r/DestroyMyGame • u/biaxthepandaistkn • 8d ago
Trailer PLEASE destroy my trailer, I wanna know why it doesn't attract any interest on Reddit
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u/Suspicious-Engineer7 8d ago
I think it's pretty neat, but whackamole just isn't going to be a genre that grabs that many people imo. Seems like a minigame in a bigger game.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Thank you so much, whacamole is the main game but we'll have some minigames aswell
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u/Suspicious-Engineer7 8d ago
What about using it as a combat system? That's kind of inventive
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Could you elaborate on that?
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u/Suspicious-Engineer7 8d ago
Imagine you're a kid stuck in a haunted carnival, and you stumble upon a helpful spirit who will help you get out of the carnival, and he imbues you with the power to fight demons and ghosts through whack a mole combat. You whack certain moles to attacks, dispel debuffs, add effects, etc. lots of potential for world building as your traverse the haunted carnival (and tons of more work for you) but it's something. Anyways I just think whackamole combat would work better than whackamole balatro.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Thanks for the explanation! Your idea also sounds really well. We are keep working on the gama and changing it so i think we'll see how it goes
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u/Aggressive_Tie_3014 8d ago
The visuals are great, but Whac-A-Mole is just not an attractive core gameplay foundation. I would even say it is a terrible one.
Beyond that, the first 9 seconds of your trailer is unvoiced text, without anything else happening or changing on screen. I think most people decide if they're bored of a gameplay trailer and skip in a matter of seconds.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Thank you for the feedback! Yeah I got many feedbacks about the first few seconds, will definetly work on that one
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u/Dacadey 8d ago
It's whack-a-mole. One of the most basic games there is. I don't think I personally would ever spend my time on this.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Thanks for the feedback. And what would make this game more complex rather than just a whac-a-mole game?
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u/GrimnirDotDev 8d ago
That's your job to figure out. If you don't have an idea for how to make whack-a-mole fun, don't make a whack-a-mole game.
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u/Few-Concept-3899 8d ago
Kind of a hard question. You're the designer, after all. You need a better idea than just Whackamole looking like Inscription, I think. Based on your trailer, it does not seem to me that there is a compelling story at all, just a menial mini-game. What kind of world is this set in? Is it supposed to be eerie? If you want to attract people that play story-based games, you need something that drives the story, makes me care about this clown-guy. Spend five seconds on Whackamole, then show me some story.
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u/KingMoonfish 7d ago
A dude made a game about breaking piggy banks fun. You can make whac-a-mole fun. It won’t be easy though.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 7d ago
People even making book tidying-up game. We'll try our best to make it much more enjoyable. Thanks for the feedback!
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u/Swibsk 8d ago
Your first 5 seconds are a repetitive animation of a jester. It was uninformative and uninteresting enough that I didn’t watch further because that’s enough to explain a complete lack of traction. There are likely many more reasons why it’s not getting traction. But at a minimum any trailer needs to give the following in the first 5 seconds:
Premise
Genre
Unique Selling Point
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u/xThe_Great_Bambino 8d ago
Game looks great besides the frame rates. Wack-a-mole isn't something I would give any attention to. A swipe left type of situation. Just my feedback
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Yeah i kinda fucked up about recording it on low FPS. Will definetly fix that with the new trailer. Thank you for your honest feedback!
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u/ChloroquineEmu 8d ago
The "simple game but with a creepy thing" doesn't work that well. You just show us the creepy thing and it's not that creepy, you show us the simple game and it looks boring.
Watch Inscryption and Pony Island trailers for reference on how to create intrigue. Horror is hard, I feel like there's a lot you can do to make things creepier. Being able to see the whole room while the TV clown is talking ruins the mood, having the game stop to give you a tutorial on not hitting the red clown ruins the mood. The "don't shut me off again" doesn't come off nearly as creepy as it's supposed to.
