Derek Lieu
@Derek_Lieu
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🎬 Game trailer editor ✨ TGA Future Class 2021 📝 I talk a lot about making trailers. Among Us, Half-Life Alyx, Psychonauts 2, Spelunky 2 & Firewatch! He/him
Joined September 2010
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👀 You can also take a look at the entire curriculum to determine whether or not this is for you.
Please reply with any questions and I'll do my best to answer them!
In the meantime, I'm gonna share all my FREE game trailer making resources down below.
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Here's your wake up call if you have a trailer with a slow intro and lots of logos on your Steam page.
This post is full of people who skip past the trailers to click on the screenshots because it's quicker and they assume the trailer won't show gameplay.
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Reminder to trailer makers: This date format means two different dates to people around the world when all the numbers are under 12.
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Don’t put logos at the beginning of your game trailer ESPECIALLY on your store page.
This is the most direct way I can say it.
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I made this comparison video to show the fine line between:
- Making a trailer which preserves the element of surprise for players
- A trailer which shows what's special about your game and makes people want to play it
(Example via
@YobobGames
)
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Even if all of these people are talking about AAA Steam pages, it still affects indie devs, because these people assume trailers don't show gameplay until halfway through (if they do at all).
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So... you might’ve already seen this trailer I spent the last couple months make with the amazingly hard working, and talented people at Valve 😱
We're thrilled to announce Half-Life: Alyx, a new full-length entry in the Half-Life series, built by Valve for VR.
Return to Half-Life in March 2020. Pre-purchase now on Steam.
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When I first learned about this browsing behavior I had a mini crisis thinking: "OH NO, MY EDITING CRAFT, MY ART!!!"
After that I chilled out and tried to figure out ways to (mostly) start my trailers with footage that immediately looks like gameplay.
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Since it's my class featured in this tweet (btw, thank you for even adding it to the cart 🤪)
I thought I'd make a thread of all my completely FREE content I've made about trailer making.
It will keep you busy for WELL over the 8 hours of the class, it'll just be self guided.
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I somehow almost missed seeing this spot, but this is a good opportunity to talk about when and why in-your-face hype (rarely) works in trailers and when it doesn't (like in this spot).
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@BonjourAnima
May 12, 2023. Done and done!
I'm guessing one reason they use the numbers is so they don't have to localize it across multiple languages.
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So I try to make sure the trailer that goes up on the Steam page has gameplay from the very first frame (there are admittedly, some exceptions)
Think of this as an opportunity to both stand out and improve the browsing experience for players!
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@fullbright
A VR game I worked on didn’t have time to make me a free cam, so I strapped my Oculus to a Doraemon plush, put it on some boxes and blankets on my IKEA chair, re-centered the headset position, and pushed/pulled the chair across my carpet to make the smooth camera moves.
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Starting a game trailer with a ton of lore and backstory is generally not a great idea. I wrote a post about why, but I think this video I made for TikTok sums it up better 🤪
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I'm not saying, abandon slow intros entirely; they have their place.
But based on what I've read and observed, people aren't exactly using Steam as their preferred way to watch a bunch of game trailers.
They're browsing; they're digitally window shopping.
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I MADE THIS TRAILER! AAAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT IS LIFE!?
It’s the news you’ve been waiting for. We’re BEYOND EXCITED to announce:
Riven will be available on June 25th! 🎉
See below for the new launch trailer and all the details ⤵️
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Game trailer editing tip:
Try to make the gameplay you show proportional to their significance in the game.
For example, if your game is 60% combat, 20% puzzles and 20% platforming, ROUGHLY use those the ratios for the footage in the trailer.
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You can even make a slightly modified version of your trailer just for Steam!
For example: A Space for the Unbound's launch trailer has a mini teaser on both Steam and social media.
If you watch this trailer on YouTube it doesn't have the mini-teaser.
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One of the
#1
questions I get about game trailers:
Do you storyboard?
