CEO, Goblinworks
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The team is working on ideas for our first trailer for the game. We'd love to hear your ideas.
Conditions:
The whole trailer will be less than 2 minutes long, and that will feature about 90 seconds of "real stuff" surrounded by 30 seconds of marketing payload and legalese. So whatever your idea is, it has to be extremely succinct.
The trailer is going to focus on 4 key messages: Crowdforging, Settlement & Characters, richness of content, and "the world is new and awaits your impact".
Today, I'd love to hear your ideas about how we can visually express the following ideas:
- Your character's abilities are influenced by the collective success of your Settlement
- People in the community have already had an influence on the design of the game
As a part of the creative process it can be helpful to just spitball a lot of ideas. Sometimes the final concept emerges just from getting the creative flow going.
It can be very hard to contribute if you're worried that your idea won't be popular or might draw criticism.
So please do not critique anyone's ideas. If you don't like one, or don't agree with one, just ignore it. I'd rather hear more people make one idea than one person make many ideas.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Scene 1 - Show a group of PCs leaving a fairly small settlement, dressed in T1+0 armor, then show the group fighting goblins. Voiceover points out that by curbing the spread of these goblins, the characters aren't just collecting loot, they're contributing to the success of their settlement.
Scene 2 - Show a group of PCs leaving a large settlement (could substitute Thornkeep for a future settlement), dressed in T2+3 armor, then show the group fighting ogres or hellhounds. Voiceover emphasizes that the characters have access to better gear and advanced training because their efforts have helped their settlement grow.
Scene 3 - Settlement under attack. Siege engines and formation combat. Clear indication in voiceover or on-screen text that this is intended future content, not in game yet.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Perhaps my idea is too strictly based on concept:-
* World
* Settlement
* Character
Fractal presentation:-
Start with Map geographical -> Then add hexes displaying key information per Hex
Then show a Settlement Hex -> The building diversity in THAT "unique" settlement
Then show it's inhabitants -> Their skill training and division of labour and organization ideally their crests and colors...
...Then pan all the way back out of that fractal and speed-up into another part of the fractal with another group of players and then show the diversity of settlements and somehow how each group has changed things:-
You could have Groups here added these ideas and/or feedback improvement
All these added, this character added etc?
Or separate presentation using the World->Hex->Settlement->Building->Character->Skills and add the name(s) the peeps who added changed/improved different componenets of this at different scales each making a contributory difference?
Would be good to get GW team in there somewhere too ie 2-Way-Street = Crowdforging.
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Goblin Squad Member
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1) "Your character's as strong as the community behind it."
Close up to Character vs 1 enemy, zoom out to reveal character as part of a chain of characters vs the same enemy.
2) "Your Voice (may) shape(s) the world".
Character expressing idea as a symbol (for instance a Basecamp) on a cloud like a Comic book. Symbol on the cloud translates to image on the game of the same idea. (Could be mountains, or forests, or a settlement as symbols as well).
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Goblin Squad Member
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Some high-def super realistic looking battle using absolutely zero game mechanics or movement that is possible in-game. Don't forget to add something like an attack that kills 200 goblins at once so people feel envious of the trailer.
...jk.
Another example of What Not To Do: A series of images of the female iconics giving the audience 'come hither' glances, with a voiceover promising "the best adult fantasy gaming, for men only," and assuring the viewer that "your wife will hate this game."
(This anti-suggestion was inspired by the banner ads for games like Wartune.)
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Goblin Squad Member
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Settlement -
You can show a small group attached to a settlement going out at the Emerald Spire getting stomped by those mobs.
Then:
You can show several groups of players (including the first), maybe different colored uniforms all working for a single settlement. Each group going out and battling/taking towers, and showing that by taking them they are increasing the training of the Settlement.
Finally:
You can show the original group all decked out in new armor from the "Showing Community Influence," segment. They are back at the Emerald Spire, winning, and make it to the actual Spire.
Showing community influence -
Show a group of people gathering, then refining, and finally crafting a piece of armor. Then they can go out, in their new armors and battle cultist.
Resources, Refining, Crafting, and Achievements have all been crowdforged at some level.
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Goblin Squad Member
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My idea:
You start with the land map, select a settlement hex and zoom in, fading to game view.
There you see the settlement houses and the camera finds a party of 4 (strangely enough, one in heavy armour, one in medium, one in light and one in robes).
The party heads to the perimeter road and starts a patrol. Camera switches to view looking at party, cue enemy (monsters, other characters), who charge the patrol. A fight ensues, you see the fighter in the think of it, the rogue flanking and attacking, the cleric doing his heals and the mage using his staff, the party wins.
