Game Trailer Types
There are many types of game trailers including: Announcement, Gameplay, Story, Developer commentary, Overview/101, Update/DLC, Launch, and Accolades. There are probably even more than that, but those are the most common varieties.
Announcement Trailer
An announcement trailer or reveal trailer is the one which tells people the game exists. Typically, this trailer pitches the basic idea of the story and gameplay, but doesn't delve too deeply into details.
The reason for this is so you can save material to show later on in the marketing timeline and practically speaking there might not be much of the game to actually show in a playable state. This is why a lot of AAA games announce with very flashy and fancy cinematic trailers with pre-rendered graphics.
How much of your game you show in the announcement heavily depends on how much game there is to show off. For example, a short 1-2 hour game will have less to spread out through multiple trailers than a 40 hour game.
We'll get more into this in a later exercise.
But to sum up, your announcement trailer should give people a unique, simple, and easy to remember takeaway. Like "You play a goose!", "Explore a dark catholic world with souls-like combat", or "Take control over a man's legs as he gets through life."
Untitled Goose Game - Pre-Alpha Gameplay Trailer
Untitled Goose Game - Pre-Alpha Gameplay Trailer
Blasphemous - Announcement Trailer | PS4
Baby Steps - Reveal Trailer | PS5 Games
Gameplay Trailer
The gameplay trailer’s purpose is to showcase what it’s like to play your game. This is very important if the announcement trailer played a bit of a coy with this aspect and left your audience wondering “but what’s the gameplay like?”
Am I going to be building a castle in this comfy like game? Am I going to be exploring deep caves with a team of dwarfs? Or am I going to be playing as a fisherman trying to get by day by day with whatever cash I make as I’m haunted by lovecraftian creatures.
Tiny Glade - Gameplay Trailer | Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition
Tiny Glade - Gameplay Trailer | Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition
Deep Rock Galactic - Gameplay Trailer
DREDGE | Launch Trailer
This is your opportunity to show your game’s unique hook to your audience, the gameplay loop, and what you’re bringing to the table. When covering your gameplay loop you want to represent the ideas that will keep your audience playing.
Is it your game’s story elements, gameplay, or visuals? When showcasing these elements your audience will want to see something fairly representative of what your game will look like when they get their hands on it.
Story Trailers
Story trailers tend to expand on the broader narrative beyond the basic premise. In these types of trailers your audience will learn more about the world, characters, and maybe some of your game’s key plot points.
It should give people enough to know whether or not it's a story they're interested in seeing unfold as they play. A lot of story trailers tend to avoid showing a lot of gameplay, but I think it's ideal to show how the story advances from the player's inputs.
Developer Commentary/Overview
These type of trailers are the ones that remove a lot of the flash of hype trailers and instead focus on diving deeper into the gameplay systems and other aspects of the design which might be more difficult to comprehend through video footage alone. This is for games that have a unique gameplay hook or for games that have a lot of different invincible systems.
This trailer would best benefit an RTS or strategy type games. Please keep in mind that this isn’t tied down to these two type of games. This would also work well if you’re a smaller indie developer, because I think indie game fans crave some of that personal connection.
Inscryption | Developer Overview
Inscryption | Developer Overview
Desta: The Memories Between - Official Reveal Trailer | Summer Game Fest 2022
Killing Floor 3 - Overview Trailer | PC Gaming Show 2024
Update/DLC Trailer
This type of trailer targets mostly people who've already purchased a game and are interested in more content. These trailers are the sorts where it does make sense to talk about new features, modes and the amount of content you're getting. Just like an ad for a new smart phone can sell based on incremental feature updates.
Blue Fire Void of Sorrows DLC Trailer
Blue Fire Void of Sorrows DLC Trailer
Blasphemous - Official DLC Launch Trailer | 'The Stir of Dawn'
Astral Ascent - Yamat the Breach Traveler DLC Trailer | PS5 & PS4 Games
Launch Trailer
These are my favorite trailers, because they're the amalgamation of your game's core ideas and hook all neatly tied as it is released alongside your game.
There are many routes these trailers can take. Either sum up all the gameplay and story ideas you've pitched so far into one trailer or take a different route such as making a live action or animated short film to celebrate the release of your game. There are many occasions were some studios release their launch trailers with a mix of gameplay and an animated short, here are some of my favorites!
NEON WHITE | Launch Trailer
NEON WHITE | Launch Trailer
Bloodless - Official Launch Trailer
Astroneer: Glitchwalkers | Launch Trailer | Out Now
GUNBRELLA | Launch Trailer
Trepang2 | Official Launch Trailer
Accolades Trailer
This type of trailer is there if you're lucky enough to be working on a game which received a decent amount of critical acclaim.
These are the type of trailers where a bunch of quotes and review scores praising your game flash on to the screen and make the viewer think "Okay, there's SOMETHING about this game that is worth looking at."
I don't really recommend making an accolades trailer if you only have a handful of review quotes to that's because I think people largely don't care about quotes from people whose opinions they might not read or care about.
Shovel Knight Accolades Trailer!
Shovel Knight Accolades Trailer!
Lords of the Fallen - Official Accolades Trailer
Neva | Accolades Trailer
Until Then - Accolades Trailer
Gunbrella - Official Accolades Trailer
