The trailer opens with the actual interesting parts of what they have to put in front of you, the idea that there is some sort of story in mystery to be solved. Remember, I said that this was one of the better trailers in this pile. Oh, yes, and in total there is probably less than eight seconds of actual gameplay in this gameplay trailer. First thereвЂ™s some sort of image hunt, 2-D thing going on, and then a very obvious 2-D-style puzzle, a gear placement game, a pattern matching game, and in a circuit building/ Pipes-style game. Then we get to what, one assumes, is the actual gameplay - and I say assumes only because there really aren't a lot of hints and things get complicated very quickly. Up until the 1:25 mark, all we have are awkwardly rendered cut scenes, an attempted forging of the basis of some kind of supernatural narrative, a pitch to Dracula, and overall the implication that the game is going to be about storytelling, travel, and maybe some sort of first-person exploration given the amount of watercolor art (actually quite good watercolor art). Look at what actually happens in the course of this video. This is actually not the most egregious example, if you can believe that. LetвЂ™s go through the games on the current Indie Gala Capsule Computers Sale, one at a time, and check out their videos. But if theyвЂ™re getting it wrong, and the games that theyвЂ™re promoting are getting it wrong, there has got to be something better we can do. And letвЂ™s be clear, I am not picking on The Indie Gala here I love what theyвЂ™re doing. These promotions should be picking the best, most revealing videos about the games in question and putting them in front of people to really hook their interest.

These are good promotions they provide a platform for independent game developers to put potentially unknown games into low-cost bundles, making them almost no-brainers when it comes to вЂњwhat do I feel like spending my money on this month?вЂќ This shouldn't be a problem. Some of the worst offenders in this field are the games being promoted by services like The Humble Bundle, Indie Game Stand, Indie Royale, Bundle Stars, and the one that pushed me over the edge to actually write something about it - The Indie Gala. I should never walk away from a promotional video wondering, вЂњhow does this game actually work?вЂќ I love original thoughts.Д«ut for the love of everything unholy, indie game developers have got to start realizing that their promotional videos - the ones that will go out into the world, grab the eyeballs of the unwary, and drag those eyeballs into their bosoms - must show me how the game is played. I love that image, not just as a romantic dream but as the harsh and dirty reality of people who donвЂ™t know exactly how their projects are going to turn out or whether there will be an audience waiting for them at the end of the rainbow. ThereвЂ™s something about the idea of a single creator or small team working, twiddling, and trying to put a dream together in bits and bytes and long nights, slaving away under hot lights (probably used to keep McDonaldвЂ™s fries warm). LetвЂ™s put it on the line, upfront, in front of every single reader:

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