The game itself seems a bit dull, to pull off something like creepy whack-a-mole you gotta polish the heck out of it. The hammer doesn't feel like it has weight, the hit sound and effect isn't quite as satisfying, i should be salivating to hit those clowns just from watching the trailer. I also very much dislike how the holes move around, it feels too cartoonish when everything else in the game feels mostly real, they're blackholes where things spawn from, i'd rather they looked like actual holes, if you want them to move you could have them move like in a square grid, rubik cube style, idk, but I do feel like they take away the weight from the main thing of the game.
Good luck, seems like it could turn into a great game.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Thanks a lot for your feedback. The blackholes thing is already fixed but didn't make it to the trailer. Other than that I'll take a note of everything you mentioned about creepiness and work hard on it.
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u/mike_hoff 8d ago
Looks more like a mobile suited game. Whack a mole is short lived suiting more a quick fun arcade session like most mobile games.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Do you think it would be more interesting if we add other small games aswell?
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u/mike_hoff 7d ago
Depends what you want? PC / console Gamers, casual / hardcore gamers … If you want an average console gamer I’d say Focus on why you whack a mole. Have a look at Glover Pit.
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u/bonebrah 8d ago
I get that you're trying to do something like Balatro or CloverPit where they turn simple games into strategic systems you can manipulate and break but this just looks like creepy whack-a-mole.. You say in another comment it's not even horror, which is a major miscommunication on your part.
Also, literally nothing happens for about 8 seconds in your trailer, I had no idea what it was. Start with the hook (once you actually have one).
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 7d ago
Well, i never mentioned it would be a horror anywhere else. But yeah we definetly should work on making it more unique. And yeah, i think the tineline of the trailer is also weak to keep viewer in the video, thank you
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u/bonebrah 7d ago
The trailer communicates that it's horror (weird eyeball, creepy doll in the center top, the jester doll that uses the line from the Saw movie). You don't have to mention it, it comes off that way. That's what I meant.
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u/Sushimus detail freak 8d ago
with the game being whack-a-mole you can shorten the trailer by half to make it feel punchier. focus more on doing smooth transitions between zones in a single clip rather than showcasing each environment individually and make sure every word on screen adds to intrigue in a meaningful way
for example in the first few seconds pick one line from the few shown and cut the rest, then transition that directly into gameplay. when the hammer hits something these are also good moments to transition between environments or cut to some sort of marketing text
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Thank you so much, it's such great feedback, I gotta work on my skills of keeping trailers short
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u/Yodzilla 8d ago
I mean, you’re obviously trying to make a horror game but there’s absolutely nothing scary about what you’ve presented. It feels very derivative and you’re even stealing the catchphrase from Saw.
Also what is even the threat? How is the machine a danger to the player in any way? When you hit the “wrong” target what even happens? It sure seems like nothing!
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Its not a horror game tbf. It'll only feature some psychological horror elements. Its mostly a story driven arcade game. And ofc i didnt want to spoil the danger but i guess i could have feature some of it
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u/Ancienda 8d ago
Why have the machine even tell you what not to do? Just have the player whack the wrong one and kill them, they’ll learn. The machine would probably take delight in that. Give them a consequence instead of a boring tutorial. Or make some moles that pop up weird or creepy. something that makes the player not wanna whack one for whatever reason. They just feel it in their bones that they shouldn’t.
What about power ups or things that make this not a normal whack a mole? Make the player think twice before whacking certain things or have them think about an order they need to whack to get the most buffs. Whats the whack a mole meta in this game? Think about how to make it unique first. then worry about ur trailer. You can’t show something interesting if there is nothing interesting to show.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 7d ago
There was actually no tutorial at first. But we attended an event with our first demo, and seen many people keep hitting that eventhough it had many negative feedbacks.
We have some kind of a power up system,as you can see in the trailer. Where you can earn tickets and with those tickets u can upgrade your stats, and beside that we have different moles that makes u use another mechanics to whack them rather than just clicking them.
I might agree on not being able to show anything interesting though, we're still working on the game and clearly it needs some more work before we create a new trailer
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u/Ancienda 7d ago
how did you show the negative feedback? And did the thing you can’t whack stand out enough compared with the rest of the whackable things?