Nope! While I'm sure there are people who make great game trailers that way, that's not how my brain works.
Here's what I do instead:
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I made a TikTok using this thread as an example of how well written game pitches and up front gameplay clips really help a game stand out!
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If you want more about why indie game trailers should generally NOT take inspiration from AAA game trailers, here's a longer post of mine.
tl;dr AAA has advantages you do not. Bigger audience who are partially satiated just seeing shiny new graphics.
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I can scarcely believe I'm saying this, but I made this trailer!!! 😱🤯😭🎉
HUGE thanks to
@thespaff
for bringing me in,
@DoubleFine
&
@2PProductions
for help and support ❤️
Thanks to Xbox team
@hgeller30
,
@nickytwit
for strategy and management, and
@MichaelAudio
for the mix!
Raz has achieved the dream of joining the Psychonauts but there's trouble afoot. A mole in the ranks, a plot to revive a psychic murderer.. Untangling these mysterious will reveal the true history of the Psychonauts and secrets involving his family!
Coming August 25th!
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This trailer uses dialogue which might be written just for the trailer, but even if it isn't, it's functionally a trailer narrator talking directly to the audience.
This is always a dangerous and fine line to walk between engaging the audience or turning them off entirely
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All the game trailers I made in 2022!
(And there’s one not displayed I worked on which will go live in 2023)
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This is pretty much how the creative direction went for the Among Us Roadmap Trailer.
Conversations like this and then me running with it 😂
OUR ROADMAP FROM
#SummerGameFest
!! 💙
the fact i'm being called out on how its my vibe/humor is bringing me life 😂 U RIGHT
all the creds to
@Derek_Lieu
who not only created this trailer, but also helped dream it up and made sure to incorporate our jokes and humor
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The other problem is when the narrator is SUPER HYPE but you're a "cold" audience who hasn't had time to warm up to the game in any way.
Think of awkward E3s where presenters awkwardly say something like "This is the most amazing game of all time" before you've seen any footage.
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I tried making the WORST TRAILER EVER for Firewatch using all the flaws I could think of.
Since I don't actually have THAT much free time I cut this w/ the official trailers. The only way I could make it worse is to make it longer with shoddy capture.
How did I do? 🤣
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Let's talk about "show, don't tell" in game trailers.
Title cards are a shortcut to explain what is happening on screen.
The most common problem I see is when title cards explain the plainly obvious, or deprive the audience the opportunity to figure it out on their own.
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Think of a trailer narrator like a sales person standing next to the game (or in front of it)
Are they providing support to the game and its visuals by giving necessary context to understand it?
Or are they obscuring the game in their efforts to tell you how cool it is?
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A trailer is like a first date, but with sales-y narrator it's a first date where one of the parents is there extolling your date's virtues.
Even if the date speaks for themselves you won't take them at their word they're great. You'll decide for yourself based on observation.
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Also, the thing about the talking cuff is just wasted time since it doesn't even talk in the spot and it's not a novel story or character hook.
This is ESPECIALLY weird because the delivery of the line makes it sound like our minds should be as blown as hers.
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The other problem is the overlayed text brings extra attention to the dialogue (this is standard for digital spots). The graphics put emphasis on the weakest part.
Based on comments people are interested in the gameplay! But the dialogue turns them off.
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@SteamDeckGaming
Yeah, I hear you. Though cinematic trailers often need to be made for industry reasons, not the players. Recruiting, for example. They help those games get made.
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@DanTwoHundred
@mikeBithell
Their use of red text indicates to me they don’t even know much about video compression or readability 😬
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This is a super well done remix which shows how the right tone, shot choice, music, and editing style makes a HUGE difference! 🤯
the real problem isn't the narration at all, it's that they don't lean hard enough into the tone the narration should be selling.
and i know that because i proved it just now to be sure:
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The latest Game Maker's Toolkit is all about indie game trailers! A lot of my trailers, and material from my writing and talks are featured in it.
