kantal@kantallive
heh, I'm not getings this... I'm testing about 300 games monthly - demos, playtest, private builds and devs still can't do a proper demo, so here's 10 things that you need to know, because the real players hate them too.
1. when playing a demo, I don't need the story, intro, I want to see pure mechanics. fighting if it's a fighting game, platforming if it's platformer. adding 5min of stories for those genres if I will play only 5 min of your game is ruining everything. save it for the full version.
2. I hate nonskippable text and videos, like in point 1. I'm here for the gameplay, so instead of watching, I like to feel it, to try it, to convince myself that this is something I would pay for.
3. giving a basic options for the player is a must. like turning off the CRT effects, scanlines, screenshake (I hate this one!), changing resolution, run in background, no minimizing when on other screen (it's for streamers, you will thank me later)
4. no feedback button! this is serious problem, instead of joining 124 discord channel, I want to give you a proper feedback with a private survey - in which you can collect my email for further discussions.
5. demo don't need to be super polished, but for god's sakes, don't put harsh and repeatable sounds into it, because it will do bad first impression
6. it's good to have a proper tutorial but it should be totally optional, especially in the demo where I want to experiment, but you've implemented 20min no-skippable tutorial :/
7. if you can, do the translation for your demo. this is a sign for the players that you're taking care of them. they will likely add +1 in overall score of your demo and it will help you to get those important wishlists.
8. use steam community hub. make a demo thread. just be there, read the messages, help players and take notes.
9 . not limit your demo to 2 weeks or so, some of us are very busy and there are about 50 great games each week, so your demo will be played eventually, but at later time. give the players time and they will repay you in wishlists
10. update your demo along with the full version, some players are very eager to try first and pay later. you don't need to have this big green button al the time, but blue button on the side will help to decide.
