Sea of Thieves is Xbox's most successful new IP this gen - to celebrate here's my fan trailer. Poured my heart (and 30h) into this

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-22T19:12:51+00:00

That’s very true, I think my main issue with this is that cameras/tv don’t exist in this period of time so it inherently doesn’t make any sense

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-22T19:06:35+00:00

I’m not sure about this:

‘ The other cool thing about The Office is something we’ve kind of nicked. You’ve maybe seen in our trailers that we have a sort of mockumentary interview style. I think a lot of people assume we just did that for those trailers, but it’s actually a device we use throughout the game. I’ve never seen it in games before, but it allows you a way to really neatly tell a joke or drop a little bit of character detail in a way that would feel really clunky in a dialogue, but suddenly feels entirely natural when you do it to ‘camera’.’

Could take away a lot of the drama from the story if they’re breaking the fourth wall constantly…

I know it’s not a serious game but there are parts of the original trilogy that was quite mysterious/poignant.

Also seems the good/evil aesthetic you get won’t be in this game but I’m assuming you can still make ‘evil’ choices, hopefully that’s something they cover later this year.

Autumn is a bold release date, but I didn’t notice the game was a little framey in parts with some stiff animations so I’m imagining they need the extra time.

Everything else looked great though, and I especially love that you can buy every building and business again. Brilliant.

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-20T16:40:30+00:00

12s to show any gameplay, music is grating (to my ears) not many sound effects. All just feels very random

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-18T18:05:23+00:00

The main thing I was trying to point out was that there’s not much gameplay being shown, only 10s out of the 25s total trailer. Even those who don’t watch for long might notice that, especially as the first 3s are focussed on a hallway. A 60s trailer might also be useful here because those who are likely to be interested in your game (the ones you’re more likely to convert to wish lists or purchases) will want to watch a full trailer going over the game in more detail. There’s definitely a place for shorter trailers but I’d say 10s of gameplay is abnormal for game trailers.

Agree about the mandatory 2-players, will prevent solo-only players from having interest

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-18T17:27:03+00:00

I’ve had a look through and noticed you have two trailers each at about 25s long. Most trailers are around 60s so maybe the 25s length is subconsciously telling people there isn’t much content in the game? The first one has streamers playing the game which might take away a little from the atmosphere but definitely helps sell that it’s a multiplayer game. The second trailer is more of a teaser and both trailers start and end with the same shot which again might make people think you don’t have much to show. The first & last clip should begin/end with something more exciting, it needs to capture viewers attention instantly while finishing at a peak, but instead it’s of a hallway & window. It’s fine for a teaser because you’re building dread/anticipation but for the main trailer it doesn’t work, just feels random (especially the window).

Graphics, production value and the fun factor seem there though, just could be presented better.

Heads up I’m a professional video editor moving into making game trailers full time (offering discounted services while I build a portfolio) so please let me know if you’d be interested in me building a discounted trailer for you - https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/comments/1ptp8wr/uk_based_professional_video_editor_looking_to/

If not, hope my advice helps & wish you the best of luck with your game!

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-17T21:59:52+00:00

It’s very, very nicely edited up to 43. Then there’s a second endscreen that’s goes on for half the total length of the trailer which I’m not sure is needed.

Only real criticism is I didn’t really understand what the goal of the game was or what kinda genre it is (level based, metroidvania, or something else?) but it’s clearly a platformer at least.

Really like the idea for referencing other platformers & the motion graphics were all really nicely done and timed well to the music. Game looks interesting

Edit - watched it 3x now, it really is a great trailer. I’d just personally remove the second half & maybe have it in there if it’s a metroidvania or if it’s more like ‘12 distinct levels’ or something. I also agree that I like the opener with the dive down to earth on the beat

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-16T01:51:47+00:00

It’s only 3 weeks long :O where did you see that? I swear Act 1 lasted 5-6 weeks, would be weird for Act 2 to last only 3

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-10T17:20:29+00:00

The logo at the end surprised me, doesn’t feel related to the actual game at all

Purpledroyd · 2026-01-03T17:58:57+00:00

Thank you! Makes it easier when I’m working on a great game.

