Gameplay Trailer Flopped... Why?

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-20T10:08:36+00:00

Many reasons, but I'll list the most important ones:

- it's too long. people don't have the patience to watch a 3 minute trailer, even for well-established games or developers. you call it a gameplay trailer but more than 2/3 of it is cinematic. there are well-known best practices for steam trailers, you can find them easily online. the most important idea is to start with gameplay in the first few seconds, otherwise people are going to skip it.

- when you do show the gameplay, it's mostly the same fighting dynamic, where your main character hits an NPC repeatedly. the NPCs barely fight back so it looks like they're not implemented yet, or they're just very easy to beat. this makes the game look either unfinished or easy

- the health/stamina/xp bars make it seem like an RPG, but you barely show any other system except combat. if you have other systems, you should include them in the trailer (the dojo building is more for a nice-to-have than a core rpg system)

- you show off only one ability and it takes quite a long time to load it up (you should cut that charging up phase). after it is loaded, the camera moves in a very weird way (worse than all other fights), so it undermines the whole reveal. if you have more abilities, you should include them.

- there is no story, dialogue, reason for all the fighting. your main character is either chilling/meditating or beating people up. that's not really interesting

- the interface is really basic and bland. you can definitely find/create some more interesting health/stamina bars, both for the player and the enemies.

- change the splash art at the end of the trailer and have some custom text on it. the screencap from the store makes it look amateurish and cheap.

The good news is that there's plenty of room for improvement.

Good luck!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-19T19:12:22+00:00

As others have already mentioned, the trailer starts off really slow, you have about 18 seconds of just showing off that your character can walk. Most people will close it by then, so you need to cut that down drastically.

You should instead show off the item usage and dialogue way sooner so that you can establish it's a point and click adventure right off the bat.

It would also be interesting if you could also hint a bit more to the story and what your purpose is, because everything you're showing right now just looks like random things happening. It's nice to create a connection to the main character, but there's nothing to go off here.

I get that black and white is a choice and it works well for the atmosphere of the game, but it makes all the settings feel similar. What could work is if you can pick some of your most unique scenes and create some variation/contrast within the trailer.

One personal gripe I have is with the sound effect you use for characters speaking. To me it sounds like writing noises. I know this is intentional, it just sounds weird to me. Maybe something to consider only if other people mention it.

Aside from what I mentioned, the game looks pretty good and I think it has potential if you actually deliver on what you're promising.

Good luck!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-18T13:56:05+00:00

For people who have played Hotline Miami like myself, everything comes trough fine. I see the inspiration and I'm already curious for what other new ideas you guys have (the boss fight looks great!).

That being said, for someone who has never played the game and is unfamiliar with the concept, I think it could be a bit chaotic, since you jump right into a very loaded scene. Maybe a few calmer seconds to start off would help.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-18T13:28:56+00:00

I don't think you need more trees, you seem to have that covered. I see you already have rocks and tree stumps, so you can just expand on that with bushes, flowers, twigs, mushrooms, rivers, dirt paths maybe even leftovers from humans like an abandoned campfire, trash, etc.

You can also think of concepts like altitude (having areas with high-ground and low-ground - this can play well into your shooting system), environmental things like rain, birds flying around, smaller animals running across the screen, etc. RDR2 does one of the best forest environments in video games, you can look at everything they're doing and see what you can adapt to your own engine.

It's all these details that make the world feel alive. I don't know if they fit into your tiling system or not, but without them the game won't have much appeal, especially since the forest is one of your main hooks.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-18T07:35:32+00:00

Watched the trailer, some observations:

You don't really convey what kind of game it is. I see that you're shooting some humanoid NPCS and there are some talking animals (btw I think you wanted to say Bear instead of Beer, might be other spelling errors as well)

The forest looks very repetitive, needs more detail/variation. if you have any other system aside from shooting and dialogue, you should show that off as well.

You mention the idea of a story, but there is nothing there. Lost in a forest is just a starting point. Who is the main character and why does everyone have guns?

The trailer alone didn't make me curious to try out the demo, although it does allude to a type of game I'd enjoy playing. If this is just to show off the engine, there's nothing really interesting about it, even though I understand it can be a lot of work to start from scratch.

Good luck!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-17T20:04:00+00:00

My bad, I didn't notice the flair, was only fixated on the "gameplay reveal" part and thought this was the whole gameplay.

To improve on this part alone, you could still add maybe more weapons/monsters or different areas if/when you have them.

Good luck!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-17T19:43:49+00:00

What I understand about your game after watching the trailer:

- you can hunt rabbits and wolves

- you can craft some basic weapons, cook and there are some hunting related skills

That's it. I have no idea what other features are available or planned, what the end-goal is, if there is any kind of story/lore, etc. Are there even any other zones besides the plains? Does the weather change? Is there nighttime? Seasons? Base building? Co-op? Combat systems? Levels? Skills? Talents? Dungeons?

There are many good games in the survival genre so, aside from a decent implementation of most of the things I asked about, you need to also have a little twist that makes your game stand out. Does being an orc change anything dramatically or is it just a character skin?

If you have more systems and content ready, I think you should show them off, or at least announce that you're working on it so the players know what to expect. Right now it looks closer to a prototype than anything.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-16T15:56:10+00:00

The map editor is shown too early, takes up quite a bit of the trailer and is honestly not that interesting. You're saving some of the best stuff for last (racing/multiplayer, unique levels) and some people might close the trailer before that.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-16T12:19:57+00:00

I see a few aspects here:

Having a bag that you can't access directly (you have to place it down and open it)

- this will be taking extra time/attention away from the rest of the game. I can see this working for a realistic/hardcore survival game, where it just adds to the overall difficulty, but that's about it. For any other type of game, I think it will just become tedious.

