Hi everyone!
I'm currently in the finishing stages of creating my indie game and was wondering what you all thought made a great trailer.
One that makes you want to play a game, that you feel like you need to play it.
Obviously, you'd need to at least be somewhat interested in the genre but aside from that, what are your recommended dos and donts to making a great trailer?

(the game's name is DreadStar, it's a rpg shmup and it's hopefully coming to gog sometime next year if they agree ^^ but in the meantime, it's going to come out asap on steam and possibly some other platforms)

Thanks for your input !

For trailers, I like to be able to wach actual gameplay and not just nice cinematics. With interface fully shown at least once, if possible. Good music helps for initial engagement, but getting to see the real experience is the key.

And please don't spoil the story too much.

Do not make the mistake to make the trailer to long or to detailed. It's not a tutorial or a let's play video. A trailer shouldn't tell everything about the game, it should rather make the viever interested to learn more. Focus on the key strengths of your game. Does it have great visuals? Show them! Does it have unique gameplay features? name them (and show them if possible)! Is it story driven? Give a short glimpse of what to expect. Also make sure, that the action fits to the music and vice versa.

Well yeah but i'm hoping for something a bit more detailed ;)
Like specifically, how the gameplay should be presented, etc.

I was thinking about showing glimpses of several bosses (not every one of them since i don't want to spoil the fun too much either) along with some fast gameplay sequences...with a glimpse of the final boss (in its intro sequence form) at some point.

I also think i'll make at least 2 to 3 different trailers with one more focused on the story aspect.

Thanks all for your input :)

I'm no expert but a good editing of the footage : the trailer must me be concise and to the point. It's not a teaser and it's not a short movie : it's an ad. You obviously don't want the ad to be a 5 seconds video because those sell on the name alone. I'd say the standard is between 1 and 2 minutes. Also you know that this is the Internet and that you are releasing on Steam, you must grab the attention right away about what is special/fun in your game and demonstrate it.

Good luck!

I like some loud brain dead Yankee screaming over some blurred footage with advertising every 2seconds, that's why I use YouTube for all my trailer needs.

I would like to see gameplay.

I would also like to see a bit of the game's menu, especially if the game has rpg elements. Maybe show a bit of the stat and equipment screens, for example.

Also, if there's music in the trailer, it should be music found in the game itself, or at least music in the same style as the in-game music. (Sometimes, music is a deciding factor in whether I get a game.)

(One other, unrelated, piece of advice; if your game is rejected on gog (or even if it's not), consider releasing a DRM-free version somewhere else, like on itch.io for example).

Producers, developer, publisher logos. For 8 minutes. And then a vaguely animated cutscene. With a voiceover that just tells of the game setting, and doesn't leave any hint about the gameplay or genre. And then a bullet points of features, including "save the world", "solve the mystery", "fulfill the prophecy" and "many achievements". And then the steam logo.

Can't beat that. Except maybe by quoting praises from random bloggers, forumers and friends.

"The thing is, it is great at toast, but can function as a traditional oven, if you make some concessions for the size of it!" - PC Magazine

Game play as too many give a sound track and music and a couple of pictures and I say ''well,where's the game play?''

Those 1 or 2 second cuts drive me crazy. Not long enough to see any detail or get a glimpse of how the flow of the game works. Doesn't need to be minutes long, mind you, but a 1-second flash tells me little.

Screen upon screen full of pixel mess explosions are a bit pointless. Great, the shooter game has you blowing stuff up. Never would have figured that out from the name "Killazoid: Big Boomfest of Explosions: The Wakening: KaBLAM!".

A good game trailer has the following features:
- It shows real in-game footage of actual gameplay, and the footage reflects what the player will realistically experience while playing. (In other words, no exaggerated, set-up scenarios made just for the trailer that the player will likely never encounter.)
- It describes various features of the game or gives a quick rundown of game modes/content.
- It doesn't try to sell the game based on external opinions/reviews; it just states the facts.
- It's well paced. It doesn't go on for too long about one specific feature, but it's concise while giving ample attention to each aspect it's trying to show. How long a trailer goes on for and how much time is spent explaining each feature can vary from game to game.

A good game trailer (Artificial Defense):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIOqfyQCmjE

It shows aspects of gameplay and finishes up with a summary of game features.
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A decent game trailer (Terraria):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7uOhFTrrq0

It's a bit long, but it demonstrates a variety of things you can do in the game, with each segment being split up into various parts that are introduced by a short line. Tracks from the game mute the in-game audio, which is a bit of a downside to this trailer, though some may argue that this helps the music set the tone for this 'adventure' style of trailer.
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An average game trailer (Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYgWJnEZVp4

While the video shows gameplay, the in-game audio is completely muted while a music track plays, preventing the viewer from getting any impressions on the game's sound design. The trailer doesn't list any game features.
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A poor game trailer (Hyperdimension Neptunia: Re;Birth1):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcT9H_stt1U

Being little more than a music video, it doesn't explain anything about the game or show any gameplay.

The question is too complex, because there are many different strategies for trailers, and the best strategy depends on the game and its targeted audience.
You did not give any details about your game, like 3d or pixel, hard or casual, anime styled or classic chars, long or short, elaborate or simplistic design.

Assuming its your first game and its a modest begining, i would say a good trailer would be you, describing briefly (in text or voiced) why you made the game, what you wanted to achieve, what are the main features that stand out, what kind of player was it intended for, all on the background of some gameplay video, or screenshots, or character designs. This would probably be perceived as honest and would create a connection between you and the potential customers.
Personally i like this approach better than some bombastic intro that has little or nothing to do with the actual game.
The honest and modest approach was almost the norm on Desura, which was my fave site for indies, but the overwhelming greed of Steam doomed that site to bankruptcy.

Agreed. Gameplay is the only thing I'm looking for when I view a trailer.

If your trailer doesn't present gameplay within about 5 seconds, one of two things happens:

I'll immediately lose interest
or
I'll go to youtube and look for someone who actually shows gameplay of the game. If I can't find it, I'll lose interest.


As for how that gameplay is presented.

I suggest enough consistent footage to show what the game is like. I hate it when trailers (for movies or games) have so many fast cuts that you can't tell what's going on.

I think mentioning a feature and then showing 10 sec of video demonstrating that feature is good.

I also suggest showing the ACTUAL gameplay. What I mean is, many times a company will release a trailer and show gameplay without a hud. That makes me think I can play the game without a hud, which I like. But, In the final retail version of the game there is no option to disable the hud. That's false advertising.

Oh, yes. for suggestions on the game itself, I suggest letting people disable the hud and choose their controls and difficulty options. Make that clear in the trailer too. I hate it when games don't give me difficulty options. All gamers are not alike.