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4J Studios
Trailer
We’re under no illusions that the life of a mechanic is an easy one, especially when you’re dealing with flying parts, a cast of crazy characters and even spaceships. All of that would come in handy when we were approached by 4J Studios to help them create an announcement and launch trailer for their chaotic new co-op multiplayer title.
4J wanted to do something that would really sell in both the game’s solo mode and its co-op mechanics. We knew the trailer would be debuting on their social channels, as well as the Nintendo eShop, so it was important that it stood out in a competitive marketplace.
We set to work by concepting initial designs for the trailer’s animated text frames and began capturing footage from a pre-release dev build of the game. This would be supported by a script, which would be used for the 30s announcement trailer and later expanded into a longer 60s edit for the launch trailer. We were also responsible for sourcing a voice artist to record the VO.
Using the dev build to capture solo and multiplayer footage, we used a debug menu to remove the game’s HUD, which gave us clean footage to edit in the highest possible resolution. That combined with clear guidance from the client also ensured that we wouldn’t give away any secret surprises along the way.
Working with early builds can often be challenging as games can require cosmetic tweaks right up to launch. We relished the experience of getting a peek behind the curtain to see how everything worked and 4J were all too happy to help us.
Our title frame designs took their cues from the font and overall style of the game’s logo. We knew that we needed to highlight the game’s madcap nature, so we requested in-game assets, ranging from tires and corn bales to jumping sharks and UFOs abducting sheep - all fairly standard mechanic fare. We developed designs in which these assets would interact with one another on each frame, which perfectly captured its manic essence.
We love working with voiceover artists and we knew that the tone for Manic Mechanics had to be just right. From the get go, we wanted something that felt authentically rooted in Octane Isle’s can-do spirit. We worked through a number of options, making minor script tweaks along the way, before settling on a southern American twang. We can’t imagine it any other way now.
4J were thrilled with the announcement trailer so we followed a similar process for the launch trailer. Taking guidance from the client, we set about using different assets for the titles and captured additional footage of even more crazy levels and challenges.
We were also tasked with sourcing alternative music for the launch trailer to add a sense of variety. However, after hours spent pouring over different options, it was felt that nothing else quite matched the tone of the announcement trailer, so we ran with that again. After all, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