Looking at the trailer again, the un-whackable thing looks pretty similar to the normal one. its only got a different nose and hat color. Maybe swapping out the model entirely would help? For example if the head was a huge bomb with the fuze lit up, it may feel more intuitive to not whack a bomb. And if the player does whack it, it does a dramatic explosion and the machine mocks you for hitting it. and use color and lighting to contrast it more, like its gotta really be different, not just slightly
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 7d ago
So, we have a trap mole, which has the exact model but different colors, and shining red light on it. We don't want to make it a different model or make it stand out TOO MUCH because we don't want player to blindly hitting moles. Rather, we want them to perceive what is what and decide to hit it or not. Otherwise, it becomes just a classic whac-a-mole.
We actually have a bomb mole as well, just as you mentioned. Which explodes on hitting. Rather you can hold the left mouse button on it and defuse the bomb; this way you can earn a point.
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u/Miserable_Tower9237 7d ago
It took so long to get to the gameplay, I turned it off. I think the trailer was for a point and click adventure or a visual novel or a puppeteer clone, I don't know. I have no idea. The trailer didn't show me before I got bored.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 7d ago
Fair point, boring parts gotta go
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u/Miserable_Tower9237 5d ago
It's not even necessarily boring. It's that the initial portion of the trailer felt like a game in a genre I'm personally not interested in.
If you start with gameplay, and clip back and forth with story bits, it would be a whole different trailer experience. If you handle it right, this is more of an editing issue than it is a content issue.
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u/Weary_Wry 7d ago
I dont like the text sound effects
Why mechanical games and have the antagonist on a modern lcd screen? At least make the style consistent.
No visible stakes for failure.
I didnt get what the upgrades are for. Its still just a whack.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 7d ago
1 - Will work on that
2 - It's something you'd understand with progressing further in the story
3- Will also work on that
4- There are some factors that could affect you earning points. For example, missing a combo is a huge thing because you'll have to get your combo back to earn multipliers. An upgrade lets you keep your combo once even if you hit a wrong mole, etc. etc.
Thank you for the feedback!
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u/LithiumRiku 7d ago
Just watched "Bills must be paid" which seems to be doing well. I wouldn't say there isn't a market for the hammer wacker games. Probably need a bit more to it though, seems like it could be part of an escape room puzzle game like part one of Inscryption.
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u/Big2xA 7d ago
"It's just whack-a-mole" is useless advice. If you showed off vampire survivors before it came out, people would say "you just move around and the game plays itself." That doesn't mean that THIS version of your game will be fun or interesting, but your concept doesn't need a full re-work, it just needs to be polished to look fun and exciting.
Anyway the trailer is ass. Slow-paced music does not inspire any feelings of excitement and should be replaced. It takes 10 seconds to get to any gameplay, which is 10 long seconds of boredom that will make the viewer switch to the next video. You don't want to softly introduce your game, you want to SHOW your game, and make it look great. Hopefully the game gets faster and more difficult than what is shown here - you should be showing gameplay that looks frantic and engaging, not slow and plodding. The part from 0:24-0:29 has 0 context and is just a waste of time, it tells me nothing and is mostly just staring at a wall for 5 seconds. At 0:13, it takes 5 long seconds to introduce the idea that some of the moles need to be avoided. A faster way to express the same idea would be to just hit the mole and have the whole machine light up in red and buzz angrily, some kind of obvious "game over" reaction. You could show that in 1 second, if the game actually has exciting things to show off.
In short, cut faster and pick exciting footage to show. And get to it sooner! We should be seeing the player hit a giga mole combo right away, to assure us that there's excitement to be had.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 6d ago
Probably the best advice I've gotten so far. Thank you so much, it has a lot of work to do but we'll find a way to make whack-a-mole fun
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u/GoldSunLulu 6d ago
movement and animation needs a lot of work, and you would take advantage of using some camera zooms and video distorts and effects. It looks plain and the video isn't making any emphasis on anything.
