How Long Should a Demo Be?

[Polraudio 122]

How long do you think a demo should be?

 

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I think i demo should be based on 2 things.

1. How long you plan on having your game.

2. How much of the story you can tell without ruining the game for them.

 

If you plan on having a long game it might be a good idea to have a little longer demo with a cutoff point that leaves the player wanting to what happens next. Get the player to get to know the characters a little and then plan for the cutoff soon after. It will leave the player thinking about the players and what they do next and will make think about that game for months.

 

Maps are another thing you want to have a bit of. You dont want a demo to have 5 small maps. You want to make it feel like the player is getting somewhere instead of stuck in the same place(Like Assassins Creed).

 

Dont have to much text in a row. The player might get sick of it and mash the accept button to skip it.

[Ecowolfsteen 14]

I personally agree with you I think the best demo time would be around 50 mins, if you have a long game, or 30. But like 20 15 mins for a short game.

[Noob Saibot 38]

Before we dive into this let’s look at how most people make their RMXP/VX demos. Why do this, you might ask? Well to put it simply your creating a game and the last thing you want to do is give YOUR WHOLE game story away in a demo. After all would you buy a commercial game if you played a demo of it that went half way through the story? I wouldn’t, but if the story captured me I probably would, but the big guys don’t do it simply because it makes no sense.

Most people don’t know this, but when a demo is released for a commercial game PC or Console it is at least 80% to 99% complete and is just under going fine tuning during beta testing. Yes its true games get beta tested before going on the market; even if they don’t catch them all.

 

Keep this in mind when you want to make your demo and only have 50% or even less, 25% of your game completed. Your game should be at least 80% if not 99% (recommended) before you decided to do a demo. I recommend 99% because that last 1% is you fine tuning it and maybe getting beta testers to help you find spelling errors, bugs, etc. I have played plenty of games that where claimed to be FINISHED, but contained more errors, bugs, and spelling issues that it showed how lazy the maker was and made the game complete Shit!!!

[gizmo00999 1]

*looks at votes* I guess if they all will be the same you will never get an answer...

 

Though I believe the first demo should be 10-30, long enough to introduce to the story, and show some small features.

[madanchi 18]

I really agree with Kage! and I'd say about 10-15 mins or a bit more depending, I feel a demo shoudlbt be too long (30 mins) because the player might get bored of it if they are a quick player and not too long so the long players want more to play and buy the game

[FranklinX 37]

The first demo should at least be 30 minutes. All demos afterward should be longer than the last one with at least 40 more minutes of game play.

[Broken Messiah 20]

I made a mistake of releasing my game demo early.

[FranklinX 37]

I made a mistake of releasing my game demo early.

 

Why is that? I'm going to try your game when my labtop is fixed.

[Broken Messiah 20]

I hadn't really gave any info on the main character, and the first maps are really sucky, and the battle system was a rushed one.

[Rook 0]

I'm working on my demo slowly but surely, not helpful when those whom you recruited are never online or take too long to submit things. I'm planning to do a loop, you start off in one place go this way, then back track and go the other way. Hopefully my game will be good.

[Enigma 10]

Personally, I think that a demo should be long enough to introduce the player to the games features, and give a brief intro to the game

Demos are Demonstrations, so they demonstrate how the game will be when it is completed.

[Marked 197]

I think it depends on the game and also the location of the demo. A newish project posted in our projects forum for example, I think can be as short as an intro with a few maps. However a project uploaded to the downloads manager should be longer, 10 minutes minimum.

[Noob Saibot 38]

Define Demo. As I have stated if your so called demo is playing the first half of your game it's not a demo!!!

[Rook 0]

Define Demo. As I have stated if your so called demo is playing the first half of your game it's not a demo!!!

 

I agree in part. Take a look at the demo for Final Fantasy XII, its main focus was showing you the battle and playable parts of the game, it didn't really give you any story or whatever. Now refering to my demo. I plan on having just a small bit of my actual game in the demo, only small bit though.

[DarkGamer 2]

30-60. Lower than that, there is no point in downloading something to play.

[Enigma 10]

The Management believes that the Rmxp Unlimited Community should consider the fact that the length of the demo is not as important as whether or not it is engaging and fun.

A demo(nstration) is the first glimpse of said game that a player will play. Whether or not he/she chooses to show interest in downloading the full version, or waiting for said full version to be released is dependent on the "first impression" given by the demonstration. Because there is a multitude of non-commercial RMXP projects, these demos also serve the purpose of allowing creators to receive feedback. This is the normally this is in a beta test which normally comes out before the demo but since noncommercial games don't need a beta test, a demo can be released much earlier.

Basically, once stability and gameplay have been taken care of then the length of a demo can be considered.

 

The Management would like to strongly advise you to remember that this only a suggestion and is not set in stone for all persons.

[Broken Messiah 20]

Is the Management talking in third person again?

[DarkGamer 2]

lol it is ;)

[Noob Saibot 38]

The Management believes that the Rmxp Unlimited Community should consider the fact that the length of the demo is not as important as whether or not it is engaging and fun.

A demo(nstration) is the first glimpse of said game that a player will play. Whether or not he/she chooses to show interest in downloading the full version, or waiting for said full version to be released is dependent on the "first impression" given by the demonstration. Because there is a multitude of non-commercial RMXP projects, these demos also serve the purpose of allowing creators to receive feedback. This is the normally this is in a beta test which normally comes out before the demo but since noncommercial games don't need a beta test, a demo can be released much earlier.

Basically, once stability and gameplay have been taken care of then the length of a demo can be considered.

 

The Management would like to strongly advise you to remember that this only a suggestion and is not set in stone for all persons.

 

Hobby game makers should have their games beta tested. Because plenty of people are tired of play half a$$ $hit that the said creator did not take the time to find all issues. Also more eyes will spot these said errors then just the said creator. After all when people read a book they notice typos and errors; to much and they will put the book down. Same goes with a game or software, to much and they put it down. Hobby game makers need to stop thinking that just because they are not a big corporation like Nintendo they don't have to test their games fully. I want to play the game, not think I'm playing it and find a $hit tone of errors in it!!!