌人。在序列的最后，战斗动画将让灵通的用户被视觉效果和动画所迷住，因为他们了解自己看到的是什么。

4.创造一种互动沉浸式体验（将让玩家）能够通过改变时间结构（而战胜）敌人和（阻碍）

我们可以将其称为平台，基于快速时间的行动，直觉性的环境问题解决等等你想要听到的名称—-这是利用你的时间能力去影响你周围世界的一种主要游戏功能。呈现完整的谜题解决序列并伴随着越来越明显的视觉和音频效果将呈现出玩家如何攻克他们的世界。

现在我们拥有4种向用户传达我们的创造性指令的方法。你应该多花些时间去创造能够让你引以为傲的预告片。并在发布前先将其呈献给好友和家人。这同时也是在传达你的游戏质量。我真诚地希望本文能够带给你真正的帮助。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转功，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How to Make Gameplay Trailers Like the Triple A

By Kevin Harwood

A basketball coach once told me “if you want to get good, play against someone far better than you”. This led me to a bruised ego, but much better performance in the long run. I want to do the same exercise right now breaking down a Triple A studio’s gameplay trailer and even if this is far beyond your project’s budget my hope is that you will understand the high level concepts and apply them where you can.

For those who don’t know, Quantum Break is a new IP by Remedy Entertainment in development for the Xbox One. It’s another contestant to the high risk game of trans-media development featuring a live action show to accompany the game.

Watch Quantum Break’s gameplay trailer below (or as much as you can)

I’ll try to break down as many of the concepts as I can.

1. Develop a Story

You will probably notice that for the first three and a half minutes, there are no “gameplay” mechanics shown. Sam, the Creative Director, spends the entire time setting up the story to give players a sense of immersive context. Why? There needs to be an emphasis on the backstory so character development, narrative exploration and plot arc will mean something to the player. In a trans-media property, developing an engaging story to share across your media platforms is a primary goal.

2. Worldbuilding

Books work best when the author tells you about the world you’re reading about. In videogames, the audio and visual experience should do all of the talking. Again, notice that while Sam is talking for the first portion of the game, all the worldbuilding components have been depoloyed to show players what is going on in the world;

citizens are panicking and feel out of control

martial law is in effect and defines the “authority” as the enemy

the overall atmosphere of a totalitarian regime in infancy

you are an underdog hero

These moods and tones have to be shown and not told. Specific examples? I think the biggest theme in this trailer is the fact that you are an underdog hero. I see this tone set by a variety of methods;

You are creeping and hiding through a derelict building while the streets are ruled by the militia. Seeing someone up against the glass with police lights flashing behind them shows the need to find indirect alternate paths because the traditional routes are not safe. Confirmed by the need to crawl out an old window.

The character reacts out of necessity and not out of expertise. When moving through the building, he doesn’t move confidently but hesitantly. The developers wanted to show this clearly as he holds his hands up to block the light when a bright light pierces a window.

Forced to make use of what you’re given. When entering a new section, the character’s head looks around curiously as if to analyze the new environment he’s in and what he can make use of.

3. Don’t Sell the Features, but Instead the Benefits

This is a super old marketing practice you’ll see in most well run establishments. Don’t discuss what hardware a computer has, explain why it should matter to a user (Example – This computer has 256GB SSD with 16GB of RAM – This computer has a 15 second boot up time with the ability to run multiple programs so that you can multitask)

Sam really understands what the benefits of his game are. Watch at 5:00 and listen to what Sam says. “When Jack uses time powers, the enemy loses track of him resulting in exciting cat and mouse gameplay”.

4. Pacing

A most important concept – remember that you are attempting to create a short story encapsulated in this trailer. Plunging a character into action yields apathy and confusion. Spend the time to tell a story which sets the tone for the game. Anytime you want to show a moment of intensity in respect to plot, mechanics or conflict give the player breathing room to process it before exploring something new.

5. Silence

During the fight scene you will notice there are a few minutes without any talking. Sam has described the context and built the stage for what players are about to see – so he stops talking so they can watch. Understand that your goal is not just to have a viewer watch your trailer but to become engaged with the content. If you find yourself constantly talking you need to back up and decide what are the most important things which must be said and leave out the rest.

My Process

I urge you to start with your Creative Mandate – what is a one sentence theme or concept you feel defines your game’s strengths? Based on this, come up with 3-5 of the ways in which you’re going to demonstrate this to your audience. Call these your “means”. Finally, develop the technical specifics for how you will expose these means. I’ll write an example creative mandate based on Quantum Break.

Create an interactive immersive experience empowering players to overcome enemies and obstacles by bending the very fabric of time

We have our goal defined with several major portions (the means) that we want to carve out.

1. {Create an interactive immersive experience} empowering players to overcome enemies and obstacles by bending the very fabric of time

I can think of no better way to showcase this than to give a rich sequence of audio and visual worldbuilding. If you look back at the first 3 minutes of the footage, the content focuses on the character navigating through an eerie and dark warehouse filled with cold and sterile objects. Your player skulking through shadows and flinching at noises aims to mirror the player’s internal psyche.

2. Create an interactive immersive experience {empowering players} to overcome enemies and obstacles by {bending the very fabric of time}

This is an obvious component of the game which needs to be displayed. With your audience being introduced to this mechanic for the first time, ease them into the experience with strong visual and audio cues. Have the player camera pause to first witness the time freeze prompted by the visual and audio functions which accompany it. Let the first few times it happens be like art – something to be viewed.

3. Create an interactive immersive experience {empowering players to overcome enemies} and obstacles by bending the very fabric of time

Consider the careful progression one must make whenever teaching someone anything new. In the trailer, the first few seconds of the first combat experience is about demonstrating the very fact that the character is facing an enemy. Before shooting back, the character has hidden behind multiple objects and moved tactically. The character shoots down his enemies with traditional shooting mechanics before introducing the time warp abilities allowing an augmented experience to the classic 3rd person shooter. By the end of the sequence, chained combat animations allow an informed audience to be captivated by visual effects and animations because they understand what they are watching.

4. Create an interactive immersive experience {empowering players to overcome} enemies and {obstacles} by bending the very fabric of time

Call it platforming, action based quick-time, intuitive environmental problem solving or whatever you like – a major feature of the game is applying your time powers to the world around you. Showing unbroken sequences of puzzle solving with increasing visual and audio intensity showcases the player conquering their world.

We now have 4 primary means of communicating our creative mandate to the audience. Take time and create a trailer you’re proud of. Show friends and your team before publishing. It’s entirely about quality when showcasing your game. I sincerely hope this helps with your promotional efforts.(from gamedev)