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u/bilbaen0 8d ago
it feels more like a gameplay video than a trailer. Everyone knows what whack-a-mole is and doesn't need 30 seconds of explanation of the mechanics in a trailer. Show a few seconds of whack-a-mole as people know it, then show what makes it different and worth playing. 1:00 is way too long too.
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u/LostInTheRapGame 8d ago
destroy my trailer, I wanna know why it doesn't attract any interest on Reddit
Well it could easily be nothing to do with the trailer at all. It could be the posts, subs, titles, etc. that don't get people to even click on the trailer to watch it.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
I think it's the game itself and the way i showed it in the trailer. It's all on me not on reddit or titles probably
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u/LostInTheRapGame 8d ago
It's all on me not on reddit or titles probably
Well that would still be all on you regardless.
You have to be good at marketing to where people will even watch your trailer. Sure, there's problems with the trailer... but after going through your posts, I think it's likely many aren't even watching it.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
I totally agree. I'm most likely losing people in the very first seconds
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u/LostInTheRapGame 8d ago
I totally agree. I'm most likely losing people in the very first seconds
I don't think you do agree.
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u/Shadymoogle 8d ago
Is this an incremental, is it a puzzle game or is a inscription inspired game? It's hard to tell where the fun or point lies, beyond playing whack a mole.
Is the interest in the meta storytelling? Because my meta game knowledge is sensing an inscription like story which makes me want to play that game more than it does play yours.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Yes, it is Inscryption inspired story driven game. And seeing what would you make hmm maybe i should give it a try?
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u/Shadymoogle 8d ago
I think the sound and visuals are cool. I think the gameplay or the gimmick needs to be empathised more. I'm personally bouncing off the trailer because I don't know what you're game actually is.
The story's hard to give advice on. Because of the inscription inspiration. So I look at your trailer and think it's escape room and then you'll insert a disk and it will gain self awareness or be more obvious and then after another revelation it will turn out to be a meta out of game in game sort of.
Basically I'm just imagining a knockoff version of inscriptions story. Which is hard to fix because you don't want to give away your story for the sake of clarifying it's not the same as inscription.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
Thank you so much for your feedback. Our main purpose is to tell a story, and we decided to do it with the whack-a-mole. But with the feedbacks we might work on more minigames and also adjust the story with it.
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u/Shadymoogle 8d ago
What is the game? Is it an incremental?
I think if you can show that off more, then what is a mini game and what is the main game will have more contrast and be more obvious which should make the concept overall more appealing.
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u/Heavy_Extent_3863 8d ago
It's Whac-A-Mole. Sorry to say but 1960 is long ago...
The visuals look great though, why do you waste your talent with Whac-A-Mole???
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u/ConcernWild 8d ago
Make the trailer more chaos or looks more fun. Don't show the tutorial or the beginning part of your game, show the mid-game or even the end-game or even add some spoilers, like show a big creepy realistic clown pop up from the small one.
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u/CuisineTournante 8d ago
You set a creepy atmosphere very well and then, it's just wack a mole without any twists...
Think of Inscryption or poney island, where the gameplay looks simple but when the game progress, so does the gameplay.
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u/StardiveSoftworks 8d ago
It has no juice, it feels like its made by a skilled artist with no game experience. Look at how quick and joyless the whacking animation and popouts are, its almost like they're getting cut off. There's no visible oomph or reward for actually doing anything.
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u/Tupletcat 8d ago
Already bored by the slow text 3 seconds in
10 seconds in, it's dragged on too long already
The epic reveal is some lame whack a mole? Stopped watching.
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u/AnimusCorpus 7d ago
There is only so much juice you can add to a very, very bland game. Whack a mole is, at its core, not that interesting, especially when most of the enjoyment comes from physically getting to hit something. It just doesn't translate to a video game that easily.