The next shot is of the party going around the settlement thanking each crafter, well at least walking up to them and acknowledging them. Perhaps you see armour and weapons being exchanged, if possible.
The party then lines up with all the crafters behind them.
"Pathfinder Online, it is the links that forge the strongest chain."
Goblinworks Executive Founder
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Two groups of PC characters fight. One of the groups starts losing, until the cavalry comes in the form of a few more characters using the most visually impressive equipment.
Those characters then wipe the flow with some goblins, and cut to them doing all the other things you want to show off.
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Goblin Squad Member
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The prospective new player should be able to see some of the more panoramic or cinematic scenes/views that are in the Alpha area (or a larger area if you have it ready on the test server or concept work) such at waterfalls, different terrain, at least one settlement.
An element of crafting should be seen, as that is a core part of the game mechanics should also be visible in some form.
At least one short group combat scene, either against another PC party, or some higher level monster camps.
Also maybe some of the upcoming things we do not yet see in the game that have been generated in GWs shop but are not playable yet like a large ruin (Mosswater perhaps, or a distant shot of the Emerald Spire) so they can see what growing in abilities might allow in the future.
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Goblin Squad Member
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My suggestions: a panning view up to Thornkeep. A shot of lone guy running from 30 chasing mobs or so is kind of funny. My first view looking out from on top of a mountain was pretty impressive and gives a sense of the scope of the world. A shot of the marketplace, busy, with couple characters elevated as though running trades or auctions.
Something else promotional id like to see, would be wallpapers for desktop and iPhone. Community submissions would be one way to crowdforge them. Maybe a section on Goblinworks.com for screenshot submissions of the day or week from in game.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Two groups of PC characters fight. One of the groups starts losing, until the cavalry comes in the form of a few more characters using the most visually impressive equipment.
Those characters then wipe the flow with some goblins, and cut to them doing all the other things you want to show off.
I like this!
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Goblin Squad Member
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Collecting our best screenshots sounds very useful to me. A selection of screenshots could replace the image on the Goblinworks main page.
(Not a dynamic rotation while the page remains open, please. Those tricks get annoying. A different screenshot each time we open a page should be dynamic enough.)
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Crowdforging: I think Avena said something like this, but basically have a shot during which everything players have contributed to the design of lights up or is highlighted. Since that might be everything in the game, you could keep it to items that were almost entirely player generated ideas highlighted. Of course have the voice over say something about Crowdforging. I assume Crowdforging here means player contributing to the design of the game, not player generated content like crafting, etc.
Settlement and Character growth: I think this should somehow incorporate Towers. You could have a battle between two different settlements over a tower, with one settlement clearly winning. Then cut back to town with a scene where one of the victors visits a trainer. Next, to illustrate that the toon gained power, have it don some visibly nicer armor.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Any trailer should include an escalation boss battle; a fight to control a tower; and heard progression that is possible during the first 3 months of EE.
If you show any cinematics of sieges or other feature not due in game for months or even a year or more, you will make the mistake that Funcom did with AOC.
No promises of features, just what is in.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Show the land rush. Show the Goblinworks leaderboard for guilds, and show the settlements as tied to each guild. Emphasize that settlements are named, constructed and directed by guild leaders. The leaderboard and land rush info will attract PvP gamists.
Show some aerial footage to demonstrate the size of each hex. Show the different icons for each terrain type, showcase what each area looks like and the resources available to collect. Hexes and terrain will attract simulationists.
Show the goblins. Show them dancing, show them killing, show them dying. Show them in all the different types of escalation possibilities. The goblin design is the best branding for Paizo, Pathfinder and Pathfinder Online. Seeing Wayne Reynolds designs in 3D will ping the subconscious of millions of people exposed to Magic the Gathering. It will wet the appetite for people looking for a narrative experience.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Expanding on some current ideas -
Stage 1 (10-25 seconds covering establishment of settlements and meager economy awaiting players to make it thrive.)
