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为游戏创造真正吸引人的预告片的五大步骤

发布时间:2016-11-17 14:44:44 Tags:,,,,

作者:M.Joshua Cauller

你必须创造一个诚实的游戏预告片,但也不能牺牲任何吸引力。因为我们现在身处《无人深空》发行后的世界,所以许多开发者都害怕过分吹嘘自己的游戏。但我们也都清楚还存在一个更大的问题:根本不能有效销售自己的游戏。

No Man's Sky(from offgamers)

No Man’s Sky(from offgamers)

第一步:呈现真正具有震撼力的东西。

当去年《火箭联盟》的预告问世时,它曾一度吸引着我的注意力:即当火箭汽车第一次撞击球体的时候。所以我便果断全价购买了这款游戏。

所以你最好将最有震撼力的内容呈现在预告片中,即能够将你的游戏和其它游戏区分开来,然后你便能在剩下的预告片中具体描述这一内容。因为一旦你能够呈现最具震撼力的内容,你便可以自信地面对玩家们。

如果你的游戏中带有杀戮,你便可以呈现给玩家被杀的情景。最大限度地去表现猛击,刺伤,爆炸等行动。通过真实的光影和音效去呈现游戏中的动作将让游戏更加传神,并让玩家觉得这是一款具有吸引力的游戏。

你可以算算《无人深空》的第一个预告片中出现了几个让人震撼的画面。这很简单,因为你用一只手便能够算出,而这也是许多预告片都存在的问题。不过比这个还严重的问题在于他们过早就暴露了比预告片还精彩的内容。

有时候我们总是很难呈现出一些真正具有震撼力的东西。如果你正在创造一款没有战斗的游戏(游戏邦注:如管理类模拟游戏,冒险游戏或视觉效果),你便会发现没有什么可呈现的震撼内容。但你也并非无计可施:你可以呈现高潮的游戏机制,如模拟酒吧的完成以及奖励的生成,或将钥匙插到想象的钥匙孔中并将其打开,再或者是选择一个对话选项并呈现一个有趣的角色回应。这些都可以成为玩家心中“有震撼力的”内容。

第二步:呈现理想的游戏玩法。

假设你创造的是一款潜行游戏:不要一直呈现出角色待在暗处中的内容—-至少不要整个预告片都这么做。这会让人觉得非常无聊。

不要侧重于那些无聊的元素。

相反地你应该呈献给玩家真正有趣的行动场面。而不是呈现90%的潜行游戏玩法(游戏邦注:如在暗处搜索,等待,聆听守卫的脚步之类)。你应该将那些缺少情感共鸣的游戏玩法隐藏起来并呈现出具有情感吸引力的内容!编辑玩家想要看到的内容也很有帮助,但你千万不要认为有必要在预告片中添加那些比较没有吸引力的游戏玩法。

预告片制作人Derek Lieu说道:“游戏预告片的目的便是去呈现玩家最想要玩的理想游戏版本。我也认为任何具有吸引力的呈现并不是在扭曲游戏或其游戏机制。”

Derek的观点很明确:只要你正在创造一个能够表现出游戏真正机制和情节点并运行于游戏引擎中的预告片,你便是最棒的。当Derek在为《看火人》创造E3预告片时,它便把握了游戏的核心活动,同时也呈现出了游戏吸引人的“WTF”之谜,同时他还与开发者商讨了一些并未出现在游戏中的时刻并将其表现出来。

为你的预告片创造定制场景是非常必要的。同时它们还必须运行于游戏引擎并且不能违背游戏的核心互动与体验。如果你正在创造主要运行于PS4硬件的游戏,你就不能选择那些只适用于PC端的性能。在此完整性真的很重要,因为如果玩家发现了你的小勾当,他们将只会蔑视你。

在此你的目标便是明确:我的理想游戏玩法是什么?我的游戏最突出的地方在那里?然后将其呈现出来,并在必要的时候创造工具去呈现它们—-不管怎样,你都应该呈现出你的游戏最最突出的地方。

