I previously read Derek's book about the design of Spelunky which is nicely summarized in this video by Mark Brown so I took this knowledge to dig into the game's files to customize the level layout for the sections that might block my path. There are certain areas where they’d add 1-2 seconds of standing still, and breaking the momentum. One snag I hit in the volcano levels were falling platforms that impeded my progress through the level these stay in place until something touches them on top, then after a couple seconds they fall. For a while I stayed in the first area of the game, but later changed the setting to the more hazardous and spacious volcano region. In Spelunky HD that combination is pretty much the strongest loadout a player can have I thought it would be funnier to show a powerful character die in a silly way. I shifted gears and started each run with a jetpack/shotgun combination. My first approach to get the intro was to play in the first area of the game somewhat recklessly, but after many attempts I didn't get anything interesting, or the shot was too long because the actions I captured were spread out too far. This allowed me to save hard drive space, but never miss a moment. I used Nvidia Shadowplay's "Replay" feature which constantly records gameplay, but doesn't save a video file until you press a hotkey you can set the interval of time you want it to buffer from 30 seconds up to a few minutes. I initially assumed I'd stumble upon a moment like this simply by playing the game a lot. I didn't want the death at the end to look like I killed myself deliberately I wanted it to look like a typical accidental Spelunky death that I just happened to capture. I decided on a long extended sequence because I knew Spelunky fans would be chomping at the bit to see any gameplay I knew they'd have no patience for a cutscene introduction. I was most worried about capturing the opening sequence. The level layouts were by luck of the draw. Since Spelunky's levels are randomly generated, the most I could block out per shot were the character, setting, actions, items and enemies. I wouldn't be able to do final capture until August because Derek and Blitworks were working on the game for its debut at PAX West, but in the meantime I could play it, and plan out my shots. I made an outline version with placeholder text, rough timings, and music notes so Eirik Suhrkecould start making music for the trailer. Story introduction of Ana landing on the moon Open with an exciting long take of gameplay that ends in a sudden death. These key points are how I arrived at this structure: In addition to the characters, he wanted to show the story introduction, and mention the online multiplayer! One mandate from Derek was to highlight the characters, because as of Spelunky 2 they all have names! In the game they're still functionally the same, but this montage of the characters provided a basic structure for the trailer. What encompasses Spelunky to me is when one unexpected thing on your hundredth or thousandth run causes a chain reaction ending in your death. It's a very precise, deliberate, and unpredictable game, but the suddenness of death makes it very funny. Instead I focused on what the experience of playing Spelunky meant to me. The original launch trailer Kert Gartner made for Spelunky HD is a branching trailer with a narrator speaking in verse I knew this wasn't something I would be able to do without writing help, nor was I sure it should be done again. The game controls the same as the original, so all my muscle memory transferred over with no problems. Derek sent me the game I played in my spare time to get a feel for it, and started a list of what to put into the trailer. I got my first build of the game in late June, but production didn't start in earnest until August. When I used Spelunky as an example in my GDC talk about game capture, I allowed a small part of me to indulge in the fantasy of working on a trailer for Spelunky 2. Veteran players will scoff at these numbers, but between my Xbox 360, PS3, PS4 and Steam account I've played well over 200 hours. I'm going to gush a little here this was the rare gig where I immediately start pinching myself because Spelunky is one of my favorite games. He later remembered to contact me for the gameplay trailer after I tagged him on my recommendation for his Spelunky book. I got this gig when Derek Yu DMed me on Twitter! He said they originally intended to hire me for the announce trailer, but ran out of time and ended up doing it internally.
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