Every Game should have a demo It helps to sell games.

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Every game on steam that I have tried that had a demo I ended up buying and enjoying.

For me demos leads to sales.

The 2 hour refund is NOT intended to be used as a demo system and you WILL get a warning from Steam if you try and use that feature.

Also it takes 24 hours to return funds to steam-and up to 7 days back to your creditcard.

I have purchased many games over the past decade, about 15% now abandoned and about 15% I just utterly hate.

But of all the games I enjoy, about 25 to 35% of them had demos. And about 15 or 20% of the ones I like alot did not.

Some times, a trailer doesnt do the game justice.


Now I know some games only have 2 hours worth of gameplay so a demo wouldnt be fair to them normally.

The demo doesnt have to be long. It can be a 10 minute demo.

Demos allow gamers to see how it looks and runs on their own systems, if the game matches what they want.


I know this will never happen but it should. I mean hell, they dont even need to make a demo.

All games on steam, 10 to 15 minute trial.

That is more than enough to see if it works on your Ultra wide 21:9 displays

More than enough time to see if you an get 60 or more fps in 4k max settings.

The idea of the demo isnt really to decide if the game is fun for you, its to see if the game runs well, looks well, and I am sure if it does, the fun factor will follow in.


Reason most people refund steam is due to performance issues.

Anyway, just my Friday night rant and thinking.

Go ahead, tear it down people, tell me why this wont work :D

Enjoy the weekend everybody!

[Reuben]

Автор сообщения: Dan5000

Making demos is expensive for the developers, unless they simply let you play the full game on a timer, which is why there are so few of them.
Usually you can look up every game on youtube and see some gameplay to decide what its really about.
If you're wondering about wether a game will run or not on your machine, you'll have to read the requirements and take a guess at it yourself... usually if its above the minimum it will run. It just shouldn't be AT the minimum on every single line. If you don't use it too often and you can't find info on it, you may also try the refund option. It shouldn't be abused, but every now and then it helps.
Personally I never use it though. If I buy something, I keep it. If it doesn't run, it will run on a newer PC some time in the future.

It's easy to make a demo that only includes one level that grabs the attention of potential customers.

It's also easy to make a sandbox level that shows off the mechanics of your game, most developers do this for internal use when designing their games.

If someone has already had their fill of a game through a demo, then the game didn't show much promise as a commercial product to begin with.

Lot's of developers are either too lazy or would rather risk a refund if the game runs poorly or is just bad.

[mldb88]

Автор сообщения: Reuben

Автор сообщения: Dan5000

Making demos is expensive for the developers, unless they simply let you play the full game on a timer, which is why there are so few of them.
Usually you can look up every game on youtube and see some gameplay to decide what its really about.
If you're wondering about wether a game will run or not on your machine, you'll have to read the requirements and take a guess at it yourself... usually if its above the minimum it will run. It just shouldn't be AT the minimum on every single line. If you don't use it too often and you can't find info on it, you may also try the refund option. It shouldn't be abused, but every now and then it helps.
Personally I never use it though. If I buy something, I keep it. If it doesn't run, it will run on a newer PC some time in the future.

It's easy to make a demo that only includes one level that grabs the attention of potential customers.

It's also easy to make a sandbox level that shows off the mechanics of your game, most developers do this for internal use when designing their games.

If someone has already had their fill of a game through a demo, then the game didn't show much promise as a commercial product to begin with.

Lot's of developers are either too lazy or would rather risk a refund if the game runs poorly or is just bad.

That’s not how demos work, and as someone who does game development as a side hobby, I can tell you right now you’re 100% off the mark.

You can’t just grab some gameplay bits and slap it into a demo and call it a day. A demo needs to capture the essence of the same and hook the player either through plot, gameplay or both in a very short time, but also not overplay it’s hand so to speak to make it feel like the player has seen everything the game has to offer by the end of the demo and lose interest. There’s a LOT of planning and strategic marketing that goes into constructing a good demo, so no it’s not easy, and no forcing devs to have demos should not be the norm. If you’re not sure about a game and it doesn’t have a demo, so research on it, it’s that simple.

[Reuben]

Автор сообщения: mldb88

Автор сообщения: Reuben

It's easy to make a demo that only includes one level that grabs the attention of potential customers.

It's also easy to make a sandbox level that shows off the mechanics of your game, most developers do this for internal use when designing their games.

If someone has already had their fill of a game through a demo, then the game didn't show much promise as a commercial product to begin with.

Lot's of developers are either too lazy or would rather risk a refund if the game runs poorly or is just bad.

That’s not how demos work, and as someone who does game development as a side hobby, I can tell you right now you’re 100% off the mark.

