How to Make an Indie Game Trailer

Making a strong trailer for your game can be a huge challenge, so I’ve collected a bunch of tips and best practices from the industry’s top trailer makers. More resources can be found in the description, below.

=== Sources and Resources ===

What Makes an Indie Hit?: How to Choose the Right Design | Ryan Clark

Trailer Made: What Makes a Successful and Memorable Game Trailer | GDC Vault

How Game Trailers Are Made (PAX West 2017) | Derek Lieu on YouTube

Trailer Editors To Hire

Find out more

Making Entertaining and Engaging Video Game Trailers | Kert Gartner

Virtual Cinematography for VR Trailers | Kert Gartner

Capturing Great Footage for Game Trailers | GDC Vault

=== Chapters ===

00:00 - Intro
00:40 - The Purpose of a Trailer
02:12 - Explaining Your Hook
05:02 - Pacing and Retention
08:26 - Presentation
11:06 - Case Study: Subnautica
13:16 - Conclusion

=== Games Shown ===

Hollow Knight (Team Cherry, 2017)
Wandersong (Greg Lobanov, 2018)
Owlboy (D-Pad Studio, 2016)
War Builder League (The Cyber Prophet, In Early Access)
Vesta (FinalBoss Games, 2018)
Mighty No. 9 (Comcept, 2016)
The Witness (Thekla, Inc, 2016)
Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games, 2015)
Undertale (Toby Fox, 2015)
Slay the Spire (Mega Crit Games, 2019)
Mark of the Ninja (Klei Entertainment, 2012)
Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall, 2017)
Cuphead (Studio MDHR, 2017)
Wargroove (Chucklefish, 2019)
Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games, 2016)
GRIS (Nomada Studio, 2018)
Minit (JW, Kitty, Jukio, and Dom, 2018)
Superhot (SUPERHOT Team, 2013)
Heaven’s Vault (Inkle, 2019)
Heave Ho (Le Cartel Studio, 2019)
Linelight (My Dog Zorro, 2017)
Baba is You (Hempuli, 2019)
Way of the Passive Fist (Household Games, 2018)
Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope, 2018)
Orwell (Osmotic Studios, 2016)
Celeste (Matt Makes Games, 2018)
Fallout 76 (Bethesda Game Studios, 2018)
Spelunky 2 (Mossmouth, 2020)
Firewatch (Campo Santo, 2016)
Enter the Gungeon (Dodge Roll, 2016)
Assault Android Cactus (Witch Beam, 2015)
Into the Breach (Subset Games, 2018)
Absolver (Sloclap, 2017)
Katana Zero (Askiisoft, 2019)
Guacamelee 2 (Drinkbox Studios, 2018)
Dead Cells (Motion Twin, 2018)
Ooblets (Glumberland, 2020)
ABZÛ (Giant Squid Studios, 2016)
Duskers (Misfits Attic, 2016)
Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine, 2016)
Ape Out (Gabe Cuzzillo, 2019)
Nuclear Throne (Vlambeer, 2015)
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope, 2013)
Jack Lumber (Owlchemy Labs, 2012)
The Messenger (Sabotage Studios, 2018)
Tacoma (Fullbright, 2017)
Risk of Rain 2 (Hopoo Games, 2020)
VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (Sukeban Games, 2016)
Forager (HopFrog, 2019)
Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment, 2018)
Yuppie Psycho (Baroque Decay, 2019)
Factorio (Wube Software, 2020)

=== Credits ===

Thoughts Alive - animeistrash

=== Subtitles ===

[Table]

So many indie developers seem to forget that without properly marketing their new game and making it seem different and worth playing, then it doesn't really matter how good the game is because we're never going to find out about it! I spend a fair amount of time deliberately trying to find smaller indie titles that might have been missed and even then I still struggle sometimes. This is a great topic to make a video about, Mark. Good job!

[pedromarberger]

Mark Brown: A game trailer should make your game’s content clear to the viewer

Kojima: So, right now you can see that Norman Reedus is pregnant

[jordan_private]

For your next game jam, have a separate jam for trailer making and then review the best trailers.

