[DONE] Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

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doofus-01
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[DONE] Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by doofus-01 »

[Demoted from Global Announcement position since the 1.14 trailer from Kasdel is out along with version 1.14.0 as of one hour 18 minutes ago. — shadowm 2018-05-01 19:18 PDT]

Hello Wesnoth community,

For Steam release, it seems we need a trailer, and the one we had to get into Greenlight doesn't count. Is there anyone who would be willing to work on this?
The current trailer, which can be found on the homepage, is this:

That's the bar we need to clear. The new trailer should use BfW 1.13.11 or later.

If serious, either post your intentions & details here or in https://discord.gg/battleforwesnoth. I believe a trailer would be best done by someone familiar with the game, and we'd rather hire someone from the community. Let's discuss the story images and specific replays used before any work is done.

Let us know!

EDIT: Cleared up some ambiguity, and linked the current trailer.
EDIT: Moving to global topic type, because May is coming soon, and we don't have a trailer yet.
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by Pentarctagon »

To clarify, is this something that the person would be paid for(since you mentioned hiring) or a volunteer effort like the last trailer?
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by doofus-01 »

We can't go throwing money at everything, but if we need to commission it, we can. We'd need to negotiate the details.
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by guidobartoli80 »

A full footage with text overlays and effect or just some gameplay clips?
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by doofus-01 »

Hello guidobartoli80,

We are looking for something at least as good as the trailer on the www.wesnoth.org homepage. Sorry that was vague, I'll update the first post.

Ideally, it should focus a bit more on more recent story images, and focus on fewer, more spectacular replays. The current trailer is pretty good, but it's for BfW 1.12 and, at least in my opinion, it jumps around a bit too much. If anyone is interested, let's talk about which images and replays should be used before recording anything.
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Kasdel
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by Kasdel »

I'd love working on this. For free, of course; Wesnoth is free and it's only fair as a longtime player to give back in the same way.

I feel like a trailer would benefit a lot from parallax story images, with several layers separated by how distant or close they are to each other. It's frequently used to give 2D images an animated-movie style. Adding portraits on top of story images could also work to help strengthen this feel.
One thing that I think would also make it look more professional would be to get the story images and, if possible, the portraits (or some of them) in a higher resolution. The same thing for the Wesnoth map. If those are around somewhere, I think they would be quite helpful to make a more crisp-looking trailer. I scoured through the Wesnoth files and the images there seem a bit too small and would possibly have to be scaled up to the point of being a little blurry, but it can work.
I'm getting a lot of ideas... :)
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by doofus-01 »

Kasdel wrote: April 4th, 2018, 4:41 pm I'd love working on this. For free, of course; Wesnoth is free and it's only fair as a longtime player to give back in the same way.
Hi Kasdel,
Thanks for the offer, it would be great to have this community-generated. Have you made trailers or similar videos before?
I agree parallax scrolling would look cool, maybe it can be added some day, but it isn't currently there. There are a few assets in this github repository:https://github.com/wesnoth/resources

------------------------------------------

We don't have much time, so I posted a classified ad: http://forums.indiegamer.com/threads/pa ... ler.62992/
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by Kasdel »

I have experience with video editing and trailers, yes. I'm not a professional, but I've made and helped make amateur movies (and my brother is in film school).
I can do the parallax in the editing, not in-game. I know it isn't supported currently. It's just a matter of decomposing the existing story images into layers and making them move at different speeds.

I can get it done pretty quickly (without compromising on the quality, of course). When is it needed? I can have it done this week.
EDIT: May 1st? I'd definitely be able to have a trailer ready by that date. I can also keep updating on the process.
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by doofus-01 »

Kasdel wrote: April 5th, 2018, 10:50 am I can get it done pretty quickly (without compromising on the quality, of course). When is it needed? I can have it done this week.
EDIT: May 1st? I'd definitely be able to have a trailer ready by that date. I can also keep updating on the process.
We probably will need to have some back-and-forth before we crash into the deadline, so if you can show a draft within a week or so, that would be great.
Kasdel wrote: April 5th, 2018, 10:50 am I can do the parallax in the editing, not in-game. I know it isn't supported currently. It's just a matter of decomposing the existing story images into layers and making them move at different speeds.
Ah, I see. The actual game-play should take center stage, but the effect you describe could be a nice effect if used judiciously.

Thanks.
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by Kasdel »

Hey! I've been working on it, and while I don't have a lot of gameplay footage recorded yet, the "storyboard" of the trailer is pretty much done, along with a few things I could do without the footage.

Basically, I put Return to Wesnoth as the trailer music, with the middle of it seamlessly cropped out so it transitions from the beginning to the more epic part near the end to the calm ending, and synced textboxes to the music with what I want to appear, in order. For instante, I'll have some seconds with the music playing and "Infinite replayability" (or something of the sort) and "Gameplay footage" as a placeholder for the actual footage, then when the rhythm of the music allows it, something else will appear on screen, like "Rich fantasy lore" with portraits and story images to complement it.
I'm also thinking of showcasing gameplay specifically for each faction.

I'll post a video update soon.

The music, with the cropping done, lasts for 1 minute and 36 seconds. Is it a good trailer length? It's longer than the current one, but I think it's suitable, so it can be a little more in-depth, since we're trying to appeal to a bigger audience.

I'm planning on including some zoomed gameplay (the vector effect that was added fairly recently makes zooming look really pretty, and better to do it in-game than have to zoom while blurring it in editing, like in the current trailer). Not all of it will be zoomed, though.
But when it's zoomed, is there any way to make the damage numbers that appear over the units bigger (without making the rest of the text bigger) or have them disappear altogether?
Also, I've spotted a weird effect in some terrain tiles, like white pixels in some of the edges, when it's zoomed-in (with the in-game zoom). Is there any way to fix it? It's not that big a deal since it's only in some tiles and only occasionally.

