Marketing in motion: year of production gifok
When Bundy and a friend started working on the dynamic wizard of the Legend, they understood that the main problem was a lack of experience. They had no connections, no marketing budget or expertise that industry veterans could use. Therefore, it was important to start talking about the game as early as possible.
They quickly realized that gif-images more accurately convey the dynamics of the game and better attract the attention of people. Over the year, they learned a lot about how to make a GIF.
Gifka should convey one idea or message. Do not try to explain the whole game in one gif-image. If you are demonstrating a new spell, trim the overlay animation and select only the effect of using it. If you show a beautiful environment, do not add noise to the scene in the form of a massive battle. Your goal is to highlight an aspect of the game that will encourage a person to learn more about it.
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The first Wizard of Legend gif, which lacks accents
Emphasis on one corporate spell
Adjust the scene and eliminate all the "dead space" so as to leave only what you need. This facilitates the creation of gifs, since you have a chance to hide the roughness in the game. GIFs are usually smaller than screenshots, so close-ups help people see better what is happening. Your game may look great in 1080p, but it does not help if you squint to see the animation, reduced to a gif-image width of 600 pixels. Except when this is the main part of the gameplay, you should trim the UI or hide it entirely.
The original look of the Wizard of Legend vs trimmed and increased emphasis on action.
Optimally gifka lasts 3-4 seconds. You risk losing the person’s attention and increasing download time if it lasts longer. The GIF should be short and interesting enough for most people to watch it at least twice. A laconic message is always better than the desire to show more. If you have problems shortening the video, you may be trying to show too much at once.
The resulting dynamics after trimming overlay animations and cooldown spells
Movement is striking, and today is harder than ever, to hold someone's attention when they scroll through endless streams of messages. For this reason, it is always better to keep the dynamics throughout the gif: start with an action and finish with an action. After viewing the first frame, it should be clear that it is animated. It is also very rare to see characters without animations during the game, and it will be strange if they remain motionless in the gif image.
The movement always attracts attention!
Do not limit yourself and play with the settings. If you record footage of the raw version and find that it does not work the way you want, you can temporarily change the game. Bundy gives an example of how a gif was created, which demonstrated the destructive power of a new spell. They noticed that some of the powerful enemies would survive the spell all the time, if they had not harmed them before. Instead of spending time on it before applying the spell, the developers changed the health settings of all enemies, so that the spell instantly caused the destructive consequences that were originally intended. As a result, the gif was easier to create and accentuate the effect of the spell. Before you change the settings of the game, create a backup copy of the project!
Result: Sweep the entire room to the homing whirlwind!
Not all of this can apply to you and your game, but we hope that you have found something useful for yourself.
They quickly realized that gif-images more accurately convey the dynamics of the game and better attract the attention of people. Over the year, they learned a lot about how to make a GIF.
Focus on one thing
Gifka should convey one idea or message. Do not try to explain the whole game in one gif-image. If you are demonstrating a new spell, trim the overlay animation and select only the effect of using it. If you show a beautiful environment, do not add noise to the scene in the form of a massive battle. Your goal is to highlight an aspect of the game that will encourage a person to learn more about it.
')
The first Wizard of Legend gif, which lacks accents
Emphasis on one corporate spell
Scale and trim
Adjust the scene and eliminate all the "dead space" so as to leave only what you need. This facilitates the creation of gifs, since you have a chance to hide the roughness in the game. GIFs are usually smaller than screenshots, so close-ups help people see better what is happening. Your game may look great in 1080p, but it does not help if you squint to see the animation, reduced to a gif-image width of 600 pixels. Except when this is the main part of the gameplay, you should trim the UI or hide it entirely.
The original look of the Wizard of Legend vs trimmed and increased emphasis on action.
Keep them short and attractive.
Optimally gifka lasts 3-4 seconds. You risk losing the person’s attention and increasing download time if it lasts longer. The GIF should be short and interesting enough for most people to watch it at least twice. A laconic message is always better than the desire to show more. If you have problems shortening the video, you may be trying to show too much at once.
The resulting dynamics after trimming overlay animations and cooldown spells
Keep the dynamics
Movement is striking, and today is harder than ever, to hold someone's attention when they scroll through endless streams of messages. For this reason, it is always better to keep the dynamics throughout the gif: start with an action and finish with an action. After viewing the first frame, it should be clear that it is animated. It is also very rare to see characters without animations during the game, and it will be strange if they remain motionless in the gif image.
The movement always attracts attention!
Do not be afraid to change the game
Do not limit yourself and play with the settings. If you record footage of the raw version and find that it does not work the way you want, you can temporarily change the game. Bundy gives an example of how a gif was created, which demonstrated the destructive power of a new spell. They noticed that some of the powerful enemies would survive the spell all the time, if they had not harmed them before. Instead of spending time on it before applying the spell, the developers changed the health settings of all enemies, so that the spell instantly caused the destructive consequences that were originally intended. As a result, the gif was easier to create and accentuate the effect of the spell. Before you change the settings of the game, create a backup copy of the project!
Result: Sweep the entire room to the homing whirlwind!
Some more general tips
- If possible, try making the first and last frames the same;
- Avoid using text where possible. It is difficult and long to read, and it takes a lot of skills to correctly fit it into the image;
- If you are showing multiple GIFs, the order matters. Always start and end with spectacular gifs. Try to vary the type of content that you show, so that the viewer does not get tired;
- Implement the ability to record and play inside the game, so as not to replay until you get perfect shots;
- Add a simple developer menu that allows you to reset the entire scene for recording.
Now Go and Make Gifs!
Not all of this can apply to you and your game, but we hope that you have found something useful for yourself.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/441416/
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