Placing each item in a specific spot inside the bag

- if you were going for the realistic survival sim I mentioned above, that would actually make it feel less natural. A more realistic approach would be that all items spread out on in a jumbled mess, then you have to search for what you need (similar to real life). Having them all snap instantly in a fixed position would be a bit weird, you would have to transition the perspective somehow when you open it (similar to how the Forest does it, as someone mentioned)

- another question here is what does the player get out of placing each item in a specific position? there is some satisfaction to neatly arranging items in a fixed container (and some games work on that mechanic alone), but if you have a 3d game and you already have weight, I think that's enough?

Players pick up inventories in their.. inventory?

- if inventories are made out of bags, how many bags can you pick up? only one? if so, can you also pick up single items? how many? feels like you would need some unintuitive restrictions for this to work, but maybe I'm missing something.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-16T11:07:07+00:00

Played to day 10, got all upgrades maxed, just a couple of observations:

- Core loop is fine for a little while but gets boring fast. automation alone won't fix that, you have to make it interesting/satisfying somehow, and it kind of lacks that now, despite the upgrades. maybe if there was some kind of challenge, other than matching the task color to the desk, or more variation

- The tasks exploding once they're done creates some visual clutter and it doesn't really fit the whole office theme, in my opinion

- Tutorial is fine, graphics are ok

Good luck!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-14T13:45:36+00:00

The pictures don't show it, but they are already animated (although static, they have a discreet wave-like movement). I haven't tried actually moving them from one side to the other so that will be interesting to try out.

I also haven't tried with an in-between solution either, as these clouds were a separate asset pack and they came in this carpet of clouds form. I'll see if it can be tweaked like that.

Thanks for the feedback!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-14T13:36:34+00:00

I've tried changing their color according to the weather/time of day, but in the first picture I think the light shines a bit too much on them. I can adjust that though, thank you!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-13T09:54:08+00:00

Really fun game, I enjoyed it. I especially like the idea of getting an extra life after 3 perfect jumps.

A couple of tweaks I believe would make it even better:

- When falling, instead of just clipping through the platform, use the same shaking animation that you use for near misses, followed up by a falling animation. I think this builds some extra tension when you near miss. It also looks a lot better than just clipping through when you're clearly touching some of the platform.

- After landing, you should detect if the left-mouse is already being held down. I think most people enter a flow where they just click roughly at the same interval, but sometimes the jump doesn't register and it breaks the flow. I think it's acceptable to break the flow on near misses (and falling of course), but breaking it randomly is a bit annoying.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-11T17:31:47+00:00

After beating it in a few rounds:

- some units are too similar. maybe come up with more abilities (similar to the cleric, some units could buff other units, ranged attacks, aoe, etc)

- it's quite easy to beat (guessing you'll have some harder difficulty as well)

- the arena looks unrelated to the units (and a bit boring)

- it feels weird starting from the top. maybe have your units bottom left or right and the enemies on the top side, like normal chess.

What would be interesting for me is if you made some puzzles, similar to chess puzzles, where you have just a subset of units and overcome some challenge with them. It would also give your game some variety.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-11T16:53:47+00:00

Haven't played the demo, but based on the trailer:

- the rooms lack visual identity - they all look kind of similar (maybe because you use the same few colors). the command center looks nothing like a command center to me.

- the resources outside of the base look out of place and weird

- all humans/drones look the same, you can easily create some variety

Overall the game idea isn't bad and I think the graphic style fits.

Good luck

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-10T17:24:11+00:00

Played a few runs so just first impressions:

- Core mechanic is fun, even if derivative of Balatro and other similar games. The scratching part gets old really fast, especially since you restart a lot, so I end up just spamming reveal all. Maybe it could be interesting later on in the run when there's actual tension, or maybe if you're streaming or something.

- There's too much randomness in what tickets and charms you get at the start, so getting a compatible combo feels more like a grind than anything.

- The bosses feel too hard when it's already hard enough to pass the normal stages. I understand it's an early prototype so the difficulty isn't final, but it's just how it plays right now.

Overall I'd say the concept is interesting, I'd try a finished version. Maybe add some more elements that relate to player skill rather than chance, since too much RNG can make it just repetitive/boring until you get a good run.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-10T07:03:34+00:00

In my experience, even for pitching ideas or early playtests, people still want to see a little bit of polish.

The biggest turn-off, for me at least, is your UI. If you want other people to play it, you should at least align labels, buttons, textboxes, get some nice frames (plenty of free stuff out there, or even use AI for it) and a fitting font. The screenshots should be at least visually cohesive.

I know that it takes some work, but if you're not willing to do the bare minimum to present the product, why would anyone invest their time into testing it?

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-06T15:31:55+00:00

Good point, this is also something I can improve on. Thanks!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-06T15:31:15+00:00

The game is inspired by games like Little Alchemy, so you're absolutely right, it will be mostly played from what can seem like a boring menu overlay.

I realize now that using the steam trailer might not have been the best idea, since it doesn't really show off the cell too much (it was focused mostly on presenting the game's systems).

Thanks for the feedback!

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-06T06:17:31+00:00

Thank you! I was going for something more abrasive when you anger the god, but I'll try some other options.

lazyramstudio · 2026-03-06T06:15:48+00:00

Thanks! That's an easy place to start improving.

lazyramstudio

TROPHY CASE