Category: Animation

So you are developing a game. Years of passion are coming to fruition. Your heart and soul – your vulnerability – laid out for the world to see. The time to show your hard work to the general public draws near. It’s a moment you both dread and gleefully anticipate. It’s time for the marketing to begin as you only get one chance to impress.

Like anybody else, you want your game to sit on a pedestal for the world to see. But in a market rife with so much competition, it can be so easy to fade into obscurity. Kickstarting your campaign with a CGI trailer can be an ideal way to attract the attention your game deserves. But putting trust in someone else to deliver on your vision is a big leap. How does that process work?

 

The start of the journey

There is no paint-by-numbers roadmap that works for everyone. The first thing to understand is the journey is pretty much different for everyone. And that’s a good thing.

Producing a high-quality trailer is only half the battle. What separates the good from the bad is the level of dedication to accurately representing your IP and key USPs. This only comes from a company that cares about working collaboratively with you; as part of you.

You need a studio that maintains a constant line of contact. Whether this is through in-studio meetings or more convenient over-internet communication, what matters is they listen to you. Worried you don’t have your own in-house creative available? That shouldn’t get in the way; a good production company should mould to your situation and should be able to help with any script development and suggest creative solutions that won’t blow the budget.

The initial discussions should help outline the direction of the CG trailer. Working with you, the production company should pin down which characters or assets you’d like to feature in the trailer that can get across the USPs and distinctive brand of your game. If you have these ready to go then great. If not, then a good partner should be able to make these assets in-house, carefully updating you with their progress as the pre-production process begins.

 

Producing brilliance

The length of time a production may take will vary, depending on the scope of the piece. A typical pre-rendered trailer can often take several months, so planning on your side will be an essential element to the success of the piece. Even with this in mind, it is crucial to keep the studio up-to-date with your plans, allowing enough time for the studio to produce the trailer and apply the specialist resources to accommodate the project. 

Also, be wary of when you want to enlist their service. In the run-up to any major industry event, such as E3, many studios will be fully booked up. With this in mind, you should look as far down the road ahead as possible to avoid disappointment. What matters most is that the final trailer is a creative testament to your game and an open line of communication can go a long way to help with this.

 

Collaboration

A consistent and collaborative attitude to communication throughout production will inevitably help you arrive at a CG trailer that all stakeholders are happy with. So having a permanent point of contact within the production company is key. The studio’s Head of Production should be your day-to-day contact who keeps you informed of any changes and respond to feedback. 

Over the course of the production cycle, you should be privy to many milestones, initially beginning at the pre-production stage with concept art. Storyboards and rudimentary animatics are intended to give you insight into the direction of the trailer. These are created with the intention of providing your team with an opportunity for feedback. Over time, you should see the final product start to form, as the production company sculpts a work of art before your eyes.

If you have stayed communicative throughout, you should have a final product that trumps every expectation. A cinematic tour de force sure to capture the attention of any audience. Something that encapsulates your game with ease.

It seems like an almost impossible task; how can you find someone who can deliver on your expectations? How can a company ever truly understand your product? A specialist CG studio that understands games can – if you allow them.

RealtimeUK is that company. We aren’t just a production company; we are an extension of your studio. We work intimately with our clients from the start, working with a focus on open communication. If you would like to discuss your next project, get in touch with me at [email protected].

We recently discussed the new trend of autobattler games such as Auto Chess, Dota Underlords, and Teamfight Tactics. All are showing signs of becoming the next big genre in games to follow in the footsteps of MOBAs and battle royales. What one thing do they all have in common and indicative of a wider trend? They’re all free to play.

In the age of the internet, there’s never been greater access to a plethora of games that can be played almost instantaneously. With such immediate access, many have seen the potential for games that can be distributed for free and monetised in a variety of ingenious ways. 

 

Free to a good home

While you could argue the genre goes back to early PC shareware, most credit South Korea as the home of free-to-play (F2P) at the turn of the century. Across South Korea and Russia, these games gained significant prominence. They continued to spread across the world and, in the mid-2000s, games like MapleStory, RuneScape, and Neopets grabbed the attention of many cash-strapped kids and adults alike.

Games that were once paid for moved to a F2P model. Games such as Team Fortress 2 and MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic reached new heights of success. The stars of the current  F2P market include Fortnite, League of Legends, and its aforementioned autobattler spin-off Teamfight Tactics. All three currently enjoy being amongst the top five most viewed games on Twitch. Heavy-hitting  ‘AAA’ titles are making the switch too – most notably, Destiny 2. 

