Superstar Session: Best Practices & Pitfalls to Avoid When Creating Game Videos

everybody we've got a superstar session coming up best practices and pitfalls to avoid when creating game videos and that's with natalia schumann from alcannost natalia are you there i am over here say hello can you hear me can i see him ah yes i can see you loud and clear how are you doing today i'm just perfect and it's so nice to see you today and i really enjoyed the previous presentation and thank you for the opportunity to listen to other speakers um how are you today yeah very good thank you we're really excited about hearing all about your superstar session which is best practices and pitfalls to avoid when creating game videos over to you uh well guys hi um my name is natalie i work at uh alcanast uh you might have heard that at alcannost we create we localize uh games into 70 languages

but we what we do also is creating videos for games and this is what i am going to talk about today uh best practices and pitfalls to avoid when creating game videos um well um what uh what i'd like to start from um we have been creating game videos for years we usually create game videos from scratch and from scriptwriting to sound design at this moment there are 123 game videos in our portfolio on youtube but in fact there is more and i believe that our production experience might be useful for you for you to evaluate what our experience is based on i'd like to show you a short demo reel it will take 30 seconds and i will come and we will come back from practice to theory uh let me now ask kelly to launch the demo reel video for us

[Music] as as you can see the videos are different but to produce any video be it a trailer for a marketplace or a teaser for an advertising campaign we have a production pipeline that each video project goes through well here it is and as simple as that you can easily follow the same process when creating a game video on your own and what i am going to do today is to guide you through the process and give you some practical clues on how to end up with a game video that you will be proud to show to everyone

well let's hit the road everything starts from the brief it's a short questionnaire that determines their framework conditions uh our brief contains if i'm not mistaken 12 questions but i'd like to highlight four of them because what you decide here will influence further decisions you will be making on the production stages well first ask yourself is your video intended to bring the users to the games page or whether that its goal is to convert the game page visitors into users well uh the context matters and when you know the goal and when you realize the context a user will be watching your video it will be easier for you to develop the ideas then think about the audience your video is intended to uh their way of perception their lead or their red lines their ability to understand or even to decrypt your

message they will depend on factors like their cultural background gaming experience and etc and this could affect your creative decisions regarding the concept and the style of the video what else your decisions could be influenced by are there rules and regulations of the platforms you are going to place your video on a simple example if you need a video for the app store its duration must be from 15 to 30 seconds and it's sharp uh moreover to meet the recommendations of the app store you should better focus on showing actual gameplay rather on telling a game universe story for example and this way to avoid the necessity to redo your videos significantly uh just give your uh give the guidelines of the specific platforms a close read and then keeping in mind all the above prioritize your game's key features for example uh if your target audience

is users that are not too experienced in gaming it might be a good idea to focus rather on basic functions of the game then let's say delve too deep into combats uh tactics or other features that advanced player would appreciate uh an example of how the privatized list could look like is just right on the screen on the right corner of course prioritizing isn't as simple as it seems because you are a developer and each game feature is like a child of yours and it's difficult to choose what to omit but this is what you need to go through in order to stay focused on the features that have the best chances to pick your audience's attention um well when the framework has taken its shape it's time to thinking over the script um well what we have here uh first of all script writing is an exciting process but its russian thrill can do you a disservice

and when the thoughts are spreading out a comprehensive comprehensive approach is what can help again let's have a look at the screenshot there is a sample sample script and it shows that it has specific structure and you can see that each scene in the video serves a specific function in our sample case it's to elaborate on a specific game feature uh and not only the visual part like like in the action in the frame column uh should serve this function uh the call to actions on the banners and the voiceover text they should tell the same story too uh so everything in the scene should be connected and to make it even easier for your audience to follow your your thoughts uh try to stick to one feature one scene principle this will help help you keep the narrative clear avoid overloading and move from one feature to another quite smoothly other working on the