Stage 1a (show player characters building settlement, crafting their own items and putting them on auction. (auction optional)
stage 2 (two settlements want to dominate a resource area between them, they prepare for battle and march out of the settlement
stage 2a (the map is shown with arrows pointing from settlements to hex area with resources), cut to scene of characters traveling through woods, over bridge whatever)
stage 3 (in bold text "5 or 10 minutes later" the two forces meet across the field, giving some sense of time it takes to travel on map. then they exchange taunts.)
stage 4 (single guy, complete newb looking character stands capturing tower, watching the two forces before him)
stage 5 (Escalation army shows up, goblins or skeletons whatever)
stage 6 (the two PC forces go "oh crap" and combine forces to engage escalation army)
stage 7 (single guy at tower eats popcorn watching)
stage 7a (lone goblin creeps around)
stage 8 (escalation army defeated, two PC forces limp back off field back towards their settlements)
stage 9 (single guy captures tower, cheers with jubilation. plants a flag.
stage 9a (Goblin attacks, guy dodges and stabs him with his pike or pitchfork or whatever. (even the little guy wins here)
stage 10 - crowdforge - something about it
stage 11 - some hypnotic message
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Goblin Squad Member
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Scene: A party in T1 gear struggling with a group of mobs.
Show a guy in the windpw. He needs 3 components. (Hint: Need to be able to read the tooltips in the shot.}
Cut scene to a gatherer getting stuff from a node.
Cut scene to a quick trade to a refiner. Show refiner start process. Maybe the crafter buys one item from a quick shot of the AH.
Cut scene to crafter, gatherer, and refiner outside workstation. Show crafter enter stuff and start queue.
Show crafter wearing his cool new armor. Show the others in new robes, leather armor, whatever. All previous scenes need T1 or no gear so that you can see a difference.
Leads to those characters in this quick scene.
A party in T2 gear dominating an identical group of mobs.
Last scene: A party in T2 gear engaing a party in T1.
You would need to use distinctive gear and probably have a "T1 gear" and a "T2 crafted gear" scroll through the scenes where appropriate.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Stage 1 (focus: player influence on the game)
"We wanted to start small..."
[show the intial Alpha map, with a fly over of one of the intial three starting towns]
"...but our players had none of it."
[show how hexes are rapidly added to form the current map with a fly over of Thornkeep and maybe over a few hexes to highlight how big they really are]
"The first battle was for popularity..."
[quickly flash the weekly landrush leaderboards, maybe highlighting some of the significant weekly up / down moves with green / red arrows]
"...and the winners claimed their prizes and named their lands."
[show final landrush leaderboard in one corner, then highlight the winners from the final list starting from TEO and start dropping the settlement names on the map from the leaderboard starting with Brighthaven (making a clear connection from the guild to the name), slowly at first and then increasing in speed (as much as needed) so that we get the current map with all player chosen names]
Stage 2 (focus: collective success)
"But now the real battle begins."
"Who will have the crafters and be able to secure the resources needed to supply their troops?"
[show some characters "gearing up" near some fancy building from the starter rags and club to some fine pieces of armors and weapons]
"Who will be strong enough to protect their settlement against fearsome monsters threatening to take over the land?"
[some escalation footage, in some solo / duo players with starter rags getting their behinds handed to them, in others finely equipped large groups successfully rolling through hordes of mobs and downing bosses]
"But most importantly..."
"...who will be able to defend their land against others wishing the claim it theirs?"
[show some tower capturing / fighting footage, many good ideas for different angles above, with a map showing how control of towers changes hands between neighboring settlements]
"Will you have what it takes to make it in the River Kingdoms?"
"Pathfinder Online: War of Towers. Coming soon."
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Goblin Squad Member
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More like a fungus, surely.You're starting to grow on me. ;)Like grass?
I think it would be beautiful if they added specimens of the fungi kingdom but that is only a dream at this point. I am only asking for some good quality GRASS that is not super sparse at least on the fantastic setting.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Must admit I posted what appeals to me: Concept of PFO design.
Perhaps too abstract.
Alternatively more gameplay-centric exposition:-
Ideally such a trailer would show the political emergence of the map and illustrate it with historic conflicts or trade treaty agreements between different groups:
This would provide a sort of soap-opera narrative to destruction (war and conflict) vs (construction (settlement expansion and more options for players to take on roles) as well as a history of this world and it's denizens.
The only catch is you need some live gameplay for this ie this is "in-game footage and in-game events". It's more compelling than this is random gameplay of nameless players_x. There's real characters who if you meet them or see them you know their hand in how things have come to be.
It would I think compensate for the lower polish ie the emphasis on PFO is this growth of interactions and reactions - less to do with shiny graphics and flashy combat moves.
Flyin thru the clouds like superman, purplely.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I think one of the best advertisements would swoop in over the land down into an active settlement from the clouds. But it would also market the fact that it is a game in development, that grows even while being played, and that the players have had and will have a hand in its creation. Let the advertisement be true, unabashed, and proud of its accomplishments but aware and vocal about how far it is from finished. Let it be seen as it is, but let it's promise shine through like the star of a rough, partly polished sapphire.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Inspired by what Warhammer Fantasy fans will remember as 'The Waaargh', I call this 'The Escalation':
-curtain rises-
Dawn. A bustling Settlement/Town. From overhead, dawn's glow illuminates a jocular force in mixed equipment heading into the surrounding forest. The Goblin tribe is smashed. Beers are enjoyed.