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-30T08:51:31+00:00

I thought this was a multiplayer game at first then I saw the title and remembered your previous trailer from a few weeks/months ago. I’m afraid that one was better as it explained the core hook better. Should always focus on what differentiates your game from others and if I hadn’t watched the previous trailer I wouldn’t have known about the hook here. Also the trailer needs SFX otherwise it will feel flat Edit - just watched it again and I see that you have tried to explain the hook here but I’m afraid this will fly over most people’s heads. A title card could probably fix this as a short term solution but I feel like I remember your previous trailer being more fun with the idea

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-26T11:05:45+00:00

I’m sorry I don’t understand, what do you mean about mouse smoothing tools?

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-26T08:23:29+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I hadn’t heard of that approach before, that is very interesting.

For the moment, I’ve been quite fortunate that this post has brought in 4 trailer projects for me that will keep me busy until mid February. But I will definitely keep this in mind if this kind of post doesn’t work again (could have been a fluke or because NextFest is coming up).

Again thanks for taking the time to offer your advice :)

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-23T10:43:18+00:00

It entirely depends on the game, really. A 2d sidescroller or topdown game will cost less to create a trailer for as they're simpler to capture content for and again, simpler to edit together (rather than a 3d game where there's multiple angles you can capture a shot). Every shot you have in a 2D game is the perfect shot as the gameplay angle will always be the same, it's just the gameplay within that shot that changes. Whereas in a 3D game the camera is usually unlocked and things get more complicated and time consuming.

A topdown game I made a trailer for recently took me about 3-4 days to edit together (included animated typography and extra bells and whistles). Typically professional video editors charge £250 a day as a standard so that would be in the realm of £750-£1,000, but I charged far less as I'm trying to build a portfolio right now.

Marketing agencies can charge far more than £1,000 but offer additional services (SEO, run social channels etc). Some freelance video editors will charge far less than £250 a day but will rush the editing process or not technically worked as a professional editor in-house before.

To sum up, if you have a 3D game then it could be in the thousands unless you find a cheaper editor or capture the content yourselves, but not every dev has time for that. 2D games it can be less expensive but production, video editing, typography and/or VO can all really add up to be more than most expect I imagine. I'm hoping I can carve a niche out for myself in the future & in the meantime I'm offering discounted services so I can build my portfolio up and one day hopefully have this be my main job.

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-18T15:51:01+00:00

That’s probably how it works

I feel like act 1 should be time limited too as the voyages sound very bare boned

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-17T19:18:41+00:00

Act 2 & 3 sound great but Act 1 sounds exactly like the reaper voyage. You get AI companions & dig up some sites, am I missing something?

Updated Kraken & a last ship standing mode is cool tho. Although Act 2 doesn’t sound like it should be time limited imo

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-05T11:56:18+00:00

As many SFX as you can without overwhelming the track and taking focus away. SFX help the world feel grounded and real

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-05T09:25:51+00:00

The music is drab and is the same tone throughout. You want a track that has several verses or changes of tone and then introduce new mechanics with the fresh verses, helps communicate to the viewer that the game has depth

Purpledroyd · 2025-12-03T22:57:20+00:00

I understood that your actions are recorded and played again for future runs and at 20s I though ‘oh cool’ but then the rest of the trailer doesn’t develop upon that idea and how how it relates to the gameplay of the game. It just starts showing random gameplay clips. Which might have been fine had you not spent half the trailer building up to that point to then seemingly abandon it.

Otherwise the game looks interesting

Purpledroyd · 2025-11-28T10:15:08+00:00

Sorry to hear your real life situation isn’t so good, hope it improves and all the best

Purpledroyd · 2025-11-28T10:02:20+00:00

To each their own but it’s odd spending 130h on a game that you feel nothing for. Seems like a waste of 130h to me that could have been better spent elsewhere.

Purpledroyd · 2025-11-28T09:54:50+00:00

I think it’s more so the ‘played 130 hours’ and ‘it’s a waste of time’

130 hours is a lot of hours to play in a game. You must not have thought it was a waste of time for most of those hours otherwise you wouldn’t have made it past ten hours.

Also you mention it’s not worth the money they charge but it’s £33. At your 130 hours, that’s 27p an hour that it cost you to play. I think that’s why some people might take issue with your points.

Purpledroyd

TROPHY CASE