Creating a promotional/tutorial video

joda.bot · Post by **joda.bot** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:40 pm

After having read/viewed all the creative art and potential in this thread, perhaps it would be possible to make a promotional video for Armagetron?

(I know it might not be the artistic challenge you've been talking about, but it might draw more players to the game, and I've not found a video yet, which explains or shows the game best features (rubber, network play, game modes or art potential).

An inspiration to start from:
http://www.dailymotion.com/related/x692 ... videogames

(I don't know who made that video, anyone got ideas ?)

The goal would be to have something that you can show a non-player to explain what he can expect and get them interested. After watching the above video I just thought "Damn, someone download the game, and can't find all those nice moviepacks or server maps right away ... and leaves."

Solo-Maps and customized textures for servers would really help this game, I'd guess. Having an offline part will attract other people, too.

Concord · Post by **Concord** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:52 pm

it was sine wav's btw

yeah, we should make an in game interactive tutorial that can be accessed through "Local Game" or something. I have none of the skills required to make this however.

sinewav · Post by **sinewav** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:19 pm

I made that video with the intention of driving viewers to armagetronad.net. I had a second idea that included a voiceover and tag lines, but felt I really couldn't describe or promote the game correctly since I don't know who my audience is.

After I finished the above video, I thought it would be neat to make a tutorial. If we want to come up with a modified script based on this, I'll work on that over the next month or two.

2020 · Post by **2020** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:54 pm

good thinking joda

good start sine
we can make a storyboard first
or we can just go at it from the start

XzL.Smart · Post by **XzL.Smart** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:37 am

Tank Program wrote:It occurs to me... has anyone tried re-enacting the Tron light cycle sequence in Armagetron?

In other games, there's a way to bind keys to do certain functions, then wait, then do another function.

Code: Select all

bind "F" "turn_left;wait 100;turn_right;wait 5;turn_left"

F = The key that the sequence it being attached to.

Code: Select all

"turn_left;wait 100;turn_right;wait 5;turn_left"

= The actual commands.

wait # = The amount of frames/seconds/milliseconds/or whatever the developer decides what the measurement of time should be.

In a nutshell, whenever the key "F" is pressed, that sequence is initialized.

I was just wondering if this was incorporated into this game, but if it isn't, could it? I find it pretty useful on the other games I play.

And that would make it easier to do the thing in the movie.

joda.bot · Post by **joda.bot** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:24 pm

@smart: that's one way to do it. You can also create an Armagetron recording with multiple players acting (with or without "timed macros"). Once you've got a recording you can then shoot the required parts from different angles.

But before doing those technical details, I think sinewav and 2020 have raised the important questions:

What is the audience, we want to attract?

From my expierence, we have:

alot of teenagers/kids
casual long term players
people who are addicted / idle otherwise?

.

So people liking games might be a good base to start from.

Facts that I'm pretty sure of (new players):

many new players don't know Tron (movie)
those who know the movie (look for this game because of it's resemblance)
interest in fast, networked arcade games (can you name another?)
armagetron offers human opponents aka. learning AI

List of arguments for Armagetron:

easy to play a few rounds and leave
simple rules and short games (depends on game mode)
rubber (not in Tron 2.0 or GLTron)
game modes (different set of modes than competition)
casual meeting people from other countries (not a entirely kid safe environment though)
open source?

List of weak points (for new players):

steep learning curve? requires quick typing (think of first 180° with grind)
only multiplayer (no single player training - unprepared players)
loved maps can't be played offline
websites and game setup can be more newbie friendly

hm, perhaps a funny advertisting video might work (for example):
Familfy Guy: Season 3 Episode 4 One if by clam two if by sea at about 10:30 into the episode.

We would just have to find something "common" people can laugh about too

(making insider jokes won't work).

2020 · Post by **2020** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:47 pm

you been thinking about this
joda?
hehehe

that's got most of the angles covered
and i have to admit
i never do anything for the audience
i just do it because i like it
i can never think what an audience will/won't like
too complicated for my brain cell

so
what's the next move...?

joda.bot · Post by **joda.bot** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:06 pm

I guess my input alone won't help ... hm, I should have posted the second post alteast to a new thread ... *split?*

I think without other perspectives than mine it feels incomplete.

Post by **Tank Program** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:13 pm

joda.bot wrote:*split?*

Is this talking about making a video or just promotion in general?

sinewav · Post by **sinewav** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:22 pm

Tank Program wrote:
joda.bot wrote:*split?*
Is this talking about making a video or just promotion in general?

Looks like both. I think the more important or practical idea is to create a tutorial for new players. The second would be creating a promotional tool for the game. Both of them have some similar consideration.

But neither of those discussion belong in an art thread. This is for pretty pictures using the game engine. Speaking of which, I should probably try and make another...

joda.bot · Post by **joda.bot** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:00 pm

@tank: thx for the split.

I'd like to hear other views on this, if I'm the only one thinking this is a good idea or contributing to it then I don't think it will go anywhere before August

.

Post by **Tank Program** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:20 pm

Tis a good idea. Something simple just highlighting the default keys and how game play works in a video might be a good start.

KamP · Post by **KamP** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:29 pm

It is a good idea.

Reading this, what came to mind was a dedicated youtube arma channel. We can put up promotional video, maybe some video of people playing something fun (even with voiceover of them playing, like from teamspeak or skype), and tutorial videos explaining the game mechanics (rubber, game modes)

2020 · Post by **2020** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:07 pm

Tank Program wrote:Tis a good idea. Something simple just highlighting the default keys and how game play works in a video might be a good start.

i have produced some simple vids for beginners wrt intros
and i don't mind doing this too
but i suspect the vid will be lost somewhere in youtube...
is there a way of integrating vids into the app when noobs download it for the first time?

KamP · Post by **KamP** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:20 pm

2020 wrote:but i suspect the vid will be lost somewhere in youtube...
is there a way of integrating vids into the app when noobs download it for the first time?

You're right, without some form of promotion, videos do just get lost in the wash, but having videos featured on the site would pretty much solve that, imo.