script is riveting and absorbent it's crucial to remember uh what what can affect the production in your particular circumstances uh just all we know that uh you might have a budget limit the lack of manpower a deadline or all this together and that's why when thinking over the visual part of your video ask yourself what assets will each scene be made from uh would the just actual gameplay footage be enough to demonstrate a specific feature and if not do you have enough resources to show the feature uh in a more complex way well just give this question at least a pretty preliminary thought and if you were mistaken the storyboarding stage will unveil it um when developing a storyboard remember that for some scenes you might need to design a few stages uh as for the scenes where the gameplay capture as opposed to captures are supposed to be shown

consider recording the gameplay at this stage then review the captures and make sure that they convey the idea of the scene fully if the capture doesn't work as well as you thought and it could happen there are at least three options to avoid a disaster first you can at least come back to the script and revise it uh but there is a better option i will i would save and maybe the best one it is to allocate resources for building this scene according to the script just in the game engine and making all necessary adjustments and record the gameplay not from the uh not from the game build but from the engine one more option is to show the feature by means of animated graphics be it new art that you will design precisely for the video or already existing game assets if you need the video in different uh aspect ratios storyboarding for these extra extra versions it isn't a must but it's still a thing to consider

uh i'll try to explain why um it might turn out that a certain scene doesn't look understandable for instance just because of cropping for a vertical version of the video and if you accommodate variance variations in advance you can save some resources later and some nerves too and just simplify the work for your production team it would be good if you organize all the visual assets wisely um just avoid the superfluous files uh select only the art that is necessary and make this collection of the assets quite easy to navigate and now let me show you one more exam example it will be the video that required a really well thought storyboarding uh it consists of the same scenes with the animated graphics and arranging all the art for this video on the storyboarding stage uh was a good way to simplify the animation stage well let me ask khalid to help me one

more time this time let's watch a monster hustle game dessert [Music] well if the video that you need for your game uh is something of this kind uh it may oh just so just need to share my screen again um well if the video you need for your game is something of this kind it may turn out that some necessary visual details don't exist in your assets yet and you might need to draw them specifically just for your video well when you're all set with the storyboard it's time to move forward but not do the animation yet uh now let's move forward to the background music and voiceover track uh yeah before animation guys and let's start from you from music uh

the best solution is to select the background check before you start working on the animation uh it will allow you to make your animation dancing in the tempo of the music and this way their audio sequence and video sequence they will be telling the same story they will echo each other and their watching experience will become will become more immersive and enjoyable remember that you don't have to stick to the in-game music for instance the ambient music from locations may turn out to be too monotonous it may not suit the the dramatical structure or emotional load of your video in terms of the voiceover before you record the text with a native speaking professional record the voiceover just by yourself uh and try to combine the this draft narration with the storyboard and with the music uh this way you will be able to double check if the voice and the picture support each other in terms of sense

and whether they tell the same story again and if you notice any drawbacks on this stage it's quite easy to correct errors um next once you make sure that the the voiceover text is flawless uh provide a voiceover artist not only with the text to read out loud but also with the storyboard with the music and specific instructions uh for instance elaborate on what kind of a storyteller you want them to impersonate describe their desired manner of speaking voice tone face but last but last but not least explain to the voiceover artist how your character's names and even the game games title should be pronounced including stresses it looks like a little thing but it really matters on the voiceover recording stage well when the music is selected and the professional voiceover is recorded it's time to move forward to the animation animation stage finally

this stage is where you become focused on motion design to simplify the production process and even make it more sweet try assembling uh the video scene by sim animate one or two scenes and evaluate the intermediate result um when remember that your team might have their say as well and if you encounter mutually exclusive ideas as your task will be to reconcile different points of view structure your team's comments and provide a motion design team with consistent and coherent feedback uh when uh when evaluating the intermediate results remember that you need something more than a nice looking animation you need an attention grabbing video and for this purpose focus on what the viewer's attention is being on how the viewer's attention is being controlled for instance uh what you can do here you can zoom in you can make the camera uh follow a key moving object

