I am going to list some of the some of the lessons I learned from doing my first Dev in hopes that other developers can catch similar issues and have better videos their first time out.
- Do not start your video with a vague intro
- State the Game you are going to be talking about
- Introduce the game in a short elevator pitch style
- Focus on a single area that you want to talk about
- Move slowly through the video
Now to explain each point.
Lesson 1
I starter my video with my company logo fading into a title screen for the game. I did not speak and there was zero sound.
Why this is bad.
I got a few comments that people thought there was going to be no sound and almost stopped watching.
For video and especially YouTube video people want to feel hooked in the first 10 seconds if not sooner. My video's first 8 seconds were silence and not that inviting.
Lesson 2
While I had a title screen this does not equal a connection between the video and the game it is related to.
Why this is bad.
I received more then a few comments asking what game this video was talking about. Proving that stating the name of the game with sound has far more impact than simple words scrolling across the screen. Plus saying it reinforces the name in the viewer's mind.
Lesson 3
I failed to really introduce the game, the play style, or the objective of the video.
Why this is bad.
In similar fashion to Lesson 2 people had a hard time understand what game I was talking about and what I was trying to show about the game. Thank you for the viewers that watched the video multiple times to try and gain additional insight. A game's introduction should be 10-30 seconds in length and allow the viewer to have some basic foundation information about the game before moving on to more detail features.
Lesson 4
Originally I thought I was focused on a single area of Portas Aurora: Arrival. I was going to show people the beginning of a game.
Why this is bad.
I introduced a half dozen complex features of the game and if I gave then any time in the spot light I did little to explain them. I think this was mostly due to a case of tunnel vision. I have been playing with the game for over 6 months and things like building a fleet are easy to me. However, for someone seeing the game for the first time it could be very confusing.
Lesson 5
This is partly connected to lesson 4 in the sense that I rushed through features and only gave a second or two for the view to see what I was talking about before I was off on to a different feature or screen.
In conclusion, I liked all of the feedback I received. I say that because even the people that told me the video was "bad" at least told me what turned them off from the video.
Wondering what video I am talking about? Check it out at:
