April update is up!

Oh, forgot to mention one thing - the idea to make super melee as an early access game on Steam looks great to me. People will comment on balance of the weapons, debate tactics and etc. So that you devs won`t be distracted from the main game + it will help raise extra cash. Just make sure that you indicate that it is combat PART of the big exploration game, so that people do not get confused and that when the final game is released, those, who got melee early access might get some discount on the main game. May be melee will grow into something of its own later on. Who knows.

I continue to be impressed with the ship and alien designs, and for the first time I think we can see how you guys are bringing out the characterizations with facial animation on this new guy. It is my hope that the characters will have a variety of facial expressions so that their responses in conversation don't get too stale or feel recycled. In a lot of titles that attempt this sort of thing, characters usually only have a couple of stock expressions but it would be refreshing to see aliens with a handful of them so it doesn't seem like the same conversation over and over.

It's acknowledged in the update doc that original aliens and story can only be used to the extent that Paul and Fred allow, which to me sounds more like there might at least be references to them rather than "the classic lore will be a non-factor". Wasn't expecting that, so I think it would be interesting and unexpected to hear names like Ur-Quan and Chenjesu dropped in a similar fashion to how SC2 dropped references to races still rumored to exist like the Taalo, Keel-Verezy, Nnngn, Faz, etc. that you never actually got interaction with or solid evidence of.

There are a still a lot of open-ended things that I can't really answer to because a lot is still being played close to the chest, but I was genuinely caught off guard by the fact you guys are already prepared to issue a teaser trailer!

Star Control never had a particularly cinematic element to begin with, the exception being the 3DO cinematics. Trailers are a completely new concept for this property, so we are treading on somewhat new ground here. I think it would behoove Stardock GREATLY to somehow acknowledge the classic lore in the trailer.

Look at The Force Awakens as an example. Its role as a film was pretty much identical to what is being done with Star Control: to reboot a classic franchise with a lot of risks being taken to excite fans without alienating modern audiences. So look at what they did with the trailer for that.

• acknowledgements to the original characters even though they are not the primary focus of the new story, because even casual fans know about Han Solo, R2-D2, lightsabers, Luke's artificial hand, etc.
• recognizable motifs within the music style; e.g. the finale score from Empire Strikes Back playing to footage of the Falcon on the run from Empire = guaranteed goosebumps (come on, fans had tears in their eyes from this)
• familiar costumes, ship iconography and color palettes (I think you guys have done a very nice job with this already)
• the literary theme of the light and dark elements of the force playing out through different characters

I know the budget for Star Wars is of vastly different scale, but these are simple elements that made helped make for a well-received trailer. Adapt the tone of the SC2 intro/epilogue cinematics and showcase the different personalities of the aliens you'll meet. Some examples of quick clips to throw in:

• funny aliens quipping with a silly joke (Pkunk/Orz)
• fraidycat aliens hiding in fear behind a nav console (Spathi)
• noble aliens getting psyched up for combat (Yehat/Thraddash)
• downright terrifying aliens staring through your soul (Mycon/Kohr-Ah)
• menacing lifeforms on the surface of a planet attacking a lander (Zex's Beast)
• non-menacing lifeforms doing the same (The Evil Ones/anyone remember the cute little aliens from GalaxyQuest?)

This will give audiences a feel for the TONE of the game and not just make it out to be yet another "starships in space" title. Nevertheless, I would hope to see at least one clip of rocketing through Hyperspace with a snippet of the theme playing, if not in the main body of the trailer then maybe as a final stinger shot at the end. I'm a SPEED FREAK so SHOW ME SOME SPEED!

The SC2 intro had a simple narrative setup without emphasizing a lot of combat, while the epilogue teased us (for 25 years, FFS!) with the Mark II being "an entirely different story". Giving a sense of both a linear narrative AND a non-linear open-endedness (without making it seem like an MMO) would go a long way towards conveying the scope of the game, but something tells me this has probably already been brought up in meetings! GalaxyQuest as mentioned above bears repeating; the tone of that movie was self-referential, lighthearted and fun and reminded me a lot of Star Control. You guys are not doing your job if you haven't studied this movie!

As for a few of the things I really couldn't care less about seeing in the trailer, here are some things that should be played down to set the game apart:

• emphasis on combat even though it will be a part of the game; there are already a menagerie of "indie 2D space combat title of the week" games on Steam
• the whole "you are the galaxy's only hope" trope and overplayed melodramatic cliches in general; if they must be thrown in, at least make them tongue-in-cheek

This, 100%. As for musical themes that should probably come back for the purposes of the trailer (in order or most crucial to least)

• The Intro theme (DA NANANA DA NANANA NUUU NAAW...)
• The Kzer-Za theme (I'd say Kohr-Ah, but that track was so ambient and atmospheric it would be both difficult to incorporate and needlessly up played.)
• The Yehat theme
• The Spathi theme, for good measure.

While combat should take back seat to everything else in the trailer, I don't think we should snub it completely.

And then there's my personal list of things that should be featured in the trailer:

• A Starbase.
• A Lander being built.
• A full jump into hyperspace.
• The inside of a bridge whilst in hyperspace. Let's see that crimson glow, baby!
• A shot of combat...FROM THE SURFACE OF A PLANET! (Completely unrealistic, but has awesome marketing value)
• An exterior view of a limpet-like mechanic in action.
• Interspecial flirting. Like, lots of it.
• A mysterious object on a planet that may or may not wipe out your lander crew.
• Speaking of planets, tectonics, fire trails, and lightning in action!
• More interspecial flirting.
• A planet being destroyed, shielded, or something equally horrible.
• innocent asteroids being obliterated. (YOU MONSTER.)

+1 on the interior red-glow bridge shot in hyperspace!

Shots of the unique combat mechanics are great ideas too. As opposed to just emphasizing combat for combat's sake, show what makes combat in Star Control unique. For example, in the same shots of limpet-like devices/creatures attempting to latch onto a hull, they can then be gunned down by point defense lasers, which would effectively highlight two special weapons in one shot. Or show ships transforming like the Mmrnmhrm X-Form switching into different flight modes. And definitely show off as many of the planet lander mechanics as possible because this is very unique to Star Control and could be a nice dramatic element for the trailer.

Personally I'd think it would be neat to mix up the music styles for the trailer. Would be neat to hear a more conventional orchestral theme for the first segment of the trailer, and the second part being more of a throwback to the original sounds with an energetic synthesized mix of action setpieces and alien race themes that we're accustomed to. Just a thought...

This prompts me to ask: is Riku still the only person working on the soundtrack? It's a big role to fill and I'd like to think others are involved as well.

Guys, aren`t you a bit too much into the teaser thing? Devs have to answer first if they need the intro-teaser for marketing or some other purposes.

Recall ME2 trailer - it was just a CGI movie w/o any actual gameplay shown. Same here. We have to find out what the devs want to achieve first. Are they comfortable with showing some gameplay? If they cannot show it to backers.... then I would not expect it to be in the teaser.

"How do we make a teaser trailer that captures the spirit of Star Control, but doesn't look too retro?"

So, you want the trailer to look mostly retro to cater to old school... That's totally fine by me, but unfortunately there's a massive flood of "retro" looking new games out there. We don't really want SC to get lost and drown in it, do we?

I suggest to keep not more than a third of a time of the trailer in retro/2D and in the rest use the latest and greatest tech available. If Mukay model is fixed and ready to go, include it. The alien is fantastic looking. It'd be cool if you make a smooth transition from concept art of SC2 style pictures into living and breathing Pixar level imagery. The same with the new Big-Eared Pokemon alien. It looks astonishing (even the eyes are fine, don't listen to Lone_Utwig. He just doesn't know that they are simply multi-faceted compound eyes :P). It has to be cinematic at least two thirds of its time. It has to be 100% eye-candy and have a shiver inducing narration (even if it's only a quote of some sort in the beginning).