So why have F2P games become so widely adopted? While they will cost more upfront to produce and distribute, in the long-term, they have the potential to enjoy greater levels of revenue than if they had been a ‘traditional’ full-priced game. Their appeal lies in their ease of access and free availability. Committing to these games costs nothing but the player’s own time and most in-game purchases are merely cosmetic or completely optional. But therein lies the issue – if there are so many high-quality F2P games, what separates yours from the rest?

 

Watch and learn

The biggest F2P games have one thing in common – they know how to foster a community. Most of the dominant F2P games on the market were once newcomers themselves and had to build their community from the ground up. While word of mouth works wonders – you’ll struggle to find a man, woman, or child who hasn’t heard of Fortnite today – how do you convert those people to regularly playing – and paying – customers?

What can help attract more attention is a cinematic trailer. Cinematic trailers grab the imagination of the audience, weaving a story filled with intense action that plays out in a matter of minutes. It’s even more important in the mobile gaming market. Competition is fierce as you vie for the limited time of the average smartphone user.

What people crave is a community they can feel a part of. With a F2P game, you’re expected to update regularly, and people search for the in-jokes and easter eggs that reward their time investment. Look at the way Fortnite holds its audience with a changing map and sly winks to those in the know.

So if you’re looking to enter the F2P market, ask yourself what your community will be – why is it worth joining? It’s all too easy to fade into irrelevance. So how are you going to make your mark? The best way to do it is through a trailer that lets people know you’re here to stay.

At RealtimeUK, we have perfected the art of creating cinematic trailers that deliver on all fronts. We have worked with free-to-play games in the past, including Paladins and RuneScape. If you would like to discuss your trailer needs, get in touch with me today at [email protected].

The wider gaming scene is always defined by its biggest trend. There tends to be one huge, genre-defining game that others dream of being as successful as. First-person shooters were popularised by Call of Duty, MOBAs by League of Legends, and battle royales by Fortnite.

This year has seen the rise of a whole new genre – the ‘autobattler’. What began with Dota 2 mod ‘Dota Auto Chess’ has now spawned multiple competitors all vying to be the dominant game in this new genre. But where did they come from? Where are they heading? And how might they become king? 

 

The opening gambit

If you’re wondering where the terms ‘autobattler’ and ‘auto chess’ suddenly appeared from, you’re not the only one. It’s a relatively new concept that became popular as a custom game type on Dota 2. It combines the characters of Dota and the layout of chess with a dash of mahjong to create a game that was like no other. First making its appearance in January this year, and created by Chinese developer Drodo Studio, it has lit the fuse to a whole new genre of strategic games.

The only fly in the ointment was that Dota is a Valve IP. After discussions with Drodo Studio, the two companies amicably decided to head their own ways. Valve spun the idea into Dota Underlords, while Drodo Studio began work on a separate, fully-fledged game simply called Auto Chess that they hope will not only conquer China but the entire world. And so the autobattler was born. Riot Games is now the latest to join by creating a spin-off of League of Legends entitled Teamfight Tactics.

 

The current state of play

Dota Underlords, Auto Chess, and Teamfight Tactics are the current three big players on the scene, each vying to take the crown of the king of the autobattlers. Dota Underlords has the advantage of having the character set-up people are most familiar with. Auto Chess is the progenitor; the original idea that people love so much. And Teamfight Tactics can capitalise on the enormous player base of League of Legends. In fact, to increase uptake, the game is accessible within the League of Legends client.

The next phase of autobattler games will be securing the player base across platforms. While it began on PC, the genre is aiming to attract the lucrative mobile crowd. Both Auto Chess and Dota Underlords have mobile versions of their game and, in the case of Dota Underlords, the PC version is based on the mobile iteration (for now). There will no doubt be more autobattler games that come along, but what will decide which one comes out on top?

 

Standing out from the crowd

It makes sense that the one eventually crowned as king of the genre will be the one that can attract the greatest community. Naturally, they all have their own in-built communities, but what will attract newcomers? While word of mouth has achieved a lot so far, there has been little in the way of marketing. While this is understandable, given they are all in the early stages of development, it makes sense that they would benefit from cinematic trailers to bring the crowds in. 

