By Quintin Smith on March 23rd, 2011 at 11:48 am.
So, first the developers of turn-based tactics game Fray post a heartwarming video of their day spent with some expensive motion capture technology, and now they put out a dark live-action teaser trailer featuring a spot of parkour which, once again, I’m inclined to post. You’ll find it below. Kieron could only approve of this developer’s use and abuse of the gaming press.
“They would fill us with themselves!” good stuff. On the other hand, I don’t think I’m capable of posting three trailers with no game footage in them for the same indie game in a row. You hear me, Brain Candy? This is your last one.
23/03/2011 at 11:53 konrad_ha says:
Wasn’t this up before?
23/03/2011 at 18:36 Jambe says:
I saw it about a month ago and I could’ve sworn I was linked to it by RPS but I can’t find another occurrence of the vid in the archive.
23/03/2011 at 11:54 sana says:
These enemies sound and look like Metrocops a bit too much for my taste.
23/03/2011 at 14:26 Foosnark says:
Yeah, I was expecting manhacks to swoop around the corner for a second there.
23/03/2011 at 12:03 Berzee says:
The only link is literally big foreheads.
23/03/2011 at 12:04 Echo says:
I don’t know what this is, but I think I like it.
23/03/2011 at 12:29 frenz0rz says:
I am inclined to agree!
23/03/2011 at 20:37 karthink says:
I know it has nothing to do with the game, but the trailer got me interested in Fray. I’ll remember that name now. Wouldn’t you say it served its purpose?
23/03/2011 at 12:38 Rusty Venture says:
This whole trailer seems to be entirely too Shakespearean.
By which I, of course, mean: Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Oh, hey, a guy who the narration has told us is entirely detached from the world and has lost all sense of self and every shred of his humanity somehow knows to immediately check a computer for info on where to go, runs through an Aliens rip-off, jumps up into a conveniently-conspicuous hatch in the roof, and all before the Combine-rip-off jagoffs burst nondescriptly through the door.
I feel a bitter old crank for railing on this so hard, but within this very year, we’ve seen absolutely stellar adverts for Dead Island, Portal 2, L.A. Noire. Competition’s rough these days, and man, this one sucks.
23/03/2011 at 13:05 Lars Westergren says:
Oh, hey, a guy who the narration has told us is entirely detached from the world and has lost all sense of self and every shred of his humanity somehow knows to immediately check a computer
The narration also explained that some were fighting back. Presumably this guy is one of them, who were “extracted from the Matrix” quite some time ago.
Ok, perhaps it wasn’t the most original setting ever. I spotted influences of Matrix, Mirror’s Edge and Half-Life. But those are pretty good sources to be inspired by in my opinion. At least it isn’t another Halo, Gears of War or Call of Duty clone, you know? Any action game not focusing on space marines and their guns is a triumph these days.
23/03/2011 at 13:26 Cooper says:
You are right Lars. No space marines is a plus.
But I would absolutely love to live in a gaming world where the sentiments I share with Rusty as to how derivative and frankly a bit ‘meh’ the trailer was were valididated by a rich wealth of diverse, excellent games.
Unfortunately we don’t, and so trailers like this are deemed excellent. because, depsite Rusty’s alternatives, derivative but not space marines is the best we can hope for it seems…
24/03/2011 at 14:47 MadMatty says:
Oh the booming mediocricy of it!
Nice filming and visuals….but plot..?!?……gahhhh…
i think i died a little inside myself from all the cheese doing the rounds these days.
I know a genius steals, and all that nonsense…. but…
Its not doing the trick.
23/03/2011 at 13:58 BrainCandy_Yshaana says:
Won’t do it again, promise! Or maybe once more?
This trailer was just to satisfy our movie buff lead programmer’s needs and wants, as he always wanted to direct a movie, and it was a good way for us to show the setting and mood in the game, specifically the AROS setting, one of the 3 corporations. AROS Securities, is a PMC that is “employed” by certain governments to ensure civil protection, usually in an unfriendly way.