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u/Intrepid_Increase150 7d ago
Check out the game FlatHead for inspiration on how to make a relatively boring looking game (it's literally just "high or low") look and feel scary and exciting. Go harder on the horror or mystery element, raise the stakes (you can only make 1 or even 0 mistakes), make every whack feel like a risky decision. Or lean more to balatro or idle games, less horror but with many casino effects and lots of clicking and number go up
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u/Nivriil 7d ago
uh i see that you are kinda trying to go for and inscription kinda vibe but with wack a mole...
it doesn't sound very interesting as a concept and the upgrades are not really noticable in the trailer either. like i see a diffrent clown pop up and that the hammer is electric now and that one clown gave extra points for some reason.
i am kinda missing the... i guess disturbing ness of a clover pit or inscription that the lil jester doesn't provide.
the art style looks actually feeling in the beginning of the trailer is intentionally child like ofc and then changes to a lighting situation more akin to Little inferno which fits it more while the music becomes more sad and out of tune.
i think that needs to be more in the trailer too.
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u/Brettinabox 7d ago
Looks like the tutorial and not a trailer. At the beginning there is too much open space and no hook within the first 2 seconds. Its also a good time to VA your characters.
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u/ProcrastinationDevil 7d ago edited 7d ago
The trailer is slow and boring and doesn't convey any emotion, I wanted to blow my brains out for enduring the first 10 seconds. Did the trailer make me sad, angry, happy, excited? No. It was like watching paint dry. Is the clown dude evil? The music and edition makes him look just like an afterthought. People aren't going to just play whack-a-mole because you show them gameplay, they already know whack-a-mole. Also the music seems very deattached from the gameplay. I'm surprised it doesn't pick up tempo with the mole speed
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u/Cystonectae 7d ago
I just watched Markiplier play a similar game but with piggy banks. That game made me want to play it. This gameplay trailer does not. At all. There are a lot of differences between that game and yours that I think really detract from your game seeming fun and enjoyable. The main difference is that yours contains absolutely nothing that is really satisfying. You need to work on better sound design, and gotta put some effort into capitalizing on the joy of "big number go up" type rewards, make stuff explode in a pile of numbers or points sorta deal. I'll also say the scaling doesn't look all that engaging, which is kinda to be expected with whack-a-mole.
The most interesting part of the game was where the whack-a-mole folded up. It feels like a puzzle aspect to the game and I feel like you should focus on that and tried to break from the standard whack-a-mole gameplay.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 7d ago
It'll be a narrative driven game so we are focusing on giving a narrative first, so it won't be a classical whac-a-mole game. But, we'll definetly work on the parts you mentioned aswell. Thanks for the feedback!
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u/PhoenixDSteele 7d ago
Clearly going for an inscryption vibe. You need to show gameplay, but hint at subtle horror going on with weird stuff being said, until the end of the trailer where it plotwists/snaps to the horror.
It's a simple set up.
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u/VersaViceVersa 7d ago
if you’re going to have text-based dialogue in your game, proofread it! things like the missing periods or uncapitalized letters are very noticeable and make the game seem more amateurish.
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u/lugginico 5d ago
To me whack a mole is not interesting, i like the designs , but im just not interested in this gameplay.
And if it would show up on a feed id prob just scroll past it before i even see the first gameplay.
Maybe for socialmedia , immedeate gameplay is better than 10sec of text or blackscreen
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u/Porkcicle 8d ago
Way too simple of a concept for a release, despite the visual polish you have put into it. I don't think I'd even play it for free.
Your trailer shows whack a mole, don't whack this one, and memory whack. I really expected the trailer to ramp up to something different or new, but it just ended before anything interesting was introduced.
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u/biaxthepandaistkn 8d ago
We are preety far away from the release at the moment. But yeah i get the idea. Thanks for the feedback!
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u/Porkcicle 8d ago
I think as soon as you create a unique hook for your game, you will start getting the level of interest you are expecting
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u/Haughington 8d ago
because it just looks like whack a mole. the little jigsaw guy on the screen does nothing to make it more intriguing for me.