What are some things I should consider before releasing a demo?

[Guarionex]

I'd like to upload a demo of my game (RM1) since I'm very interested in getting some feedback. Should I take certain things into consideration before doing so?

[Perversion]

Re: What are some things I should consider before releasing a demo?

Hehe...I literally 30 seconds ago just finished reading your mag version of this topic.

[Guarionex]

Re: What are some things I should consider before releasing a demo?

Heh, yeah... I try to get input from both sides.
I'll be holding from releasing an actual demo for a while, but I'm still interested in knowing what should I do before doing it.

[Ωbright]

Re: What are some things I should consider before releasing a demo?

My advice to you would be to make sure that what's there is completely playable. You don't want people to ask you when the FULL version of the demo is coming out (take it from a fool who knows on this one).

My problem was that I was trying to make my demo too long, and it was becoming thin in places. It's much better to just focus on getting the beginning perfect. How long should it be? I'd say just long enough to get people interested, without making them invest too much time in a game that they know is not even complete. You'll probably want to show off a few game features, even if only at a simplified stage in the beginning game, but you definitely want the main game mechanics featured in there somewhere. The establishment of the setting, and the basic character intros should also be there, because those are some major points to draw people into your game.

Again...FINISHED, or at least completely playable. No one should fault you if you decide to edit the demo in the final version...you probably will anyway. Most RM games are almost totally amorphous in the production process, and even a lot of games that are totally planned out in advance will change a LOT by the end of production. That's fine, so don't worry about everything being exactly the way it's always going to be in the demo.

If there is an area which will only be featured in the final version, it's good to let players know in one way or another. It's also very kind to let players know when they have in fact reached the end of the demo, and thank them for playing & all that.