I'm SUPER flattered 😊 Thanks
@britishgaming
! ❤️
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This low key has the best eyetrace of any game trailer I've seen so far this Summer Games Fest
If you don't know what eyetrace is, watch how the cursor seamlessly flows from one shot to the other
😘👌🏻
We're thrilled to announce...
✨A Little to the Left: Cupboards & Drawers arrives on June 27th!✨
Explore 25+ lighthearted puzzles full of curious compartments in need of a good tidying!
Please Wishlist it today 🥳
Steam:
Switch:
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Spelunky and Spelunky 2 on Nintendo Switch August 26th!!!
I made this little release date trailer for it :D
Also, thank you
@BlitWorks
for the amazing debug options. This would've taken MUCH longer to make without them 😅
🔥👀
The light of your torch illuminates the glint of a gold idol...
#Spelunky
and
#Spelunky2
are both coming to
#NintendoSwitch
on August 26, in North America, Europe, and Australia! Other regions will be announced soon!
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Here are all the games I made trailers for in 2021! 🚀
That's 17 trailers across 10 games 😮
HUGE thanks to the folks at
@AmongUsGame
,
@DoubleFine
,
@tunicgame
,
@HinterlandGames
,
@SifuGame
,
@DrinkBoxStudios
,
@HappyGiantGames
,
@jettxyz
,
@mossmouth
,
@anacrusisgame
🙏🏼
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I'm not all doom and gloom on slow intros, they can be done well. This post is all about movie trailers with slow intros, but some of the principles can be applied to games.
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The thing this trailer does is cover these basics:
- Transported to another world
- There are dragons
- Talking cuff
- You have magic abilities
- Kill monsters
- Quippy protagonist?
This is does not stand out. There's no specificity.
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The other problem is the tone of the dialogue doesn't feel like it matches the visuals. It might work in the game, but here it feels disconnected.
Someone in a recent stream of mine described this phenomena well as two different conversations.
One is going to dominate.
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I’m rewatching
@allatoncemovie
and I just DIE at this shot of James Hong blowing his nose, using the tissue to wipe his bowl and chopsticks, and then continuing his meal 😂
I can’t think of a specific time, but my dad 100% did stuff like this when I was a kid 🤣
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I helped make this announce trailer! 👀
🌟 AMONG US - COMING TO PLAYSTATION 🌟
get ready to welcome a whole new crew on board!!
✨ on PS4 and PS5 consoles later this year
✨ exclusive Ratchet & Clank skin, hat, and pet
✨ crossplay and online multiplayer
tell your friends but more importantly.. tell your enemies heh
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This is so fuuuuuuuucked to hear.
I went to NYU for film. I learned a ton, and made great friends, but whenever I think back to the skills that lead me to today I think about fan videos like AMVs, on-the-job training, and fan trailers for games.
At 20 years old, I got into USC’s MFA Film program. And after going to their admit day, I called up the admissions office and DECLINED. Here’s why 🧵
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Also, I know these spots are made knowing most views will be with the video muted, but the music is basically treated like background noise which makes the spot extra flat.
The soundtrack is carried by the dialogue, which is the weakest part.
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🚀 I've officially launched my online course!
🎮 How to Make a Game Trailer: The First Steps!
✅ This is my step-by-step guide to designing game trailers distilled from years of free articles & videos.
🙏🏼 RTs and shares much appreciated!
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My 30 min talk on the most common mistakes I see in indie game trailers!
(I also see some of these in AAA trailers 👀)
I ranked them based on how easy they are to fix, so you can make the easiest changes first, and worry about the other ones later.
Most know that good music & eye-catching art is key to making a great video game trailer. But are you making some key mistakes in your trailers?📽
@Derek_Lieu
takes us through the top mistakes made when crafting trailers, & how to fix them in this talk!👇🏾
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The cool thing about this cut is the voiceover works better just because the music and editing raise the energy of the whole piece.
