it seems like a logically visual avenue to explore.

I have so little experience with the gaming world, I’m a bit sheepish about offering my two cents worth, but …

I have a fair background in PR/advertising/imagery related to the entertainment industry. Not in gaming however. As I said, I have a personal bias towards loving this game, and with that said …

The initial image, while cool and creative and unique in it’s look, also gave me the “Mario Bros.” vibe, and only reading these comments validated my inexperienced perception.

I also liked the hour glass for it’s ability to convey the games vibe. On the other hand, as I read all these posts, what came to mind for me was something more akin to a sequential image, very much like what the above poster (from a spanish-language site – i’ve lost trak of that post now) did with your original screenshot graphic.

And what about this question of a banner vs. a squared or rectangular ad …
it seems to me that the size/shape will undoubtedly influence what type of imagery is used. A banner lends itself to sequential imagery, (though the time issue is still a conundrum), or perhaps even a series of panels. Boxier is harder, and the ad would need to be tailored as such.

I am curious why some of you believe that verbiage (script) is “a cop out.” All is meant for the sole purpose of conveying the essence of the game. Of course, the details are best left uncovered.

One idea I had after reading all this is for a banner ad which contains that hour glass image to the far left, with the sequential images of the character “busting out” of time restraints (ie – the hour glass), showing a few of the basic actions, evolving towards a “Saved Princess” at the opposing end. There is some need to better define the sequential imagery than I have done here … to “flesh them out,” so to speak, to be sure. It is just an idea.
Again, I think knowing the format of the ad is key to making it work.

As for advertising in general, I wholly respect those artists of all fields who maintain their artistic integrity above all. Still, as a 360 owner who finds very few of the games truly interesting, but who is always searching for something new and different, a look to ads to somehow give me a sense of what the game experience is like, and what makes it different from others. To seek to “nail this on the head” is in no way to sell out. That doesn’t mean the task, especially in this case, isn’t incredibly difficult, and perhaps should be approached as an “artform” equal to that of creating the game itself.

Well, nuff said for now …

Only ideas I have are to have the motion lines going backward, or to do a rewind icon or clock hands with motion lines conveying backward motion.

And/or cheezy tagline, e.g. “Braid: Can you unwind the threads of time?” or “Can you find your way through time?” or something like that. Seems like a cop out to go to text, but might be worth considering.

Can’t wait to play it! Unfortunately, I have to buy it now that I’m no longer with MS! 🙂

An ad is a metaphor for the product. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with the product in construction. An ethical but still effective ad is merely one which appeals to as narrow as possible a superset of those people who may want to learn more about your product.

And of course, an unethical one is one which merely attempts to appeal to the most number of people as possible, going so far as to try to alter their behavior in most cases these days.

So I would say you want something more along the lines of the hourglass image, and less along the lines of the images in your front page post, because the people who will find that hourglass image interesting are the kinds of people who will find the game interesting, whereas I don’t think that’s true of the front page images.

– Casey

http://www.fandango.com/cloverfield_110326/moviephotosstills?ImageId=221690

You know from this image, of course, who some of the main characters are, but also that it’s an action film (bloody forehead, dirty clothes), and communicates probably the most complex aspect of the film to communicate in ads – that it’s going to be told by one of the characters in the movie.

BigBossSNK – “nowhere near most indie productions.” I have to come out and say that is just plain wrong. I know plenty of indie studios, and 100k copies to break even, without knowing Braid’s pricepoint, is pretty on par in the console market, at least. Of course there are plenty of exceptions, but Braid’s not too far off from the norm.