第三步:倾尽全力去构建你的世界—-但请一定要诚实。

震撼力可能是你的游戏最重要的元素。这也是你可以向玩家展示游戏世界,游戏画面以及游戏图标的预告片部分。关于你能做什么以及怎么做并不存在限制。

但对于为什么这是第三步也有理由的。

只有当你请示了领导你才能够进行宣传。玩家也是如此:只有当你的游戏用具有震撼力的内容和理想的游戏玩法证实了自己,你才能够随心所欲去说些想说的话。

让我们以《异形:隔离》的发行预告片为例。那里并没有许多具有震撼力或理想游戏玩法的内容,反而该预告片更多地专注于游戏背景与基调,但他们这么做的前提是已经具有足够震撼玩家的内容了:异形会突然将你杀死。玩家可以逃走,但异形又会突然出现。这个预告片并未交待所有内容,因为他们已经假设之前的预告片便已经带给玩家足够的震撼力了。而这些突然出现的时刻能够带给玩家更多游戏空间。

当然事实也很重要。所以你不要呈现任何未经认证的事实。确保你能够有效引用所有资源。

一旦你能够符合基本的诚实标准,你便能够自由地去尝试任何想做的事。

第四步:不负众望(发行能够匹配预告片的游戏)。

对我来说这是最简单的一步,因为我已经编辑了预告片并且不需要再担心它了。但对于作为开发者的你来说,这时候就需要用你的作品来说话了。如果你能够兑现你之前作出的所有承诺,那就是皆大欢喜。即真正有经验的创造者总是能够成功消除野心与奇迹之间的差距。

不要害怕去利用你之前的成功(和失败)对于品牌方向的影响。或许你的名字现在没有什么意义,但它却能够帮助你找到用户。

而如果你最初的游戏发行不能匹配一开始的预告片宣传,就像《弑杀》,你可能需要花费更多时间去完善最初糟糕的发行直至它能真正散发出震撼力。

毕竟最终人们会记住游戏真正变成什么样,即使在一开始它所创造的第一印象并不怎么样。

第五步:再次检查:你是否做到第一步和第二步?

当你完成了预告片并审查了每张截图,你需要重新回到第一步和第二步,明确你是否呈现了具有震撼力的内容?你是否呈现了最理想的游戏玩法?如果都有,你便完成了最出色的预告片。因为即使玩家忘记了你的预告片中的所有内容也不会忘记这些部分。

最后,你会发现收尾工作总是需要花费比你预期更多的时间,但是你也必须清楚只有当你更多地去优化内容,它才会更加吸引人。因为你的预告片可能会是玩家对于你的游戏的第一印象,所以你最好好好重视它。

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

Make your game trailer without No Man’s Sky’s traps — but still full of awe and wonder

by M. Joshua Cauller

You need to build an honest game trailer — without sacrificing an ounce of sex-appeal. Now that we’re officially in a post-No-Man’s-Sky world, many devs are afraid of overselling their game. But we all know there’s a greater danger: not selling your game at all.

You can have both. It’s not that hard.

Step 1. Show good hitting of things.

When Rocket League’s ‘OMG’ trailer came out last year, it grabbed me with one moment: when that rocket-car hit the ball for the first time. I bought it full price. No questions asked.

Show good hits in your trailer, and you quickly separate your game from the hype train, and open yourself up to being able to flesh out the rest of your trailer with non-hitting-of-things shot. Because once you show that first good hit, you bring confidence to your action-players.

Does your game have killing? Show somebody getting killed. Make those jabs, stabs, and metallic clanks blast at full-volume. Showing in-game action with real chunky flashes with matching sound-effects tells viewers right away: this game has a good hitting of things.

Do me a favor, count the “hitting of things” shots in the first No Man’s Sky trailer. It’s not hard. You only need one hand — a problem that persisted through many of the trailers. The bigger problem was that the sizzle already hit the air well-before any steak got on the grill.

Sometimes it’s hard to show good hitting of things. If you’re building a game in a genre without combat (like a management sim, adventure game, or visual novel), then you’ll find a lot less things to hit. But you’re not out of luck: showing a climactic mechanical event, such as a simulated bar completing and producing a reward, or placing a key into a fancy keyhole and unlocking, or picking a dialogue option and showing a happy character response. Each of these register as “good hits” in the player’s mind, and can be instrumental in transforming trailer viewers into players.

Step 2. Show the ideal gameplay.

Say your game is a stealth game: don’t show your character just waiting in the shadows — at least not for the whole trailer. That’s boring.