You can’t just grab some gameplay bits and slap it into a demo and call it a day. A demo needs to capture the essence of the same and hook the player either through plot, gameplay or both in a very short time, but also not overplay it’s hand so to speak to make it feel like the player has seen everything the game has to offer by the end of the demo and lose interest. There’s a LOT of planning and strategic marketing that goes into constructing a good demo, so no it’s not easy, and no forcing devs to have demos should not be the norm. If you’re not sure about a game and it doesn’t have a demo, so research on it, it’s that simple.

Tell me that you didn't read what you quoted without telling me that you didn't read what you quoted.

[mldb88]

Автор сообщения: Reuben

Автор сообщения: mldb88

That’s not how demos work, and as someone who does game development as a side hobby, I can tell you right now you’re 100% off the mark.

You can’t just grab some gameplay bits and slap it into a demo and call it a day. A demo needs to capture the essence of the same and hook the player either through plot, gameplay or both in a very short time, but also not overplay it’s hand so to speak to make it feel like the player has seen everything the game has to offer by the end of the demo and lose interest. There’s a LOT of planning and strategic marketing that goes into constructing a good demo, so no it’s not easy, and no forcing devs to have demos should not be the norm. If you’re not sure about a game and it doesn’t have a demo, so research on it, it’s that simple.

Tell me that you didn't read what you quoted without telling me that you didn't read what you quoted.

I read it perfectly fine. Just snagging a single level doesn’t work for all games across the board. Sandbox mechanics areas are more for tech demos and testing in the extremely early stages of development to show what’s capable and build excitement before a concrete product is even really in the works and often fails miserably as an actual game demo once there is a final build released. Again, demos are primarily marketing materials first and foremost, and a good demo is VERY deliberate in its design. I think you’re confusing demos with tech demos or proof of concepts.

[Brian9824]

Автор сообщения: Reuben

Автор сообщения: mldb88

That’s not how demos work, and as someone who does game development as a side hobby, I can tell you right now you’re 100% off the mark.

You can’t just grab some gameplay bits and slap it into a demo and call it a day. A demo needs to capture the essence of the same and hook the player either through plot, gameplay or both in a very short time, but also not overplay it’s hand so to speak to make it feel like the player has seen everything the game has to offer by the end of the demo and lose interest. There’s a LOT of planning and strategic marketing that goes into constructing a good demo, so no it’s not easy, and no forcing devs to have demos should not be the norm. If you’re not sure about a game and it doesn’t have a demo, so research on it, it’s that simple.

Tell me that you didn't read what you quoted without telling me that you didn't read what you quoted.

He did read it, its not that easy to do what you claim while accurately capturing the feel of the game. For instance games often unlock powers, abilities, etc as you progress, this gives the user time to adjust and become familiar with using their powers before adding new ones to the mix.

If your demo is a sandbox with all the powers unlocked from the getgo, its overwhelming and can actually drive people off, if its just the first level then it can feel underwhelming to people who don't realize that.

Striking the balance is quite difficult and for many games its not that easy.

For a story rich game its even harder as you can't just dump them into the middle of the story as you can spoil elements or confuse people. Nor would making a sandbox help sell the story.

[Reuben]

Автор сообщения: brian9824

Автор сообщения: Reuben

Tell me that you didn't read what you quoted without telling me that you didn't read what you quoted.

He did read it, its not that easy to do what you claim while accurately capturing the feel of the game. For instance games often unlock powers, abilities, etc as you progress, this gives the user time to adjust and become familiar with using their powers before adding new ones to the mix.

If your demo is a sandbox with all the powers unlocked from the getgo, its overwhelming and can actually drive people off, if its just the first level then it can feel underwhelming to people who don't realize that.

Striking the balance is quite difficult and for many games its not that easy.

For a story rich game its even harder as you can't just dump them into the middle of the story as you can spoil elements or confuse people. Nor would making a sandbox help sell the story.

No he didn't, he's saying you need to get the player hooked which I already addressed.

You also didn't read it, I gave multiple ways you could make a demo based on the type of game that it is.

You're just overthinking it and that's why it's only your hobbies, maybe?

I'll go one step further, if you can't make a good demo with segments of the game you've already got, maybe the game wasn't worth playing to begin with.

[Ben Lubar]

Valve should make it easier to tell when a game has a demo. The last game demo I downloaded was for a game I was not aware had a demo until someone on my friends list played it.

[Rin]

Demos make perfect sense to the user in F2P games because you are the product.

[mldb88]

Автор сообщения: Reuben

Автор сообщения: brian9824

He did read it, its not that easy to do what you claim while accurately capturing the feel of the game. For instance games often unlock powers, abilities, etc as you progress, this gives the user time to adjust and become familiar with using their powers before adding new ones to the mix.