you can highlight this object or even magnify it or add animated pointer and this is not an executive list not an exhaustive list and tricks like this make the video easy to watch and this effect doesn't come out of the blue it should be embedded into the animation and what also should be embedded is a synchronization of the motion or with the beat of the background music to achieve this uh create a metronome that will follow the tempo of the music and try showing key animated actions on the stressed beat have a look at the screenshot here you can see that the stressed beats of the metronome it's at the bottom uh correspond to the beat of the track uh believe it or not but such a simple thing can work really well as a skeleton of the animation of course there are much more details that make the animation just terrific or quite the opposite spoiled impression but not only the carefulness of the

execution matters consider the animation not simply as an embellishment consider it as the means of transmitting ideas make your animation meaningful and at the same time try making the motion transmitting the emotion when the right ideas and the right emotions are met the magic is being born and when the animation is ready the final stage is coming the sound design at this stage you might need to cut the music track according to the duration of the animation so that the particular parts of the tune will match with the particular events in the video sequence and with aid of sound effects you will be able to enhance specific emotions be it excitement fear or even or even something frightening uh such actions as scene change and tagline the tagline flying in or the game's local coming are worth sounding too but just don't go overboard use sounds uh sound effects wisely and emphasize only

what needs to be emphasized on the other hand there is a fact that may discourage you when you think of the sound design for your video the fact is from one third to two third users uh watch videos muted and the associated talcanist the game video's creator job is to make the video ideal for both those who watch video with will sound and without frankly speaking the sound design won't cost you an arm and the leg it seems that it isn't worth worth it to skimp on it as an argument in favor of taking care of sound design i'd like to show you uh one one more video where the music and sounds are essential essential parts uh let me ask carla to help me one more time it's a video we created recently for infinite to game well let's give it a listen

[Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] sometimes it's not too easy to take a video to pieces in search of the secret ingredient that makes it

cool and juicy usually it's a combination of a well thought concept and flawless execution however if i would have to rate the most common mistakes in the game video production i would mention these 12 points those that are listed on the left have roots in the conceptual part it's about some loose ends at the briefing and script writing stages others that are listed on the right are the consequences of an imperfect production like the absence of visual visual accents trembling camera pixelization and so on and some of them that are listed in the triangle in the middle they are not crucial they are not actually mistakes but still without them the video would have a more polished look uh what i mean here it's too long exposition of the game's title or the studio logo at the very beginning of the video these are attention grabbing seconds and they should they should be really meaningful and catchy uh then it could be

scenes duration imbalance uh it could be inaccurate synchronization of the animation with the music and on top of that uh sometimes it's really bitter to see missed opportunities to send shivers down to a viewer's spine uh all these drawbacks they just sometimes don't let the magic happen uh well how not to fall into these traps of course there is no silver bullet at least at least i don't know it but let me give you a piece of advice uh try to wear a potential player and potential viewer a pair of shoes imagine the context your videos will be shown and imagine that you need to explain what your game is all about to a person who knows nothing about it and maybe has never played any game like this before uh well what what to do just have this person and motivate them uh to give your game a try well uh i hope all this will help you

give their own give the audience compelling reasons to play and enjoy and i hope you will enjoy the video production process um i wish you good luck with your games promotion uh let me let me thank kelly for her assistance during the presentation it was a great help and thank you all guys for your attention it was my pleasure to share the experience with you thank you so much natalia thank you for joining us today we've got some questions for you if you would have a bit of time to answer them the first question is my question i'm gonna ask that the hard ones and so i guess a question would be how do you develop great videos for localization purposes because every culture's got a different way of connecting not just with video but with sound so how do we design i guess trailers or game videos for the purposes of different cultures countries territories etc uh just a terrific question kelly thank you so much because video localization

is a thing that i i can i can talk i don't know for hours uh you know uh from uh technic i would start from technical uh technical part uh sometimes uh it's just enough to translate gameplay gameplay captures uh translate captions like just written text on the screen and that's it but sometimes if the video has some ui shown if there is a voiceover it may require almost a complete recreation so for each localization you might need to uh to have a lot of job to be done and uh there is one trick if if we are here for a piece of practical advice i would give a small trick that when you localize the video uh the duration of the voiceover will determine how long your video will last so if you want to record uh i don't know to localize the video from english to japanese you you need to translate the text first the voiceover text and to evaluate uh