Don’t focus on the boring bits.

Show players what the ideal action moments are. It’s okay to not-show 90% of stealth gameplay (searching dark corners, waiting under tables, listening for guard footsteps). Hide your low-emotion gameplay and go for the high-emotion highlights! Show the five seconds of payoff from hunting a mark from the shadows for five quiet minutes. Anticipation edits are useful too, but don’t feel obligated to show your less-attractive gameplay in your trailer.

Fellow trailer-maker Derek Lieu says, “The goal for game trailer capture is to show an idealized version of what it’s like to play the game. The only reason it might look “better” than the player’s actual experience is because capture for a trailer is perfected by doing take after take. I think anything goes as long as the capture doesn’t misrepresent the game or its mechanics.”

Derek’s point is clear: as long as you’re building the trailer in-engine and informing actual mechanics and/or plot-points, you’re golden. When Derek made the E3 trailer for Firewatch, he captured the core activities of the game, but in order to capture great “WTF” mystery of the game, he had to work with the devs to construct a moment not in the game, and show that. He details this process on Campo Santo’s blog — where he explains the how and why behind that decision.

Building-out custom scenes for your trailer is often absolutely necessary for your trailer. However, it’s essential that they run in-engine and do not betray the core interactions and experiences of your game. If you’re building your game to run primarily on PS4 hardware, it’s probably a bad idea to rely on any performance that’s only possible on a top-end PC — unless the general public’s version of the game will be able to do the same exact thing. Integrity here counts, especially since the player community will hold you in contempt if they discover that you’ve done something otherwise.

Your goal here is to first identify: what is my ideal gameplay? What does my game do the best? Show that, build tools to showcase it if you have to, but whatever you do, show your game doing what it’s the greatest at.

Step 3. Build your world extravagantly — but do it honestly

Awe may be the single most important aspect of your game. This is the part of your trailer where you’re revealing how big the world is, showing the most beautiful shots, the most iconic and pristine moments. There are no limits to what you can do, say, and how here. Seriously.

But there’s a reason why this is Step 3.

Only once you’ve qualified your lead are you able to provide your pitch. And players feel the same way: if the game has qualified itself with a good hitting of things and an ideal gameplay establishment, you can go on to say whatever you want.

Take the launch trailer for Alien:Isolation for example. There’s not a ton of hitting or ideal gameplay moments, and most of it focuses on setting and tone, but that’s because they’ve established the hits: the alien kills you very suddenly. You run. And the hits come. It might not even say everything in that trailer because it assumes the hits from previous trailers have hooked you. But those popping moments leave a ton of play-room.

Facts matter, obviously. So don’t show anything that’s not a qualified fact. If you’re using accolades, don’t misquote. Be sure to cite your source. And as long as you don’t use artificial HDR lighting (that your game can’t pull) or any other disingenuous tricks, run free. Make your trailer as impressive as it can be.

Once you work with the baseline foundation of honesty, you’re free to do just about anything.

Step 4. Deliver the goods (release a game that matches your trailer)

This is the easiest step for me, because I edit trailers and I don’t have to worry about this at all. But for you, the developer, this is where the goods come into play. If you’re able to make good on all the promises you’ve put forth, then that’s wonderful. And speaking of wonder, it’s the talent of an experienced craftsman that bridges the gap between ambition and wonder.

Don’t be afraid to leverage your previous successes (and failures) towards the direction of your brand. Your name might not mean something this time; but it will after you find your audience. Hold on to your longevity: wear it around your neck.

And if at first you release a game that doesn’t match the hype of your first trailer, be like Slain: Back From Hell, which spent several months refining an initial poor release until it “came back from hell” with a better hitting of things.

At the end of the day, people remember your game for what it became, even if at first it made a bad impression.

Step 5. Double-check: did you cover Step 1 and Step 2?

Once you’re almost done your trailer and second-guessing each shot, come back to Step 1 and Step 2: are you showing a good hitting of things? Are you showing your ideal gameplay scenarios? If so, you got the most important parts. Those are the parts people will remember even if they forget everything else in your trailer.

Towards the end of the process, the finishing touches often take way longer than you expected, but know that the more polish you put into the edit, the more it shows. Your trailer may be the first impression your game makes with a player. Be sure to make it count.(source:gamasutra

 


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