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Simutrans Promotional Video

Started by HaydenRead, December 14, 2015, 10:45:32 PM

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Vladki

I think the most important feature, distinguishing simutrans from other such games (openttd) is that all cargo (and pax and mail) have their destination and will transfer between vehicles.

Networks are a naturall outcome of this feature, but not so important alone.

All other things (paks, themes, snow, night, mapsize, heightmap, zoom) are eyecandy and should be used to make the video look nice, but do not need to be emphasized that much.

HaydenRead

Just posted the 4th attempt at the promotional video:

prissi

I think there is great progress. I really appreciate your enthusiasm, and I think you can focus now on the other thing needed.

isidoro


Yona-TYT


It looks great, good job! :thumbsup:


At the end of the video it would be good to show icons Linux, Windows and Mac.

sdog

That is a good video Hayden. At the middle it gets a little slow, showing different ways being built. I'd focus a bit less on that, as building ways is understood. That is an established concept. I.e, you need to show that it is done and an important game element, but do not have to explain how it is done. What is a bit short in the video however, is the actual transporting of things.

Yona-TYT

Quote from: sdog on December 21, 2015, 01:47:56 AM
That is a good video Hayden. At the middle it gets a little slow, showing different ways being built. I'd focus a bit less on that, as building ways is understood. That is an established concept. I.e, you need to show that it is done and an important game element, but do not have to explain how it is done. What is a bit short in the video however, is the actual transporting of things.
In my humble opinion it seems to me very well to show the building process, though if I noticed a bit slow in that part of the video. Perhaps an increase in speed makes a difference.

IgorEliezer

#42
I would like to raise a point which can be polemic: the music. *dun dun duuuun*

The video starts and goes well until 0:08, then it makes me cringe; it's my opinion. It used to fit well during the MIDI era.

If one wants to try, I recommend using 3rd-party music for the promo video. The site incompetech.com is quite popular amongst YouTubers and game-content creators. The musician Kevin MacLeod releases all his work under CC-BY license, requiring only you put the credits somewhere and that you don't use it in a commercial or TV/radio broadcast (for this is where his income comes from).

These are my picks:

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500072 (pick me! pick me! pick me! pick me!)
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100845 (steam loco?)
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500051
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100848
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100803
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100793
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200040

You can find other good ones under "Bouncy" tag found in the "Feels" drop-drown filter here: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html

sdog

Quote from: Yona-TYT on December 21, 2015, 06:43:22 AM
In my humble opinion it seems to me very well to show the building process, though if I noticed a bit slow in that part of the video. Perhaps an increase in speed makes a difference.
Yes, it does indeed. However, this is not a tutorial. There is no need to explain how to build ways. It is important that it is shown that the player builds the ways, but briefly. Too many details bores the viewers. Put yourself in the shoes of someone reviewing greenlight games:

One gets a number presented by Steam, then one has a look at them, when it is of no interest, just click to the next greenlight game. In such a presentation this means the player has to be kept engaged as long as possible.

Building ways in a tile based world was new in 1990, in this way since 1994 (Transport Tycoon) this is expected behaviour.

@Hayden
It is very good that the videos now stick with one pak, pak128. Only at the end others are shown, as examples for the variety. It is important not to confuse, by changing not too many parameters at a time.

I love the comparison of 'small world' to 'huge world', that is fun to look at.

Does this also mean that it is decided upon that 128 will be the default pak for steam? Or would you change that for a final version, if required (e.g. if pak 64 were selected)?

Some people on the forum did fairly good voice overs to their videos, do you think it were beneficial were there voice, not only text? For example James' videos were quite whimsical, since he imitated the ideosyncracies of old British educational videos.

HaydenRead

Quote from: sdog on December 22, 2015, 02:43:31 AM
@Hayden
It is very good that the videos now stick with one pak, pak128. Only at the end others are shown, as examples for the variety. It is important not to confuse, by changing not too many parameters at a time.