Meanwhile, here's a preview of something I decided to include in the trailer: a few seconds with lines of many unit sprites moving in the background and a showcase of animations in the foreground (the odd and even lines will be slowly moving in opposite directions). I chose the Horseman and the Dragonguard for the animations, I think they are some of the best around and illustrate different aspects of the art: one has a pretty slick melee attack, the other a ranged one with a flashy halo.

(The font I used is the one on the Wesnoth logo, Oldania. I might replace it with another one if it looks better, so if anyone has any suggestion, post it and I'll look into it. It looks nice right now, I'm preferring it to other more common serif fonts. I tinkered with sans-serif fonts, and while they can be beautiful, they don't suit the fantasy feel of Wesnoth as well.)
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by The_Gnat »

Hi Kasdal that sounds great, :D I can't wait to see it! And yeah I would say 1.5 minutes is fine.
Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm I'm planning on including some zoomed gameplay
Awesome! 8) That will look great!

Also I had some thoughts after looking at the 1.12 trailer. Perhaps the new trailer could have some portraits showcased (there are a lot of really good ones)! Also perhaps the ToD shifts or something to do with that could be shown, as it is a large part of the game. Of course feel free to do as you see best! :D

Also I was thinking that in the 1.12 trailor it had too many words. I think the idea you mentioned of having quick phrases is really good:
Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm For instante, I'll have some seconds with the music playing and "Infinite replayability" (or something of the sort) and "Gameplay footage" as a placeholder for the actual footage, then when the rhythm of the music allows it, something else will appear on screen, like "Rich fantasy lore"
By having less text it will make it easier to read and won't cover up or get distorted by the background and also it allows the viewer to see the gameplay better, so i think that will be really good!

I look forward to seeing a the video update! 8)
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by doofus-01 »

Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm Basically, I put Return to Wesnoth as the trailer music, with the middle of it seamlessly cropped out so it transitions from the beginning to the more epic part near the end to the calm ending, and synced textboxes to the music with what I want to appear, in order.
That was certainly the right track to pick. I'm having a bit of a hard time envisioning exactly what you're doing, but it sounds about right. :)
Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm I'll post a video update soon.
Cool.
Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm The music, with the cropping done, lasts for 1 minute and 36 seconds. Is it a good trailer length? It's longer than the current one, but I think it's suitable, so it can be a little more in-depth, since we're trying to appeal to a bigger audience.
That is a perfect length. 2 minutes +/- 30 seconds is the rule of thumb, as I understand it.
Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm Also, I've spotted a weird effect in some terrain tiles, like white pixels in some of the edges, when it's zoomed-in (with the in-game zoom). Is there any way to fix it? It's not that big a deal since it's only in some tiles and only occasionally.
I'm not sure, let's not worry about that, if there is a way to avoid it. We don't want to lie to anyone, but we do want to put our best foot forward.
Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm
Meanwhile, here's a preview of something I decided to include in the trailer: a few seconds with lines of many unit sprites moving in the background and a showcase of animations in the foreground (the odd and even lines will be slowly moving in opposite directions). I chose the Horseman and the Dragonguard for the animations, I think they are some of the best around and illustrate different aspects of the art: one has a pretty slick melee attack, the other a ranged one with a flashy halo.
That sounds like it could be a good idea, it'll come down to the execution, of course. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

I'm having a much better feeling about this, Kasdel. Keep at it!
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by Sadaharu »

Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm(The font I used is the one on the Wesnoth logo, Oldania. I might replace it with another one if it looks better, so if anyone has any suggestion, post it and I'll look into it. It looks nice right now, I'm preferring it to other more common serif fonts. I tinkered with sans-serif fonts, and while they can be beautiful, they don't suit the fantasy feel of Wesnoth as well.)
Hi! I've been working on a font in some of my spare time. The Latin character set is more or less done… I think this is the correct link for the preview. If you want to use it I still have the .svg files for this and the numbers set (and Cyrillic characters, too - I've yet to do the Greek letters) available.
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by Kasdel »

Sadaharu wrote: April 15th, 2018, 4:36 pm
Kasdel wrote: April 14th, 2018, 11:35 pm(The font I used is the one on the Wesnoth logo, Oldania. I might replace it with another one if it looks better, so if anyone has any suggestion, post it and I'll look into it. It looks nice right now, I'm preferring it to other more common serif fonts. I tinkered with sans-serif fonts, and while they can be beautiful, they don't suit the fantasy feel of Wesnoth as well.)
Hi! I've been working on a font in some of my spare time. The Latin character set is more or less done… I think this is the correct link for the preview. If you want to use it I still have the .svg files for this and the numbers set (and Cyrillic characters, too - I've yet to do the Greek letters) available.
Wow, nice work! Creating a font is definitely not easy. I've settled for Oldania, though, I'm quite liking how it looks now, but thanks anyway :)

I know I said I'd post a video update, but since I'm 99% done (of course everything will still be open to feedback), the next time I'll post, I'll have a full trailer ready. Probably tomorrow or the day after. Or maybe still today. As soon as I get it ready, it'll be here. :D

Meanwhile, another still, with some of the zoomed-in gameplay footage. The portraits are a little blurry, but the units look nice and crisp.
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Re: Request for Trailers (1.13/1.14)

Post by The_Gnat »

If you have trouble with images being blurry try displaying them at their original size. For example Mage red female exactly 390x390.

(But of course it doesn't really matter too much)

I really look forward to seeing the video!!
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