Game Trailers

One of the most fought over tasks on the Apple Team were the game trailers. The game trailers involved designing frames for QuickTime promotions of new games on the Mac. The challenge — and fun — came from the guidelines around the project:

• The entire project had to be finished in 5 hours, including design and production.
• There were a variety of sources for the graphics of the game trailer: Google, box shots, screenshots, and sometimes (if we were lucky) assets from the game producer.
• The frame needed to compliment and promote the theme of the game.
• Any idea went — as long as it worked with all of the other guidelines.

In addition to the game trailer itself, several small badges had to be produced. These badges were used to promote the games in various places, including the Apple Games site and on QuickTime channels.

The trailers weren’t scheduled on a regular basis. Rather, they came to the Apple Team as the game companies released new games and Apple decided to promote them on Apple.com. The turn-around from notification to completion was just a few days.