Crafting the cozy reveal trailer for Hotel Galactic

Set in a dreamlike hotel and inspired by the serene aesthetics of Japanese animation, Hotel Galactic is an upcoming game by Ancient Forge for which we were fortunate to craft a reveal trailer. First impressions matter, so creating a video encapsulating the cozy nature of the game and showcasing the hotel’s quirky tenants was a fascinating quest for us. We produced the trailer in the spring of 2024 over the course of seven weeks, and now I am happy to pull the curtain a tad and shed light on our team’s work.

Directing Attention and Balancing Vibes with Narrative

Reveal trailers are curious beasts. Ideally, we have to introduce everything at once—the story, gameplay, and aesthetics—unlike with gameplay, cinematic, or accolade trailers that often focus on just one aspect. With Hotel Galactic, our goal was to capture the game’s essence based mostly on early concepts and ensure complete cohesion both narratively and visually. 

A common pitfall with these kinds of trailers is leaning too far into the ‘vibes first’ approach and abandoning the plot. Not every trailer has to be a dramatic larger-than-life standoff of good and evil, but you still need some narrative hooks for the viewers to relate to. When the atmosphere dominates the trailer and the story is lagging behind, it’s easy to lose connection with it, to disassociate. The viewers end up both mesmerized and confused, and the video doesn’t serve its purpose fully. We at Heroic know just the right method of ensuring that the trailer in front of the viewers is something more than just an eye candy. The story always needs to drive the visuals, not the other way around. Story usually precedes aesthetics—for example, if you decide to make a horror game, the aesthetic will probably be dark, tense, foreboding—so trailers should do similarly: narrative should not be neglected. 

Any piece of audiovisual media, be it a hand-drawn cartoon, modern blockbuster movie, or a multimillion-dollar gaming franchise, relies on the narrative. The visuals are the vehicle that drives the emotions you want to evoke, but however spectacular they might be, they are there to enhance the story, not define or substitute it.

The Hotel Galactic trailer fulfilled its purpose in that regard, soothing the viewers with a sense of calmness and charming them with a sneak peek into the world they are about to dive into.

Achieving a Dreamy, Ghibli-Inspired Atmosphere

The reveal trailer conveys a sense of serenity and warmth akin to Studio Ghibli classics like Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro. As we explored the concepts and game footage provided by Ancient Forge, we loved how rich the world was and how many references to famous anime are hidden there. When working on the video, we kept in mind that the ever-challenging part of paying homage is to carefully tread the line between respectful referencing and mirroring too closely.

The secret of this balancing act is to know the key visual pillars of the source of inspiration and carefully replicate some of them, while having at least one be completely original to your game.

Those pillars are:

• Shape language;
• Color palette;
• Animation style;
• Lighting style.

Of these four, shape language is the unique style-defining element of Hotel Galactic. Usually, it influences the way characters, environments, even assets and props are perceived, and defines what makes them recognizable. Use edgy, sharp, triangular shapes, and you create an aggressor or a lone wolf; use rounded, smooth shapes, and you craft a trustworthy and kind character. Shape language is the tool that most affects how we ‘read’ our surroundings. Our eyes interpret shape language intuitively at first glance. 

With Hotel Galactic, our goal was to stay true to the game’s established shape language, ensuring it remained recognizable and consistent with the original art style on the one hand, but the team was more flexible with colors, lighting, and animation. We used assets and footage provided by Ancient Forge to define the shape language of the game. We then stacked the other three elements on top of it, respectfully paying homage to Studio Ghibli’s color palette, animation style, and lighting.

Moreover, our animators reached beyond Studio Ghibli anime for inspiration—taking hints from unexpected places, like old western movies. We also added our spin to the visual language by incorporating small details from various late-1980s to early-2000s manga. After almost immediate approval of our proposed sketches and storyboards, we were able to experiment with shot compositions and visual storytelling methods, while making sure that the visual fidelity would hold.  Throughout the process, we worked closely with Marta Krzesińska, the Lead Artist, and Dushan Chaciej, the CEO and Creative Director at Ancient Forge Studio, who made significant contributions to shaping the storyboard and overall vision for the trailer, adding immense value to the creative process.

When creating the storyboard in our heads, we immediately had a clear goal outlined—to show that there are not only cute characters behind the game, but also an interesting storyline. Heroic’s team understood our vision perfectly and helped us implement it.

Marta Krzesińska, the Lead Artist at Ancient Forge Studio

And just like that, by carefully disassembling and reassembling certain artistic elements, we created a reveal trailer that feels familiar and nostalgic yet distinctive!

Ending on a Cliffhanger

Ending on a cliffhanger—even for a calm and charming game trailer—is one of the oldest tricks in the book, sure, yet a potent one if executed well. Despite initial concerns about the bad guys’ introduction disrupting the calm vibe of the trailer, we used this to our advantage to foreshadow challenges awaiting the players. Having some mischievous force meddling with the players’ plans certainly adds depth to the story and builds viewers’ empathy for the hotel residents. So keep your eyes peeled when playing—you never know how and when the troublemakers will show up.

The Impact

For established franchises, a trailer serves as an appetizer for your favorite gourmet meal, an invitation to return to a familiar world. But for games like Hotel Galactic, made in a brand-new unexplored universe, the trailers’ gravity is immeasurably higher. It has to land. It has to touch hearts in order to build anticipation.

Hotel Galactic is more than just another game – it’s a landmark project for Ancient Forge, representing our most ambitious endeavor to date. With it, we strive to set new standards for the management and simulation genres and the announcement trailer was supposed to convey just that. We’re very happy to say that the team at Heroic nailed that and delivered amazing results!

Dushan Chaciej, the CEO and Creative Director at Ancient Forge Studio 

 In this case, an important aspect was the fact that Hotel Galactic fully relied on its Kickstarter campaign’s success—meaning that the project was only going to be funded if it reached its $130,000 goal. We are proud that the trailer has been a part of the game’s marketing campaign that united over 3,200 backers and allowed the developers to surpass their initial goal by amassing over $182,000!

The trailer resonated with the media, too, garnering attention and praise from PC Gamer, IGN, Rock Paper Shotgun, Game Informer, Nintendo Everything, and other prominent outlets. 

I was immediately taken by [the trailer’s] Studio Ghibli-inspired art style—which is a term that can get thrown around a little too widely, but seriously, look at it. The animated portion of its trailer has that hand-painted style.

Lauren Morton, Associate Editor at PC Gamer

The trailer was reposted by several YouTube channels, and combined with the official video from Ancient Forge gathered at least 180,000 views in total. What can we say, people love management simulators and charming creatures inspired by Japanese anime—and so do we!
Wishlist Hotel Galacticon Steam and stay tuned for updates.