Does this also mean that it is decided upon that 128 will be the default pak for steam? Or would you change that for a final version, if required (e.g. if pak 64 were selected)?
I was thinking either pak128, pak128+pak64, or a stripped down / simplified version of pak128 for Steam, and I am working on a Manual and Tutorial based around pak128. It could still change, and if it did, I would change the video to match.

Quote from: sdog on December 22, 2015, 02:43:31 AM
Some people on the forum did fairly good voice overs to their videos, do you think it were beneficial were there voice, not only text? For example James' videos were quite whimsical, since he imitated the ideosyncracies of old British educational videos.
I did consider a voice over, and could still do that, it is just that doing a voice over well seems to take a fair bit more time, getting a decent recording with no stuttering, misquotes, background noise, and flowing nicely. I may still do another video with a voice over.
Quote from: IgorEliezer on December 22, 2015, 02:00:46 AM
I would like to raise a point which can be polemic: the music. *dun dun duuuun*

The video starts and goes well until 0:08, then it makes me cringe; it's my opinion. It used to fit well during the MIDI era.
My reason for using 'MIDI' music is that MIDI music is the music provided with the game, so it fits with the game. The track used is one of the in game music options. If work were done to update the music system for Simutrans, and include other music options, then I would be more inclined to look at other music options for the video. However if enough people are concerned about the music I will change it, either to one of the other included tracks, or to a non-midi track if people are really concerned about the use of midi music.

dwpvdk

As for the Simutrans music, I think that it is too slow and lacking in quality for use in videos about Simutrans. Only when I first started to play did I myself even listen to the music; it doesn't seem to be crucial that the video include Simutrans music and sacrifice the appeal of the video and thus the game. There are many creators of Simutrans content who use the MIDI tracks, but it seems outdated for this application.

Quote from: IgorEliezer on December 22, 2015, 02:00:46 AM
If one wants to try, I recommend using 3rd-party music for the promo video. The site incompetech.com is quite popular amongst YouTubers and game-content creators. The musician Kevin MacLeod releases all his work under CC-BY license, requiring only you put the credits somewhere and that you don't use it in a commercial or TV/radio broadcast (for this is where his income comes from).
If you decide to look at other music, incompetech is wonderful; I have used many of Kevin MacLeod's songs in my videos though not as of late. Another great resource to look into is television and movie OST, much whereof is instrumental.

I greatly discourage the idea of voicing-over the video: right off the bat, you lose the attention of those not fluent in spoken English who might otherwise be able to glean information from the written words. (I don't know much about whether Steam is used outside the USA. This might not be an issue.)
Check it out: http://dwpco.weebly.com

prissi

As with the previous comments: Voice over is much harder for most internet-able persons that text. (Ideally those could be subtitles, transalateable into any language ... )

About MIDI: Somebody made once a recording on a proper Synth which was much nicer than the typical Simutrans sound. Maybe it was even Isaac. (I did not found the posting though.)

Isaac Eiland-Hall

I don't remember if I was the only one, but I did at some point do that. I basically just imported into Fruityloops (FL Studio) and played around with the instrument settings until I liked it.

I know I don't have the files anymore, and currently I don't have that available to me. I don't even currently have my laptop for a few days (long story), which is the only device I have running Windows.

So it will take me a few days. Meanwhile, if someone else would like to give it a go, they certainly can. But when I get my laptop back, I'll give it a go at that time and see if it's desired. No worries either way :)


isidoro

If possible, I'm for leaving the original game music in the video, albeit resampled if needed.  It's a plus for ST to have its own music.  Not very common for an not-professional game.  Plus I like the piece chosen.


IgorEliezer

Quote from: Yona-TYT on December 22, 2015, 11:28:15 PM18-ride-that-train.mp3
Way better. The improvement is huge. Now I regret my idea if our OST can be this good.

Quote from: isidoro on December 23, 2015, 12:46:44 AM
If possible, I'm for leaving the original game music in the video, albeit resampled if needed. It's a plus for ST to have its own music.
In this case, I second this. :)

sdog

Hayden, how can we get the video also to the official Simutrans youtube channel? Would you like to get manager power for it?