In the original it's the voiceover is going HARD, but the editing and GFX aren't backing it up. In this cut they go all in on the direction.
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Ok, my video essay about what makes
@A24
trailers so good is OFFICIALLY live and (probably) doesn't have any more mistakes in it 😅
Here's a very short snippet, YouTube link to the full version is down below.
ENJOY!
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I'm SUPER honored to have been nominated and accepted as one of The Game Awards 2021 Future Class! 🙇🏻♂️
It means a lot to be alongside so many amazing people; I look forward to reading your stories 😃
Congrats everyone! 🎉🎉🎉
Who represents the future of our incredible video game industry?
Today we are introducing
#TheGameAwards
Future Class 2021, 50 inspiring individuals from across gaming.
Meet all 50 of them and hear their stories now!
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I'm obsessed with
@BSG_DREDGE
right now and I love its animated trailer so much I wrote a review!
This is a great example of a cinematic trailer which shows no actual game mechanics, but depicts the experience of the game loop in a compelling way.
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The most successful hype narrator trailers I've seen are usually for comedic effect or something so over the top it actually does get kind of get you into it.
I think the narrator for Broforce is a good example
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Neat tool to help game capture!
I found these “precision rings” at Daiso which add resistance to thumbsticks. So far they’re perfect for fine control when doing gradual and incremental movements either with a character or camera!
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Hey
#gamedev
Twitter, I made a page of the video spec requirements for game trailers being submitted for use on all the current major consoles' official pages, and stores etc.
It also includes ESRB and PEGI rules!
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By the way, if you like "isekai" genre stories where the protagonist is whisked away to a magical world, my favorite is The Twelve Kingdoms.
I think it has some of the best character arcs I've seen in any media ever not just anime.
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My GDC talk about game capture for trailers is now on my YouTube channel! I re-recorded it, added some more examples, and it's fully captioned by me.
Please enjoy, and add all the debug tools mentioned to your games, kthnxbai j/k, but not really🤪
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Just found out my talk about making trailers before the game received 91% Excellent ratings 😱
So many people said they used the prompts on the way back home from GDC and/or were going to use them to help development.
Also, it's FREE on the GDC Vault!
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This is one of the best slides in
@Olima
's GDC talk.
If you're an unknown indie, get to the good part FAST!
Starting a game trailer like AAA do (logos, slow environment shots) is like getting on stage, grabbing the mic, and giving your life story instead of just playing music.
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Tooting my own horn, but the BattleBlock Theater Steam trailer worked in this way mostly because the narrator and their humor is part of the game, and also I think the absurdity of getting this hype about a port makes it work.
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But with this Forspoken digital spot, the hype level in the words and performance really just feel like someone being forced to be a sales person, which makes it SUPER AWKWARD.
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This spot doesn't really surprise me because the previous trailers are just kind of okay.
This sets off alarm bells because the hip hop music screams to me "We're trying to inject cool into this, because we don't know what else to do."
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This is the best game trailer I’ve seen in recent memory 🤣
Capture creatures and add them to assembly line. Don't worry, it's easy.
Atrio: The Dark Wild is OUT NOW on Steam and Epic Games Store.
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@WillWArmstrong
Someone make a tournament bracket with Tears of the Kingdom and Last of Us Part II rope 😅
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This is huge!
If you have a game on Steam, go into the backend to classify each of your trailers, and make sure the first two trailers in the carousel show gameplay!
All the other trailers are for the hardcore fans at best, and should stay in the back of the carousel.
🚨🚨New trailer rules on Steam 🚨🚨They now only allow 2 trailers up front. Also you can classify your trailer as gameplay or cinematic. This is very good for readability of your game genre
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lol, please don’t believe this for a SECOND.
Everything I did before 30 was going where the wind blew. I worked, built experience and pursued jobs without purpose or direction.
A little over 30, my life got a kick in the butt and that’s where things really took off.
Age: 18 to 25
The age where you can build your life or destroy it.
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Quote retweet with four projects you’ve worked on.