Now we are focussing on the gameplay and are aiming for some game footage within the upcoming months, and the next trailer will be more closely linked with the gameplay!
23/03/2011 at 14:04 Lars Westergren says:
>This trailer was just to satisfy our movie buff lead programmer’s needs and wants, as he always wanted to direct a movie,
Pretty good first attempt! I liked it. Will keep an eye on your game.
23/03/2011 at 14:17 strange headache says:
Despite all the criticism, I really liked this trailer. It looks like a pretty substantial amount of work (an probably money) has been poured into it. For an indie studio it’s pretty amazing, reminds me of the movie “Pandorum”. Care to explain how you did it?
23/03/2011 at 14:34 JFS says:
But what is this game about? The webpage doesn’t hold too much information… and it seems it’s multiplayer-only. What a pity. :(
23/03/2011 at 22:42 Teddy Leach says:
No, it’s a shame…
23/03/2011 at 14:47 BrainCandy_Yshaana says:
Well we started working on the project last summer, when we were pondering how we could promote the game in an original way, all the while having fun, doing something interesting and staying true to ourselves. We prepared the script and props during a month, on week ends, while we worked on the game on week days, then we did the whole filming in a week end, with a small crew. We managed to borrow a lot of the equipment (a Red One camera, some of the optics), called in a few favors (we flew in a steady cammer friend from south of France) and went for it.
We then worked on the film on week ends, and in the evening and ended doing the film in crunch time because we wanted to release it before the GDC. We aren’t completely satisfied with it, so we will be doing a second edition of the film in the next few months, now that we can work on it at a cooler rate, without any deadline. But for now we are focussing on the game :)
23/03/2011 at 15:39 Gabbo says:
It looks downright glorious from a visual standpoint, but it doesn’t sell the game at all, in my opinion (for what little that’s worth). It looks like any number of commercials I’ve seen selling everything from chewing gum to bodywash.
23/03/2011 at 14:47 Ragnar says:
From a visual / cinematic perspective, I like the trailer. Yes, it borrows heavily from Matrix, Half Life, and Mirror’s Edge, but I like all those too, so that’s a good thing. The first half is particularly stylish and good, though the 2nd half meanders aimlessly for too long.
At the same rate, I have to agree with Rusty; the trailer is full of style and cinematography, signifying nothing. It looks like the trailer for a cheesy, generic, sci-fi action movie, and thus doesn’t inspire interest. It looks like something I probably don’t want to watch, rather than something I want to play. /shrug
23/03/2011 at 20:43 saabas says:
I think you guys missed the most important part of the trailer- the end where it says
simultaneous squad tactics. Turn based squad game is awesome even if a bit niche, so cant wait for it.
23/03/2011 at 22:14 Thants says:
I choose to believe that they named themselves after the Kids in the Hall movie.
23/03/2011 at 22:38 Teddy Leach says:
A protagonist with armpit hair! Finally!
23/03/2011 at 22:47 rapchee says:
i don’t get all the negativity. u guys talk like we’re knee deep in dystropian sci-fi flicks, and anything that wants to grab your attention needs to be something mind-blowingly incredible. while i sort of agree that this is not that, it is definitely very good (especially considering it was made on a short notice with limited budget) , i would even go as far as saying i would like to see a whole movie of it
24/03/2011 at 14:51 MadMatty says:
Its called ….. “The Matrix” – theres whole 3 of them and i´m sure they´ll be right up your alley ;)
24/03/2011 at 00:07 Bluepixie says:
There is no parkour in this, unless jumping into vents is considered parkour these days….
Got all excited there! Bah, but yes nice little trailer. Reminded me of Eden Log to begin with.
24/03/2011 at 06:50 syntax says:
Much better than that stupid Prey teaser.
24/03/2011 at 19:58 Tatourmi says:
GOD! THESE ROOFTOPS! I KNOW THEM! PRIDE TIME! (Yeah I know, cool story and stuff)