The Back of Your Box

Video Games and movies all have something on the back of their box. Most of the time, a person cannot open the box and even if they could they can't play the game or movie there on the spot. So, the box is really your only chance to sell the game to the player if they have no prior knowledge of the game.

The job of the front of the box is simple: catch the player's eye. Make them look at it. Make them interested enough to pick it up. From there the back of the box will take over. But the front should be covered with something interesting that perhaps reveals a bit about the game and (of course) shows off it's name.

The Front of the Box for One of My Favorite Games: Golden Sun

Golden Sun's front put the name in nice big letters, so you catch the name immediatly. It's also quite colorful, and is detail packed. It demands that you pick it up and analyze it. If you get your player (to be) to pick up the box, the battle is already half won.

Compare to this Box Cover: Haze

So again, we know the name, but what else do we know? We know that it's for 18+ year olds, has guns, and that there are humans in those suits. Other than that... nothing. Now, remember, the main goal of the front is only to draw attention. Does this draw your attention? Except for the bright yellow on the otherwise grey cover, nothing jumps out at me here.

A Third Example: Alone in the Dark (Remember the famous Stone scene from the voice acting post?)

Kinda the same problem Haze had, but at least the name is quite distinct. The A in Haze could be confused as being something else.

Now for the back. Once the player has picked the box up, you have to win the second half of the fight: Get them to buy it. Now. And not buy that game next to it (unless that happens to be your as well, in which case you want them to buy both!).

So what goes on the back? The interesting stuff. Give the player something to be excited about. Make them want to take it home and save the world or whatever. You've got give them enough that they want to know more, so the cool stuff, but don't give anything away. Let's look at the back of these examples, shall we?

Note: In order to make the text legible, I had to make the pictures wider than will fit. The important stuff is there though, and you can click on the picture to get the full version.

Golden Sun, The Lost Age (I couldn't find the back of the first box, so here's the front and back of the second Golden Sun game)

Now, by nature of being a sequel, this back is a bit different that the back of a box for the first game in a series. Here, the player already has knowledge going in. We assume they've played the first, and that's why they've picked up the second. So, we give them a hint as to where the game is going from the first, and what has changed. More Summons! Continue Your Game! These same rules apply for an expansion pack as well as a sequel.

The Back Cover of Haze (Shows a different front as well, the first front I showed was the North American and Australian version, not sure what region this is for. Which front do you like better?)

Does this sell the game to you? Do you want to take this home and play it? Doesn't sound interesting to me, but then again I'm not big into First Person Shooters anyway. The only additional info I've gained is that this group has been sent in to quell an uprising and they use something called NECTAR.

Now, does anyone see the fatal flaw? Look again. Still don't see it? Let me give you a hint by telling you something that the box doesn't, you are one of these NECTAR using soldiers.

Give up? Look at the first of the three bullets again. "Use the powers of the rebels and the Mantel to..." wait a second! If I'm one of the soldiers, then how do I use the rebel's powers? There's no way to use the powers of both without....

Congratulations Haze, you have just given away your "major" plot twist on the back of your box. You wouldn't want to surprise your players with a faction change plot twist, no Sir! You should always tell your player that they will betray their friends and switch sides before they start playing. Otherwise it would be false advertising!

Now for Alone in the Dark to Face Judgement

Are you hungry to discover the secret of Central Park? That was the goal of that back cover. Not sure I'm sold, not really any info there. Though unlike Haze, it hasn't sold out any major plot points or been overloaded with info. So, perhaps the two represent the two extremes. Haze has "too much" info with giving away plot points. Alone in the Dark is the opposite, giving away only that New York is involved somehow.

Now, if you know me at all, you should understand that I've chosen these games carefully and what that means is that Alone in the Dark also sports a fatal flaw on the back of it's box. We've already covered that it's not a plot point, so what is it? Give it another look. Still can't put your finger on it? Go back over the features. None of them jump out as being less than feature quality? Take a good hard look at the one in the middle bottom. Read it over a couple of times and think about what it means.

So... not having to play the game is a point in its favor? Why play the game at all then? I thought that's what YouTube was for. Are there really so few good things about this game that this feature makes into the top five "Back of the Box Worthy" list? Personally, that just kills my interest in the game. If they dropped that one, the other four might have sold it to me, though I think I'd like something a little better than "Exhilarating Gameplay". Sure, Gameplay is the crux of a game's goodness level, but putting it there like that sounds like they're trying too hard.

To wrap this up, remember that your box is a key component in selling your game. Eye catching front, and informative back that tells the player why they want to now buy and play this game. Choose wisely. If you want players to invest in your game, invest in your box!

"Uuhhh... what did I come in here for?"