I love my job 🤩
Quote retweet with four projects you’ve worked on.
Probably the first time in my career so far I don't need to put a Telltale project on here
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Important read for Asian-American men.
Many times I’ve felt undesirable from reading those OKCupid blog posts, or upset at bad media representation, but it takes a real toxic mentality to take that hurt and harass Asian women for their relationship choices.
Don't do that, WTF.
This was a difficult piece to write, but I'm proud of it. Thank you
@TheCut
for running it, and most of all to the brave women who spoke to me about the harassment they've received. I hope it encourages the Asian community to address this issue.
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My fan trailer for Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is finally DONE!!! I started the project over a year and a half ago 😬 but better late than ever 😜
BIG thanks to
@SunhiLegend
for contributing some of his AMAZING capture (you'll know it when you see it)
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I helped make this trailer for Sifu! As a lifelong kung fu movie fan, it especially fun to work on 👊🏼
Music was by
@HowieLee_
, and big thanks to
@sloclap
for the amazing capture work. My game capture kung fu was definitely not Sifu level by the time the trailer was done. 😅
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Pinch me, I made the trailer for SPELUNKY 2!!! 😱
Thanks to
@mossmouth
for the custom art and asking me in the first place,
@strotchy
for his work on the music and sound,
@BlitWorks
for additional debug tools, and my friend Mark for coop capture help!
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Anyway, those are all my thoughts on the Forspoken spot.
It could've been worse...
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Never feel you need to apologize for your game or tout its commonalities because you're worried people won't like what makes it unique.
Not all game hooks are successful or desired, but give people *just* enough to know the desired genre conventions, then move onto the hooks!
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Here are all the games I helped make trailers for in 2020!
Thanks so much to
@mossmouth
,
@EmpireOfSinGame
,
@NollaGames
,
@2TonStudios
,
@jettxyz
,
@SabotageQc
,
@hvgames
and
@NASAAmes
for having me along for the ride with your amazing games :D
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People here who don’t listen to
@99piorg
are probably wondering why I’m taking photos of this chair 🙃
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To the gamedevs out there!
While prototyping games, have you thought: "What would the trailer for this look like?" as a means of vetting your ideas?
I've love to hear from you! Reply or DM me 🙏🏼
RTs and shares, appreciated!
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To fix up this spot I'd just remove the dialogue and graphics, and let the gameplay shine.
If the in-game music isn't good for the trailer, find a cue with a similar vibe but more trailer-y and make it feel punchy and fun.
Like this Anger Foot trailer!
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I think I finally got through to someone who felt burned by game trailers which differed from the shipped game by saying:
Early AAA game trailers are the devs trying to guess what their baby will look like when they’re 18.
Does this feel like an accurate metaphor? 🤔
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I’m not going to GDC this year!
I’m Derek, I make game trailers. I’ve worked on Half-Life: Alyx, Among Us, Firewatch, Spelunky 2, Psychonauts 2, Dead Cells and lots more.
I teach everything I know via on my weekly newsletter, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and my online course!
Not going to
#GDC
and I never have bc I could never afford it. So instead, let’s do a round of online networking?
Hi, I'm Shila. EP for
@MetalHellsinger
Believer of kindness and hope to encourage an ounce of humanity in our industry.
RT and say hi?
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My little side project now has durations, view count, and STEAM TAGS!
This means you can search your game's genre and find trailers I've personally selected as a good source of inspiration.
This is all thanks to
@Mrkwtkr
's work 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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I trailer-ed this! :DDD
Thanks so much to
@ustwogames
! ❤️
Great news for Monument Valley fans, Monument Valley 3 is coming later this year from
@ustwogames
and
#NetflixGames
!
#OpeningNightLive
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I have a BIG announcement I'm making on my newsletter this weekend which represents YEARS of work trying to make game trailer design more approachable.
Subscribe at to be amongst the first to find out what it is!
RTs and shares appreciated 😙🙏🏼
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