-brief summer-to-fall montage-
Mountains. An ogre tower. Goblin shamans in an audience with the Ogre chief. Slit palms are slapped together. Outside, many throats roar approval. Banners wave as they are carried forth.
Sunset, a mixed Ogre and goblin force sacks and burns the settlement.
Moonlight, a Keep wall. Sentries spy a rag tag group running down the road, into the gates yelling: 'They're right behind us !'
-curtain falls-
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Goblin Squad Member
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One of the big ideas of a sandbox is interaction eg political shenanigans of a large player-driven scale and/or autonomy of action eg cooking or fishing the piquant scene of the lone adventurer or small party, one of whom is strumming a note on a flute or stringed-instrument, another is brewing some filter-coffee on the small fire, another is appling a wetstone to a sword, another is butchering some game caught reading for the evening meal.
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it would be awesome if we could play trolls and give orders to the goblins on escalations, throw giant stones and make funny noises.
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Goblin Squad Member
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it would be awesome if we could play trolls and give orders to the goblins on escalations, throw giant stones and make funny noises.I think goblins have a higher intelligence then a troll unless its a sea hag but I think sea hags are d&d ipo
Nah, Scrags are in the Pathfinder SRD so I assume not. So are sea hags (but then, sea hags aren't a type of troll).
But you are correct - Trolls and Scags are Int 6, goblins are Int 10.
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Goblin Squad Member
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it would be awesome if we could play trolls and give orders to the goblins on escalations, throw giant stones and make funny noises.I think goblins have a higher intelligence then a troll unless its a sea hag but I think sea hags are d&d ipoNah, Scrags are in the Pathfinder SRD so I assume not. So are sea hags (but then, sea hags aren't a type of troll).
But you are correct - Trolls and Scags are Int 6, goblins are Int 10.
I stand corrected. I mix up sea hags and scrags because of that thing in the movie Legend.
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Goblin Squad Member
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One way of showing "community" is to let players be the in game "actors". Get on ventrilo or skype with a bunch of players (maybe those who bought the alpha package?) who do streaming (unless you're able to ride piggy back with dev magic), tell them what you want to see and then show their name in the video.
For example, footage of someone killing a goblin and then harvesting a nature node, at the bottom of the screen the forum avatar from here is shown as well as "[forum name], crowdforger/kickstarter backer since 2012" or something like that (I'm thinking of the way you have some text at the bottom of the TV screen during news, like so.)
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Goblin Squad Member
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One of the big ideas of a sandbox is interaction eg political shenanigans of a large player-driven scale
That would be fine if GW was making a trailer for these forums, especially the last 2 years or so.
As for the in-game political landscape / gamesmanship, that will have to wait until after EE and likely not really until after the probable post KS Game Time drop off.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I think goblins have a higher intelligence then a troll unless its a sea hag but I think sea hags are d&d ipoA lot of the monsters found in D&D, even the Gods, didn't originate with D&D. They come from real world legends, myths, and ancient patheons. Like Bahamut and Tiamat.
Since the mechanics of the monsters are being translated into PFO anyways, you really just have to rename them from time to time. Like Sea Hag can Marsh Witch, tada.
I'd put players on the trailers. Even the worst looking of us look better than our characters. ;-)
I like all the concepts the players are suggesting you show, but the graphics at this point are soooo primitive and 1994 looking I'm afraid you'll scare people away.
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I'd put players on the trailers. Even the worst looking of us look better than our characters. ;-)
I like all the concepts the players are suggesting you show, but the graphics at this point are soooo primitive and 1994 looking I'm afraid you'll scare people away.
or better, renderize some our playerbase and pretend they are all happy trolls rolling in the grass.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'd put players on the trailers. Even the worst looking of us look better than our characters. ;-)
I like all the concepts the players are suggesting you show, but the graphics at this point are soooo primitive and 1994 looking I'm afraid you'll scare people away.
1994 huh? Here is an example of graphics in 1996.
Here is an example of graphics in 2004.
I believe that most of us have forgotten what graphics were like back then. Our fondness for those old school games clouds our judgement.
Pathfinder Online's graphics are light years ahead of those and they will only get better.
Edit: Might be nice if I had linked them in the correct order. ;)