If your demo is a sandbox with all the powers unlocked from the getgo, its overwhelming and can actually drive people off, if its just the first level then it can feel underwhelming to people who don't realize that.

Striking the balance is quite difficult and for many games its not that easy.

For a story rich game its even harder as you can't just dump them into the middle of the story as you can spoil elements or confuse people. Nor would making a sandbox help sell the story.

No he didn't, he's saying you need to get the player hooked which I already addressed.

You also didn't read it, I gave multiple ways you could make a demo based on the type of game that it is.

You're just overthinking it and that's why it's only your hobbies, maybe?

I'll go one step further, if you can't make a good demo with segments of the game you've already got, maybe the game wasn't worth playing to begin with.

Yes and we’ve shown how those simply don’t work the way you think they do, or at least in a way that’s “easy” to make. Yet your only response is that we apparently can’t read. Great argument there buddy

[Reuben]

Автор сообщения: mldb88

Автор сообщения: Reuben

No he didn't, he's saying you need to get the player hooked which I already addressed.

You also didn't read it, I gave multiple ways you could make a demo based on the type of game that it is.

You're just overthinking it and that's why it's only your hobbies, maybe?

I'll go one step further, if you can't make a good demo with segments of the game you've already got, maybe the game wasn't worth playing to begin with.

Yes and we’ve shown how those simply don’t work the way you think they do, or at least in a way that’s “easy” to make. Yet your only response is that we apparently can’t read. Great argument there buddy

You haven't shown anything.

Make a scene in your preferred engine and show off the mechanics of the game if it's a sandbox, if it's story-driven then package another branch of your game with a level that shows off your game the most.

The game will speak for itself if it's any good (the player is intrigued by the mechanics and/or story). It's disingenuous if you present the game any other way than it actually is.

[mldb88]

Автор сообщения: Reuben

Автор сообщения: mldb88

Yes and we’ve shown how those simply don’t work the way you think they do, or at least in a way that’s “easy” to make. Yet your only response is that we apparently can’t read. Great argument there buddy

You haven't shown anything.

Make a scene in your preferred engine and show off the mechanics of the game if it's a sandbox, if it's story-driven then package another branch of your game with a level that shows off your game the most.

The game will speak for itself if it's any good (the player is intrigued by the mechanics and/or story). It's disingenuous if you present the game any other way than it actually is.

And again it’s been explained why that doesn’t work. You just insisting it hard enough doesn’t magically make it fact.

Автор сообщения: brian9824

Автор сообщения: Reuben

Tell me that you didn't read what you quoted without telling me that you didn't read what you quoted.

He did read it, its not that easy to do what you claim while accurately capturing the feel of the game. For instance games often unlock powers, abilities, etc as you progress, this gives the user time to adjust and become familiar with using their powers before adding new ones to the mix.

If your demo is a sandbox with all the powers unlocked from the getgo, its overwhelming and can actually drive people off, if its just the first level then it can feel underwhelming to people who don't realize that.

Striking the balance is quite difficult and for many games its not that easy.

For a story rich game its even harder as you can't just dump them into the middle of the story as you can spoil elements or confuse people. Nor would making a sandbox help sell the story.

Try rereading that again, and maybe this time not just handwaving away the points just because you can’t be assed to come up with an actual counterpoint rather than just repeating the same thing again that, once again, was explained as to why it doesn’t work the way you think it does.

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Автор сообщения: Rin

Demos make perfect sense to the user in F2P games because you are the product.

The only free to play game I play is Path of Exile because 99% free to play is pay 2 win. I would rather pay a premium price once, than get nickled and dimed.

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Автор сообщения: Ben Lubar

Valve should make it easier to tell when a game has a demo. The last game demo I downloaded was for a game I was not aware had a demo until someone on my friends list played it.

Yeah, that is actually a great suggestion. Like a Demo section, a part of steam that only shows demos. That would be a great function to have.

[Ben Lubar]

Автор сообщения: Man Cave Mike

Автор сообщения: Ben Lubar

Valve should make it easier to tell when a game has a demo. The last game demo I downloaded was for a game I was not aware had a demo until someone on my friends list played it.

Yeah, that is actually a great suggestion. Like a Demo section, a part of steam that only shows demos. That would be a great function to have.

I was thinking more of an icon that would go next to the operating systems a game can be run on.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Автор сообщения: Man Cave Mike

Автор сообщения: Ben Lubar

Valve should make it easier to tell when a game has a demo. The last game demo I downloaded was for a game I was not aware had a demo until someone on my friends list played it.

Yeah, that is actually a great suggestion. Like a Demo section, a part of steam that only shows demos. That would be a great function to have.

hm... https://store.steampowered.com/search/?category1=10

https://store.steampowered.com/demos/