This is how I envision the trailer:

1. Black screen, white letters narrated by Lauren L. fade in "Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars." - Serbian proverb

2. Quote fades out and concept images of whatever sort you think is important to show first fade in.

3. Concept image transitions into 3D for a split second (the scene "comes alive") and fades out (teasing).

4. Another image fades in and transitions into 3D subsequently fading out. Music smoothly transitions into combat music.

5. Third image related to combat does the same thing and fades out into a cinematic 3D combat (thanks to Nitrous engine) with bad ass sound track.

6. Combat gets interrupted by 2-3 glimpses of alien dialog screens with different aliens (all in their full 3D animated glory). Not sure if music can be "switched" smoothly to encounter music for these...

7. Combat cinematic of Skryve blowing up poor Dark Matter ship aliens ends with Scryve going into hyperspace. Battle music fades out.

8. Black screen. "Star Control" fades in. "coming in 2017" below fades in. Everything fades out.

I think this all can be crammed into 30-40 seconds teaser trailer.

Quoting Hunam_, reply 6

"How do we make a teaser trailer that captures the spirit of Star Control, but doesn't look too retro?"

 

So, you want the trailer to look mostly retro to cater to old school... That's totally fine by me, but unfortunately there's a massive flood of "retro" looking new games out there. We don't really want SC to get lost and drown in it, do we?

I suggest to keep not more than a third of a time of the trailer in retro/2D and in the rest use the latest and greatest tech available. If Mukay model is fixed and ready to go, include it. The alien is fantastic looking. It'd be cool if you make a smooth transition from concept art of SC2 style pictures into living and breathing Pixar level imagery. The same with the new Big-Eared Pokemon alien. It looks astonishing (even the eyes are fine, don't listen to Lone_Utwig. He just doesn't know that they are simply multi-faceted compound eyes ). It has to be cinematic at least two thirds of its time. It has to be 100% eye-candy and have a shiver inducing narration (even if it's only a quote of some sort in the beginning).

 

This is how I envision the trailer:

1. Black screen, white letters narrated by Lauren L. fade in "Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars." - Serbian proverb

2. Quote fades out and concept images of whatever sort you think is important to show first fade in.

3. Concept image transitions into 3D for a split second (the scene "comes alive") and fades out (teasing).

4. Another image fades in and transitions into 3D subsequently fading out. Music smoothly transitions into combat music.

5. Third image related to combat does the same thing and fades out into a cinematic 3D combat (thanks to Nitrous engine) with bad ass sound track.

6. Combat gets interrupted by 2-3 glimpses of alien dialog screens with different aliens (all in their full 3D animated glory). Not sure if music can be "switched" smoothly to encounter music for these...

7. Combat cinematic of Skryve blowing up poor Dark Matter ship aliens ends with Scryve going into hyperspace. Battle music fades out.

8. Black screen. "Star Control" fades in. "coming in 2017" below fades in. Everything fades out.

 

I think this all can be crammed into 30-40 seconds teaser trailer.

The transition from 5 to 6 needs THE EXACT classic battle ensues Klaxxon, imo.

On the Intro... are you willing to show abilities/weapons in this early video?  A few scenes of weapons/devices in action that are totally unlike the types of things you see in a FPS game could get people's attention.  One of the advantages of this kind of game is that there are a lot of cool weapons/devices you can do that don't really work well in the FPS games most gamers are used to.  You probably have a few of those, you could use those.

Of course, obviously the music is very important.  SC is known for its great music.  

I would want to show off the aspects of it that are not like other games in a cool way because "gods view" is so different than "looking through a straw" and at the same time the things that make the game different and unique like its "interlinked arcade game" nature.  Definitely convey in some manner that it is 2 arcade games wrapped up inside of an epic adventure game.  Today's gamers have never seen anything like it.

It's not so much an intro as a teaser trailer, which serves a different purpose entirely.

