One recent team we have heard from are the guys at Black Moon Design who have kindly shown us their new game, Scribbles! This is a fun physics puzzler for iPad and Blackberry Playbook (with other platforms apparently to come soon) where the player has to draw objects in order to guide a number of cartoon-faced balls into a cup.

For this case study we are going to focus on this game’s trailer, which you can see here. See you after the break!

General Impression

One of the most apparent strengths of the game is its nice notebook cartoon art style, and this is well displayed throughout the trailer. Every frame follows this art style and it works nicely. Equally, the game music is used as the soundtrack for the trailer that further enhances a consistent tone of voice.

Features

Viewers should be left with no confusion about Scribbles’ win/loss conditions; get enough balls into the cup to win. What is less apparent is how the user does this. Having played the game and being familiar with physics puzzle games myself, I know that the player has to draw lines which act as platforms to guide the balls into the cup. However, a viewer new to the game and genre might be confused.

This confusion could be easily avoided by a couple of lines detailing this mechanic e.g. “Draw lines with your red ink to guide the balls…” Always test your trailers on completely fresh eyes and ask them what they think. Do they clearly understand what the game is about? If there’s any uncertainty make sure you plug the gap!

The trailer itself also makes no mention of the game being free to play. ‘Free’ is a very powerful message. While this detail is included in the trailer info below the video (if watching on YouTube), it should be featured in the trailer itself. More on this in a moment!

Audience

The guys at Black Moon Design have chosen to say that the game is ‘violence free’. It’s a simple detail to include, but it’s a very important one. There is a large opportunity in tablet markets to appeal to kids playing on their parents’ devices. One of the key fears any parent shall have will be the game’s suitability for their child (safe, appropriate content etc.). Clearly stating that the game is non-violent is simple, but wise.

At this stage I have to confess I found the game quite tricky. While my playing abilities may have been affected by the fact that I played it on a train, I still suspect that a child playing the game on their parent’s tablet device would find it too difficult. There does seem to be a great opportunity for kids to enjoy this game, so testing for this audience could be a very worthwhile time investment.

Call to action

A call to action is the message at the end of a marketing communication (advert, email etc.). Once you have the user’s interest, the call to action is what you want them to do next. For example, ‘click here’, ‘download now’, ‘like us on Facebook’

There is a good, clear call to action at the end of this trailer in terms of the message. Users are clearly told the devices on which the game shall be released and the release month.

A related area that could be improved is the user journey. At the time of writing, links to the relevant stores have not been included to the video. Including simple links to the relevant digital stores removes a potential barrier to purchase and could increase the number of game downloads.

Being a pre-release trailer, there is also an opportunity to get people to subscribe/follow/like for info, bonus content etc. Anything – within reason – that can help get you shares on social networks is positive! Keep in mind that, just like we have done above, your video may be embedded on other sites. One side effect of this is that viewers on these sites shall not see the info you included under your video.

For example, while Black Moon Design have included Twitter info in the info text below the video, users watching the trailer embedded on other sites will likely not see that information.

When making your trailer try using this general rule of thumb: anything that’s not in the video itself won’t get seen.

Summary

Good

• Effectively showing off the artwork
• Consistent image and music
• Clearly communicates win/loss conditions
• Includes ‘violence free’ as a detail – great for parents!

Future Opportunities

• A little more info about the drawing/ink mechanics
• Additional links and call to action details
• Social network outposts info and sharing incentives
• Including the detail that it’s free in the trailer

Scribbles! is available for free download at the AppStore and BlackBerry AppWorld now. All the best of luck to Black Moon Design!

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EDIT

Since this post went live, the guys at Black Moon Design have responded to our feedback and uploaded a new version of the trailer. Check it out here!

Of course, we don’t want to name and shame random indie developers. The majority of indie games will be born out of love for the games and for making them, and the last thing we want to do is search around for random games and criticise for the sake of it. We love games and the point of this site is to help them grow, not to hinder them.

We have had a number of developers contact us telling us about their interesting games and asking for feedback. We are always delighted to offer any help we can, and think that this is the best way to do case studies. If they like, we offer to do honest case studies for these developers. If they are happy with the idea, it’s then when we will write up a case study for the site. The other strength of this approach is that it enables us to hear their point of view. Who do they think their target audience is, what do they think their brand proposition is, what is their elevator pitch, what are their goals etc?

We shall upload the first of these case studies soon. If you would like us to give you private feedback or do a case study on your game please let us know via our contact page or in the comment section below. We would love to hear from you!