The challenge will be taking the relatively dry, top-down view of the autobattler games and turning that into a stunning trailer. It will need to sell the action that is otherwise left to your imagination. It will need to weave a story that plays out in short-form. And, in the case of Dota Underlords and Teamfight Tactics, it needs to show the pre-existing communities that this is an exciting addition to the lore that justifies the hours already spent in the game. Auto Chess has an uphill battle in that regard, so will need a strong theme to attract people’s attention.

This is especially true in the mobile landscape. The competition in this space isn’t just other autobattlers, but all of mobile gaming. How will you differentiate amongst the match three games and the battle royales?

Most of all, it needs to show people this is a community worth joining. At this early stage, any of these games could fade into irrelevance. A new competitor can appear at any moment to claim the crown as its own. If they want to be the best, they need a trailer that unashamedly says “we are the best”.Given the success they are enjoying in such a short period, we think the autobattler genre is here to stay and hasn’t even begun to peak. The autobattler war is about to heat up: are you ready for it?

At REALTIME, we can craft a trailer that amazes audiences and draws in new players. We’ve worked with many free-to-play games, such as Smite and CrossFire, so we’re well-equipped to handle whatever your request may be. If you would like to know more, get in touch with me at [email protected].

Game trailers done right: analysing some of E3 2019’s biggest trailers

Now the dust has settled and the post-show high has dissipated, we can look at this year’s E3 showcase with fresh eyes. It was the usual mix of the good, interesting, and the where-did-that-come-from. This year had an odd air about it though, with everyone waiting for the next generation of consoles. Without them, the show somehow felt incomplete – a situation compounded by the fact Sony decided to skip the show altogether. 

What we ended up with was an unusually high slew of quality trailers for games that may well serve as this generation’s swan songs. With the majority of them for games that won’t see the light of day before next year at the earliest, the trailers served to show their importance as a major marketing beat in bringing a new game to market.

There were some VERY impressive trailers for sure – some for IPs we’re already familiar with and some new ones too. Regardless of how fresh the game idea might be, you only get one chance to impress – a mantra we continually remind ourselves of during any production. So how did this year’s crop of trailers fare?

 

The good

A great trailer not only needs to have stunning visuals; it also needs to tell a great story. And we saw some fantastic examples this year!

The latest expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online, Elsweyr, was marked by an impressive trailer that hugely impressed its fans. Fan reactions were overwhelmingly generous to this resplendent CG trailer which told a complete story in four-and-a-half minutes. It did a great job of showcasing the upcoming Necromancer class, expertly blending cinematic brilliance and actual gameplay elements. People loved it. Some people really loved it.

 

The bad

So you have the visuals and you have the story-telling. Great!. But is it interesting? Remember the mantra – ‘you only have one chance to impress’. 

For some, the much-anticipated Crystal Dynamics Marvel’s Avengers failed to deliver. Despite having a massive IP, the trailer left many of its fans underwhelmed, with the design of the characters coming in for particularly harsh criticism. For many, the game felt confusing and unappealing. Yet behind-closed-doors, impressions were nothing but glowing. Crystal Dynamics has since hinted they are going to address much of the criticism before the game’s eventual release.

 

It goes to show how putting a trailer together is important. You can have all the right elements (a great IP) but get the detail wrong (unappealing character design) and you’re in danger of alienating your audience. A successful trailer will give the audience what they want – extolling the virtues of the brand with great story-telling that will appeal directly to its community. Perhaps a good example of this is the CrossfireX trailer. Although a relatively unknown brand here in the West, it’s one that has taken the East by storm. This visceral trailer did an incredible job at planting its flag in the West and letting everyone know it’s here. Those in the know are excited and those who aren’t are certainly intrigued.

 

The breathtaking

Cyberpunk 2077 deservedly stole this year’s show with its incredible trailer. Despite being announced over seven years ago, the hype took it to new heights, pushing its fans to a new level of frenzy with the revelation that Keanu Reeves would feature amongst its cast. 

This E3 was another showcase of examples of why trailers matter. A game’s pre-release hype can live and die on its trailer. Which examples will we still be talking about at the end of the year? Creating a trailer is as much an art as the game itself is – one that needs as much specialism and creative vision as the game itself.

 

At RealtimeUK, we understand the nuance of creating a trailer. Our work has even reached the E3 main stage. Put your trust in a company that knows how to create compelling content. To talk about your upcoming project, get in touch with me at [email protected].