HaydenRead

Quote from: sdog on January 04, 2016, 03:43:03 AM
Hayden, how can we get the video also to the official Simutrans youtube channel? Would you like to get manager power for it?
Hi sdog,
I don't mind if you give me manager access to the channel or not, so I have also uploaded the mp4 file if you would prefer to put it on youtube yourself.
The file can be found at http://opensourcepublishing.co/videos/Simutrans.mp4

I may look at creating additional videos after I have finished working on the Tutorial and Manual that I am currently working on for the game.

sdog

cheers!

I'm downloading it, and shall see to get it up on youtube.

TurfIt

Oh my that music... I realize sounding 'good' can be subjective, but a little better choice of patch set would've made a huge difference. Simutrans midi can actually sound quite nice with a good synth/patch combo.

HaydenRead

With being greenlit, we can now use 'language specific videos' on steam, so was wondering if someone can translate the text from the promotional video. If it can be translated, I will upload separate versions, otherwise I will stick with the current English version. Languages that would be good to have if possible are 'English (existing), French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Hungarian, Czech'... and any other languages that users feel to assist with (shouldn't take too long to paste them into the existing text boxes in the video and generate new versions).

isidoro

Could you please stick the English sentences here so that it's easier for us to translate?

HaydenRead

Quote from: isidoro on January 10, 2016, 11:47:47 PM
Could you please stick the English sentences here so that it's easier for us to translate?
The text from the video is below:

Simutrans is a Transportation Network Simulator

that allows Simulation on a range of scales,
from a tiny area, through to large scale simulations.

There are a range of options to build your Network:

  • Buses, Trucks, and other Road Vehicles
  • Trains & Trams
  • Ships
  • Airplanes

Build your network using a range of tools...

  • both above and below ground
  • Build Causeways and Bridges
  • Underground Subway Systems

Simutrans also offers an online Multiplayer Option
To compete or co-operate with others
To build your Transportation Network

In addition there are a range of Pak's
Offering a variety of graphics and Rule Sets
Such as:

  • Sci-Fi
  • Hand Drawn
  • Comic, and others

Yona-TYT

#58

Translation to Spanish/Español.
Simutrans es un Simulador de Redes de Transporte

que permite Simulaciones en un rango de escalas,
desde un área pequeña, hasta simulaciones de gran tamaño.

Hay una serie de opciones para construir su Red:

       
  • Autobuses, Camiones y otros Vehículos de Carretera
  • Trenes y Tranvías
  • Embarcaciones
  • Aviones
Construye tu red utilizando una gama de herramientas ...

       
  • tanto por encima como por debajo del suelo
  • Construcción de Vías Elevadas y Puentes
  • Sistemas de Metro Subterráneo
Simutrans también ofrece una opción multijugador en línea

       
  • Para competir o cooperar con los demás
  • Para construir su red de transporte
Además, cuenta con distintos Pakset
Ofreciendo una variedad de gráficos con distintas de reglas
Tales Como:

       
  • Sci-Fi (Ciencia Ficción)
  • Hand Drawn (Dibujado a mano)
  • Comic, y otros


I gladly also I translate the tutorial.  ;)

HarrierST

#59
Quote from: HaydenRead on January 11, 2016, 12:17:44 AM
The text from the video is below:
In addition there are a range of Pak's
Offering a variety of graphics and Rule Sets
Such as:

  • Sci-Fi
  • Hand Drawn
  • Comic, and others

I would also add to the list - country specific sets.

Britain, Germany , Japan etc.

HaydenRead

Quote from: Yona-TYT on January 11, 2016, 02:12:33 AM
I gladly also I translate the tutorial.  ;)
Thanks, I will probably take you up on this offer - I am about 1/5 of the way through writing the Tutorial Scenario at the moment, and will probably try and get a few people to play test it before translating to make sure nothing needs to be changed before it is translated.