Windows Making a game trailer

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Kululu17

Guest
Hi All,

Wondering what you do to make a trailer. It occurs to me that you could record game play, then edit together in a video software, OR code the trailer the same way you would a cut-scene, then just record the coded cut-scene. Or some hybrid of these two.

Any opinions?

Thanks!
 

TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
Trailers don't have to be limited to gameplay. The majority of trailers I see nowadays seem to be mostly filler material or oversized text in stylized fonts on top of those overly spectacular rapidly moving backgrounds you'd otherwise see in action scenes of 90's anime.
 
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Deleted member 16767

Guest
Or you can buy a trailer that you can edit how you see fit from trailer maker sites.
 
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Deleted member 16767

Guest
Trailers don't have to be limited to gameplay. The majority of trailers I see nowadays seem to be mostly filler material or oversized text in stylized fonts on top of those overly spectacular rapidly moving backgrounds you'd otherwise see in action scenes of 90's anime.
You need a gameplay trailer if you want to publish your game to Steam. Need to show action bits like fighting and/or other features that make up the game.
 

Null-Z

Member
I record some gameplay then edit it in a Video Editor program.
on a related note
I recently found "how to make an indie game trailer" by Game Maker's toolkit and while it doesn't go into the software side of things, I think it's a good way to think about how you'd present a Trailer for your game.
 
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Kululu17

Guest
Hey guys, thanks!
Null-Z: I found that video as well, it does have some good information about what to present.
 

pixeltroid

Member
If you're making a trailer you obviously need good gameplay footage. Show the best part of your levels. And show some interesting moments -- double jumps, usage of weapons, enemy death animations, basically anything you think is interesting. It hopefully would excite the viewer and would present your game in the best light.

Also provide information (whether through text or voiceover) regarding your game's features. For example:

"explore 6 dangerous dungeons"
"fight with 5 different weapons"
"battle 8 hellish bosses"
etc.

Don't go too deep into the lore and backstory. But if you want you can include one line somewhere towards the end of the trailer: "save the kingdom from the evil dragon king!".
 

Phil Strahl

Member
Game Maker's Toolkit recently put out a good video on what makes a good trailer, so that's where I would start to learn what kind of footage you need.

From a technical perspective it doesn't matter *how* you record your footage, that's up to what works best for you. I would strongly suggest, however, to screen record a lot representative gameplay and do the editing in an editing software because that's much faster and easier to iterate on than coding it up. Then again, should you *do* have it all in writing like a big cut scene, you could distribute your trailer as a self-running demo which I find kinda nice.

I think a hybrid would work best as some things might be hard to trigger in-game and still look good.
 

Warspite2

Member
Trailers are getting to be like artwork now but with time you will get better and better. It's not my favorite thing to do but it's totally necessary, hiring someone for a strong game is probably a good idea.
 
K

Kululu17

Guest
Hey guys, thanks for the input, but to clarify my original question, I was not asking what should be IN a trailer, I was asking how to MAKE a trailer.

Thanks!
 

JackTurbo

Member
Generally gameplay footage is captured and edited in video software (like premier) with additional elements added via compositing software (like after effects).

But you could get good results scripting stuff if there are specific things that you want to show off that might be hard to capture in a normal build.

One could also conceivably composite scenes together entirely using Game assets in AE, but the workload would be high and inconsistencies between these mocked up shots and real gameplay would be hard to avoid.
 

K12gamer

Member
Should you use FREE or PAID video capture software to make trailers?

What are the best Free and Paid software? Currently using Windows 10 built in video capture "Game Bar".

(Update) Just discovered article at the top of this forum that answered my question (LINK)
OBS is indeed a fine FREE tool for video capturing... Might even be better than the one built into Windows 10.
 
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