That's what I meant, an early teaser trailer.  The two things I think of for that are showing some of the unique types of attacks or ship abilities these type of ships/lander have as opposed to what most gamers today are used too.  For example, a flamethrower is a WHOLE lot cooler in an arcade view than it is in a FPS game.  Show some weapons/devices that are a lot cooler looking in this genre then modern gamers are accustomed to seeing them in first person 3D.

Then the other big point to make in my mind is showing players that this is a very unique game unlike anything they have played before.  It is two very different arcade games wrapped inside of an adventure and space exploration game all at once.  I would somehow make sure the player understands that after seeing the video.

A bunch of cinematic scenes of cool cartoon space ships alone does't tell them anything about what the game is.  I would make sure the teaser illustrates clearly that it is an adventure space exploration game with 2 different arcade games in it for flying in space and landing on planets.  That will get the attention of people who might be interested in this kind of thing.

Well, let's take some recent (very popular and very successful) teaser trailers.

XCOM 2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E_-2wIJIzQ

DOOM : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSZ4tSoumNk

Fallout 4 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjzk-ElwdY4

Overwatch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqnKB22pOC0

Notice anything in common between them all? Aside from Overwatch, these are all trailers of either sequels or reboots, properties that have very well established worlds that are being sold to both an existing audience and new audiences. I don't know if It should be as fancy as a live-action trailer, or as cinematic as the Overwatch pixar-style trailer, but I think a happy medium between all of these would work great. Elements of what made Star Control great before being showcased just as high as the new experience being crafted by Stardock. The trailer should reflect what the new Star Control was and what it can be. 

^ All of those aren't teaser trailers.

This is what teaser trailer is like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xtJ0rFGqV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ri-RvQThPk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PxVuf92EMs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJAArAiR-mM

Many of the teasers for the games I listed are no longer listed, so I put substitutes in.

^ But those aren't valid replacements. Teaser trailers are usually up to 1 minute long. 1/4 of which are just company logos etc. They almost never show the gameplay. They are there to make a talking point, fire up a discussion and create an intrigue for the game. I don't get why people are asking for gameplay and finished game scenes when they weren't even revealed to us, meaning they aren't ready to be shown.

Maybe SD needs to be a little clearer on what they are trying to do with this. Or show us their take on it, so we can discuss.

I think Brad was perfectly clear in his update doc about what they were looking for: inspiration for a trailer from fans who know the source material. He never said there would be just one trailer either. They probably don't have a take on it yet, so they are asking for input. And the links from Volusanius were fine suggestions.

Stardock ain't no dummies; their trailers for GalCiv3 were well done especially considering it's not even an adventure game. I think that parts of their launch trailer for it could almost be interchangeably used for Star Control. They show some great shots of alien diplomacy screens and the narration asks open-ended questions about what kind of decisions you'll make as the player. I look forward to seeing how those very polished dialog and diplomacy screens translate to Star Control.

I'd be fine with them just sort of spicing this up and making it less dramatic, and more fun and adventurous with some exciting music.

The only trailers that struck me as interesting in recent months were those for Hyper Light Drifter, to the point where I actually ended up buying and playing that game despite not being a fan of the genre. What got me was how they made excellent use of their game's soundtrack, and synchronized it with images so effectively that the end result has a near hypnotic quality. A single unique audio snippet instantly conjures up the game logo in my mind. Many games try it, few succeed.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN9YsuJMsDg

Intro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB-pG7wEnzM

Just until the 16 seconds mark of the video, would been an awesome teaser, the game is awesome anyways

Regarding the trailer: have you guys watched Archer? The way they bound the trailer for Archer Vice into the season finale was brilliant Here to recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcKk22LNdJE

I'd picture the StarControl trailer taking several dozen pages out of the Archer Vice trailer book.

I guess that means I'm tying it in with how Awkbird and Volusianus described the trailer: a whole series of seemingly unconnected excerpts that actually form the story (and happen to showcase various elements that will be relevant to the gameplay of the game).