Crashblock Windows Shareware is Live

[jasonf]

It's been live for just over a week now, it's received a reasonable amount of interest, but not as much as I'd like.
Marketing seems to be just as much work as development. Still, it's early days.

So to commemorate the 1st week of "Going Live" on time, here's a video of the game :)

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tox2nYljVfg"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tox2nYljVfg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Apologies if the quality isn't too good, I put this together last night from scratch.. learning as I went. I now have a list of features which I'd like Camtasia Studio to support...

Enjoy.

[czar]

That looks interesting. Good luck with promoting the game. I will have to try it out.

[Huehnerschaender]

Cool video :)
Which software did you use to make it? I like those zoom in's !

[jasonf]

Cheers fellas,

I used Camtasia Studio, I've got a 30 day evaluation copy, so I'm evaluating :)

The Zoom feature is the best thing about the studio aspect of the software. It's not very clever when it comes down to audio though.. I couldn't do audio transitions (a simple fade would have been nice..) hence the quite abrupt song changes. Also, the transitions are buggered.. I set a transition in between two splits, and it plays the transition perfectly, then it repeats the video it used during the transition from the beginning.. and I can't find any way around it.. So I couldn't do mid clip transitions :(

The Animations, logos and Level Introductions were done using Xara Xtreme Pro, They're flash animations which I recorded to avi using camtasia studio (it does have very good screen capture capabilities)

It would rock the world if it allowed for multiple audio tracks, volume control and fixed the transition problem. Multiple overlayed video tracks with chromakey support would be nice too ;-)

[pstudio]

nice vid
I especially like it in the woodlands where you have build up the blocks so that you only need the 4 blocks in a straight line (does tretris blocks have names?) to get plenty of lines. Then when you get it you collect the last star before you get the chance to release the block. I've tried that a couple of times myself and find it quite frustrating. :lol:

One advice. If you want to use the video as a commercial I would cut its length down. With all due respect I think you can present the whole game in 1-1.5 minutes as well as you did in 5 minutes. Even better. I almost didn't bother watching the video all the way throuhg because basically it's the same you're showing. The gfx just changed. I'm fearing that potential buyers don't watch the movie in it's full lenght, and thereby miss the message to buy/try the game :(
I could be wrong though. I don't work in advertisment ;)

[Huehnerschaender]

Yes, you are right... commercials need to be short and bring the message to the point in a fast, but memorizing way.

I am sure there is a way to do the transition correct. I guess its just an option you have to set somewhere... The programmers of that app would have noticed that if it was a bug... You cannot make cool videos without transitions.

[jdarling]

Jason, well as we have talked about I am in marketing and advertisement so I'll give my two cents for what they are worth.

This is a very good game play video, but way to long for marketing purposes. Try to keep it to 30-45 seconds in length, an absolute max would be 1 1/2 minutes. The normal viewer makes up their mind in the first 7-10 seconds and will stay tuned for up to 45 seconds. Anything more is just filler for a video game and filler makes it look like you don't have much to show.

The 2nd sound track is the best to put the advertisement to. Its up beat and conveys a sense of urgency. Take it and about 20 seconds of the BEST game play and see what you can do. Now add in a 2 second (no longer) title screen, and 3-8 seconds of trail out making sure that your web address is on the LAST frame of the video. That way when the video stops you will be left with the web address for the game.

In case your good at math, I said 2 second lead-in, 20 second game play, 3-5 seconds of lead out. Thats only 25-30 seconds total, try and add in some interesting transitions between screens, NEVER EVER EVER go to a white screen, the color saturates the viewers mind and they will miss the first 1/2 a second after the white transition. Instead go for a flip with black between game screens, or use a slide out, fade to black and fade in. IE Always use black as a filler. It creates a hole in the mind that makes people want to fill the hole, they automatically fill the hole with the next image they see.

Make sure the video is viewable at many resolutions and place it in key locations (IE: boards, blogs, youtube, and on your home page). Also, build out something in flash or silverlight to showcase the game quickly and in common banner sizes. In case you don't know, top and foot ads are typically 468x60px (Width x Height) with left or right block ads coming in at 120px wide and some place between 240 and 320px high.

These ads you should place carefully on pages that will gain attention.

The current video should be placed on your website and places of great interest (gge for example) that will tolerate longer video lengths. Mark it as a GAME PLAY VIDEO and not an advertisement.

As I said before, if you want help with marketing let me know I think you have a good looking product. Now its time to get it in the public eye and see if you can't make a buck or two from it :)

[jasonf]

I think I'll create a new one next week, this was my 1st foray into the world of cinematography :lol:

I'll make it quite short though, I'll record some more video of exciting bits, I'll probably use media maker to splice the vids together. Camtasia is quite good at resizing though.

Jeremy, I'll PM you soon about the marketing stuff..
This info here is good stuff though, good advice for anyone making an advert for their game. Certainly things I'd not really thought about. I quite like the fade to white stuff, but I can see what you mean.

I've been thinking about flash banners for sites. Xara can do a pretty good job of making them, so I'll use the tool I know the best and see what I can come up with. Most ads are simple, so I should be able to get something up in a short amount of time.

Thanks again :)