[oriefalconer]

Composer on Way of the Passive Fist here, it was fantastic working on that trailer with Derek Lieu to build music that would accentuate each section of action and communicate the game's high concept in an exciting way. Really happy to see it featured here!!

[kathyhalton]

I myself am a big fan of constipated gorilla studios

[PrepLmmiun]

"a trailer is not a random montage of gameplay clips"

Mobile game ads: 😐😶

[DarylTalksGames]

7:28, I don't think it can be overstated how important this is for not just indie game trailers, but for any trailer. Don't show your full hand for the sake of selling a ton of copies, the "mystery" of what else the game has to offer needs to *stay* a mystery so that the game can actually deliver that discovery later.

[SpartanXVII]

One thing unmentioned about the Subnautica trailer, is its narrative. It starts out with the crashing ship, then shows someone jumping out of their escape pod, dives into the water, swimming downwards, then cuts to swimming downwards, while much deeper, as if we've just missed the journey down. It shows collecting resources, then cuts to crafting them into an item, that he seems to be carrying in the next shot, then he collects more resources, has a montage of adventures, uses those resources to build his underwater base, then goes back in looking for more resources, we can figure out that he's gone further this time, and then we get "we shouldn't have gone so deep". We've been given the entire story of a subnautica playthrough, right up until a cliffhanger ending. It could still have followed the excitement graph if it had put the ship crashing at the end for example, but it wouldn't have fit the narrative. This trailer is a story, the game just fills in the gaps, and gives you the conclusion.

[grantcooper]

Employer: what education do you have for this game design position?
Me: I've watched every Gamemaker's Toolkit video twice
Employer: You're hired

[manzanito]

Do the complete opposite of the mighty n9 one.

[dorobokino]

How to Make an Indie Game Trailer: get your game featured on Game Maker's Toolkit

[Anomen]

Thank you! I can now make a great trailer unjust one simple step:
1) Pay Derek Lieu to do it for me.

[Nikkiflausch]

I love how you suddenly just ace media engineering as well. Most of what you talk about here is more or as much about video/movie psychology as it is about games (or, specifically, game design). I recognized lots of stuff from my studies of media engineering, and all of it was explained and portrayed accurately and comprehensible. Good stuff!

[pizzacookie]

Oh god .


I will never be able to look at a trailer the same ever again .

[BadRAM]

"dont let players be confused about what they do in the game"
this is my biggest complaint about game trailers on steam. I want to know immediately if the game is a turn based strategy, first person shooter, JRPG, etc. All it takes is a two second shot of gameplay with hud, but a lot of trailers will leave this to midway or late into the trailer, which just makes me angry.

[MartialLoreNZ]

One of my all time favorites: Rainworld... "What fate, a slugcat? Prey, and predator. As the old world dies, a new ecosystem evolves...." Just one of the best voice overs in a game trailer which follows all of the "rules" mentioned in this video.

[garistz]

"You don't need to turn your trailer into a full tutorial, but players shouldn't be left confused by what they actually do in the game."

Hideo Kojima wants to know your location.

[tomsko]

It's also important to know your fans, genre, and market. For a trailer to hook me, I need to see gameplay and not pre-rendered BS. I know it's common to use the pre-rendered BS as a way to build tone, but gameplay is paramount for me so I always want to see a good amount of it in the trailer so I know what I will be doing 70-90% of the time. So, understand what your fans are expecting. FPS fans will usually be less inclined to care about story, but want to see the pace of action. While RTS/TBS fans will care about what new features and systems are in the game that will affect strategy/gameplay. Kind of what you were saying, show off the "hook" of your game.

[hardik-prajapati]

Wow! What a coincidence, I am about to complete my first game and this is for sure going to help.

[rage_]

*Trailer:* Hey you, looking at the screen. Lemme ask you a question
*Me:* what?
*Trailer:* Do you like awesome things that are awesome?
*Me:* what if I said no
*Trailer:* Then you gotta play this game, dude
*Me:* _accurate_