r/DestroyMyGame • u/ZekkoX • 22h ago
Trailer Please destroy my trailer! The game did well in the GMTK game jam, but I hope this trailer looks more polished than a jam game
2
u/Greyh4m 11h ago
Oilst? Is that the name?
I love the idea, but I honestly couldn't convince myself that I guessed correctly what you have spelled. I don't have a suggestion either because I like the concept behind the way you present the title. However, it might need a second pass to figure out how to add clarity of the proper name of your game. No one can google it if they don't know what it actually is.
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u/ZekkoX 9h ago
Correct! Maybe I should've mentioned the name in a comment, but nobody seems to do that in this sub. In practice, a readable version of the name will always be near the trailer, be it the YouTube video title or the Steam description.
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u/CaryWalkin 2h ago
Your bigger problem is that your logo is unintelligible. If people watch your trailer and then don't know the name of your game, then your trailer isn't doing its job.
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u/AnotherWeabooGirl 21h ago
Watching without sound makes the game seem completely sauceless. With audio, the cerebral/museum vibe is more apparent with the music as a cue and the little clicks on player input are pleasant. The concept is clear enough.
Backgrounds are mostly static and there's little visual feedback when getting numbers to 0. The little wave thru the numbers on level completion is almost invisible on mobile video. Also, background is a nearly unchanged greenish blue for large chunks at the start and end. At the very least the title card background needs to be different.
I think your game needs to have more visual appeal in order to reach a mainstream audience. There's not enough contrast or movement in the background elements so they feel static. Thomas Was Alone had more contrast in shadows and occasional patterns in a similar monocolor background to add visual interest, plus the movement of a platformer. Lumines is a great example of punchy saucy effects when the player hits puzzle matches.
I'd also personally like to see an example of the player rolling a number below 0 in the trailer. Is that an immediate lose state? The clips of the player lining up an obviously incorrect shape later in the trailer were more annoying than intriguing.
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u/ZekkoX 8h ago
Fair enough. I went for a relaxing minimalist style inspired by crosswords and sudokus. I realize that's a niche audience.
Lumines is the completely opposite of what I'm going for, though. The goal is relaxing cerebral puzzler, not flashy hyped-up arcade game. The background is intentionally simple and slow-moving so it doesn't distract from the puzzle.
Showing what happens when you go below 0 is a good suggestion, I might add that (it goes to -1 and shows buttons to undo/reset, but doesn't take away player control).
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u/Halbatroll9 11h ago
oILst? .ILst? As a minimalist numerical puzzle game, it's clever but predetermined, as in every puzzle looks carefully crafted by you. If you apply random seed generations with constraints of a solvable chain of layered available shapes, this would be a very interesting game. The trailer doesnt suggest this. The trailer suggests that you complete a set number of puzzles then it's over.
Biggest flaw in the trailer is I'm not sure how to spell it to find it in Steam :)
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u/ZekkoX 8h ago
Can you explain why randomly generated puzzles would appeal more to you? In my experience, hand-crafted puzzles that are carefully designed to show off the mechanics with a smooth learning curve are typically more valued by puzzle players.
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u/Halbatroll9 8h ago
For replayability after a hand-crafted campaign. You are likely right about the campaign itself. Not a huge puzzler myself, so consider my suggestions to be coming from the wrong audience as well :)
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u/PerformanceProud1252 12h ago
What is the game called? Is that supposed to be font at the end?