At What Point To Put Out A Demo

[SilverSpook]

So my project Neofeud has a couple rooms and probably 10-20 minutes of gameplay depending on how completist you are about reading/detectiving the scenes, and how awake you are when you fire the game up. 

I intend to make this eventually a full-length (4-8 hours?) commercial adventure, but I was wondering at what point might it be advisable to put out a demo version of the game, to whet appetites, get feedback on the direction of the game, etc??  As I understand it, Technobabylon had a few free demo versions out there year(s) in advance of the commercial release, correct?

At the moment we don't have any voice overs, although voice acting is in the gameplan for the commercial version.  Other than that, the artwork (background portraits items anims) is either done or nearing done.

A penny for your opinions on the timing, completeness, etc. of putting out a demo version of an AGS game?  Or perhaps that isn't advisable at all?

Thanks.

[CaptainD]

TEchnobabylon was a little different, as there were 3 small freeware games released, which strictly speaking weren't demos of the finished commercial game.

But... probably depends most on what you want to achieve.  If you want some early feedback, release it when you've got a reasonable amount of gameplay (half an hour or more roughly) and a good idea of the direction you want to take with the game, but allowing for wanting some player feedback before you finalise such plans.  If you want the demo to mainly be raising interest in the main game, probably best to wait till you have the full game finished (more or less) and release the demo no more than 3 months ahead of the full game's release.

(Or, if you're like me, release the demo in a rush of enthusiasm and then still be working on the game 3 years later... )

[Stupot]

I don't think the three TB games were intended as demos. I think the decision to restart the project as one massive game was made after those three happened to prove popular. But don't quote me on that.

If I'm honest, I don't often play demos for adventure games, let alone AGS games, but my personal opinion is that releasing a public demo now might be a bit premature. If you're looking for a gauge of what people think of it so far and what direction they think it should take, it might be best to just dish out a sample version to a small number of people behind closed doors, as it were. Then, with that feedback in mind, go and make the rest of the game and release a demo as a publicity tool.

* I started writing this before Cap'n D posted, so sorry to have repeated some of what he said.

[Radiant]

My recommendation would be to only do a demo when you have established a release date, and have this demo two or three months in advance. Having a demo when the project is in the beginning stages and you have no idea when (or if) you're going to release it doesn't really accomplish all that much.

[Dave Gilbert]

If you are planning a commercial game, then WAIT. Wait until you are positive of a release date, and then release your demo a month or two ahead of that. The purpose of a demo, at heart, is promotion. Release your demo too early and then people will forget all about it by the final product comes around.

Apropos of nothing - Technobabylon demo is coming this week!

[SilverSpook]

Thanks for the input all.  I guess I'll just send out builds to a select group of testers just to get some feedback on the game for now.

Thanks guys, and yes I've already preordered Technobabylon.