how long will it take to read it out loud and it may happen that uh if you have your video in english for 30 seconds for a japanese edition you might need 40 seconds and what you can do here if your technical requirements allow you can uh make the animation longer so adjust the animation in the tempo of the new voiceover or if you're if you need to stick to this 30 seconds limit that is quite often uh you can just edit the text so that make it shorter and try to fit this text into into the timing you have well uh i think that's uh the most important from pro from the practical part uh one more thing uh if you if when creating a video you know at the very beginning that you need it in a few languages uh it would be a great help for you uh if you if you try to get rid of the text from the uh ui it's like messages in the game like characters dialogues

uh try to at least if you need to show it try to make it not as a part of a video sequence like a game capture but try to overlay it on the production stage like a part of the like a part that you can easily edit and this will simplify localization for you just guys believe it will simplify there's a lot to take on when you're thinking about doing great videos i didn't think it would be so sort of involved we've got another question from the floor do you struggle to explain to clients that are sure to run time for promo videos are usually beneficial do people have a habit of associating value for money with duration this is a question that i get quite a lot actually in in game development so what do you think with a a with duration of the video or with duration of the production time frame i think the first one well thank you for the question

i'd like to think a bit of it um you know uh uh i don't know is it a pro inappropriate thing to say but uh to answer your question i need to say that what uh what our pricing pricing principle here at alcannost the video could have any duration and the duration in fact doesn't um influence the price i i mean a very direct way uh we have um we charge per scene so each video has a few scenes and the scene could have different content it could have different different complexity in in terms of any of the animation so uh you know the trick here is that a five the video that contains from five scenes could have at the same time 15 seconds duration or 30 seconds duration so it depends uh so we just don't we don't think that if we make a video like 35 seconds instead of 30 it will be i don't know 15

more give you 50 percent more users it doesn't work like that i think so uh for pricing we use this approach that is like uh uh the the more complex the sign is the more expensive it is to produce it so i think it's quite logical so i hope i answered the question yes thank you um another question would be what part should one start to think about creating great videos i work a lot with indie studios and they want to race towards making teaser trailers or videos right the very start before they've established a lot of the pillars that they need to establish in game development because they just want to be out there what advice would you give to indie developers i would say that you know uh maybe i don't know if it works uh as an insight but you know uh a game

could have a few videos uh so so you can start from a teaser even when the game has just been uh on the soft launch stage even when you need to develop more more content and you know how many months of production of coding is still still waiting for you even at this stage you can create a video so but just in this case i would say that teaser a teaser trailer would be a better option so you won't have a necessity to show actual gameplay that might be quite you know quite different become quite different in a few months and you can just animate the assets like characters you can tell the game's story you can try to apply some humor as you have seen in the monster hustle video uh so uh there are many plenty of opportunities uh and you don't have to stick to the gameplay all the time great answer um one final question following on from the localization

question that i asked at the beginning have you encountered a situation where it's been difficult to create a trailer for a specific region because of the content of the game conflicting with local broadcasting restrictions standards or censorship guidelines has that ex does that happen to you you know nothing pops in my head just uh in this in in this dimension uh but i'd say that uh usually when we have a customer and we know that their aim aimed at a specific market usually the customer is already kind of well prepared and this will be the customer who who says like guys you know we need to avoid i don't know this or that or so it uh their clues will be a good thing uh but also i would say in terms of the art or design or just the uh understandability of the concepts uh

the thing is that uh as we work uh in localization for years uh we have uh a few hundred of native speakers that who live in different countries and if we need if if there is a necessity we can just come to them uh to the person who represents the target audience in terms of the country or language and uh ask them for a for a piece of advice for their consultation and i'm sure that they will do it in in the best possible way thank you so much natalia it's been really riveting to listen to you talk about game videos in this way and i think that everybody that has spent some time like looking at what uh alcanos do is it's really impressive what you guys do so thank you very much indeed and i want to hear you talk about localization and game videos um at the next pocket gamer connects digital maybe seven in july it'd be great to see you thank you so much for your time enjoy the rest of your week thank you

enjoy your evening thank you guys bye you