Notlith · Indianapolis
AI video production in Indianapolis: game trailers for the Gen Con booth
Every summer the Indiana Convention Center fills with Gen Con, and tabletop publishers arrive with a new box to sell from a booth a few meters wide. Notlith makes the trailer that plays behind that table: a hybrid film built with AI around your real components, your illustrator's art and your rules, then cut again for the crowdfunding page and the weeks after the show.
Remote production · From your photos
A screen above a booth in a loud hall
The first audience is someone walking an exhibit hall aisle with a tote bag and a list. They give a booth screen a few seconds, often with no sound, so the loop has to state the game's hook in images alone: how many players, how long a session lasts, what you actually do on your turn. We write the loop around that one beat and let the box art close each pass.
Because the loop repeats all day, we plan it as a circle rather than a story with an ending. The last frame hands back to the first without a jump, titles are large enough to read from the aisle, and the pace stays calm enough that your demo team can talk over it without competing with the screen.
The illustrator's art stays the illustrator's
Tabletop players care who drew the cards, and many are wary of generated art. So we do not invent characters, creatures or scenes in the style of your artist. We separate the illustrations you supply into layers, then add depth, light, drifting dust and camera movement around them, so the world on screen is the one your artist painted.
Generation is used where it does not replace anyone's credited work: a candlelit table surface, the weather outside a tavern window, the tactile shine on a sleeved card. The end card credits the illustrator and the designer as your box does, and we help you word a short note on how AI was used if your community expects one.
Components on the table, exactly as printed
Backers notice when a trailer shows more than the box contains. We count what is in your photos, cards, tokens, miniatures, the insert, and the film shows that set and nothing extra. If parts are still prototypes, the trailer says so on screen, which also matches what crowdfunding platforms expect when a product is not yet manufactured.
For the hero shots we need production samples or final print files photographed flat and at an angle, plus a few frames of a real game in progress. We rebuild each component from those references and compare them frame by frame, so a card cost, an icon or a color on the board never changes between the photo and the film.
From the August hall to the campaign page
After the show the same footage keeps working. The booth loop becomes a ninety-second campaign trailer with a voiceover explaining a round of play, then shorter cuts for the publisher's newsletter and for vertical feeds. A how-to-play teaser can follow if your rulebook has a clean first turn worth showing, built from the same layered art and component models so nothing needs to be redone.
Gen Con usually runs in late July or early August, so a trailer meant for the booth should be approved well before the convention ships its exhibitor deadlines. We work backward from your shipping date for the booth kit and from your campaign launch, and we hold the final grade until your box art is locked.
Catalog demonstration
See the production approach
English, adaptable to your language
Plan the details
Will you generate new card art for the trailer?
No. We animate and light the illustrations you supply and generate only neutral surroundings such as tables, light or weather. New character or creature art stays with your illustrator.
Can the trailer show a prototype?
Yes, if it is labelled as a prototype on screen. We show only components that exist in your photos or print files, so the trailer does not promise contents the final box will lack.
Which format does a booth screen need?
Tell us the screen size and orientation your booth supplier gives you. We deliver a silent loop at that resolution, with titles sized to be read from the aisle, plus a version with sound for your table demos.
Do you attend Gen Con?
No. We work remotely from your files and photos, and the film is delivered ready to load onto the booth player before you drive to Indianapolis.
Start with your images
Send us photos of your components, your box art and rulebook, and the Gen Con booth screen size, and we will reply with a first trailer idea.