Demo or full game?

[JohnDoeNews]

So, when you see a new RPG Maker game, do you want to play a demo first? Or do you go straight to the store? Or do you play the demo and then never buy the full game after all?

 

[kvngreeley]

I voted that I skip the demo, but that needs a caveat. I have so many games and so little time that I usually skip demos. And I pretty much never buy a game when it first comes out. I wishlist and follow it and wait for a very good sale. Again, I have a lot of games I haven't played so no rush for me. I can wait years for a game to be lower in price. I am an old cheapskate I guess.

Also, I generally don't feel like I need a demo if there is a good video or videos on the store page along with good screenshots. If those look like a game that I would enjoy along with a good game description, I will read some reviews and check out the discussions page. That is how I decide to buy a game, but I could be in the minority. And I take all reviews with hefty grain of salt.

If those things make me think I won't like a game, I just won't buy it and I wouldn't normally spend any time seeing if a demo changes my mind.

I'm not sure if that helps or if I am an outlier. I used to download lots of demos, but then I just never got around to playing them.

Very good poll though and I will be interested in following this to see if it impacts my own future decisions.

 

[ATT_Turan]

I haven't played a demo for any game in years. Part of that is because they're less common, but it's primarily because I mainly shop for games on Steam.

With Steam's return policy, I can get a game and if I don't like it within 2 hours of playtime, get a refund. That way I don't care about the inconvenience of separately downloading a demo and then the game, and I don't care about playing a demo and not keeping the progress when I go into the full game, or whatever.

I really don't see a purpose for demo releases on Steam. If your main platform is someplace else, then your mileage may vary.

 

[ShadowDragon]

I play the demo, and if I like it, I can consider on buying it later on or not.
but if it's poorly made and not worth it buying it, I wont.

A demo can give you at least an inside if it's intresting or not.

 

[HarlekinLehl]

I usually just don't buy RM games. It's not that I don't like them. But I can't find anything that suits my needs/wants. If I felt like playing Harold saves the world, there's plenty of free options. I'm also very turned off by cheap prices. If your game is 1-5 Dollars/Euros, I'm not buying it.

 

[Imani]

If your strategy is to sell your commercial game, an available demo is quite useful. A demo is another good way to convince potential customers, along with good images, videos and a good prepared description.

 

[PixelatedBree]

I'll usually play the demo, especially if there's an incentive to doing so, like when the dev says there's something extra offered in the full game by playing the demo (like a password, bonus skin, secret scene, etc). If I like it, then I'll definitely buy!

 

[Storyteller-Hero]

Before even considering the demo, I'd take a good look at how the game is presented in the first place, to see if there are red flags such as poor spelling/grammar, or bad mapping in screenshots, or a reluctance to even give the slightest description of the game's content aside from game mechanics.

 

[Beewo]

Well it depends a lot on the game, but in general if I'm interested in a rpg maker game I will watch a short playthrough on youtube to get a feel of it. But if there's none available rpg maker games are usually cheap enough for me to just buy depending on the trailer/pictures/reviews and story interesting me.

 

[TheoAllen]

I voted "I don't buy RPG Maker games". But I can tell my personal experience of playing the game's demo. You know, the Steam games and their "prologue" game, or an actual demo on their game page.

The summary is, "it makes me less interested in the game". Because I have already experienced the game even if it is just a vertical slice of it. My curiosity is satisfied. Sometimes I just don't agree with the overall design decision, but I was unable to see the whole picture simply because it was just a demo, with limited scope. Which makes me even more not interested.

Granted, the game I played usually focused on the mechanic rather than the narrative. So that is probably why it didn't work.

 

[JohnDoeNews]

I am surprised about the outcome... So far, the #1 answer is skipping the demo. But the #2 answer is: I don't buy RPG maker games...

This makes me feel that, if I want to sell my game, then a demo is a waste of time. Users who buy the game won't play the demo anyway. And those who play the demo, are not planning on buying the game...

This does reflect the results I see. People who play the demo, even those who are excited about it, are not buying.

 

[kvngreeley]

I am surprised about the outcome... So far, the #1 answer is skipping the demo. But the #2 answer is: I don't buy RPG maker games...

This makes me feel that, if I want to sell my game, then a demo is a waste of time. Users who buy the game won't play the demo anyway. And those who play the demo, are not planning on buying the game...

This does reflect the results I see. People who play the demo, even those who are excited about it, are not buying.

I'm not a statistician and I don't do much voodoo statistics, but I don't think 19 respondents is a representative sample so I wouldn't set too much stock in the results so far.

And the #2 response is interesting considering this is an RPG Maker forum. Maybe there are a lot of people who prefer to develop and or lurk around RPG Maker groups, but not buy RPG Maker games?

I think it is a positive trend that almost 50% of respondents seemed to indicate that they would buy the game (assuming it meets their interests) and the 21% that play the demo even if they don't plan to buy the game could be interpreted as an opportunity to win over that percentage of prospective buyers by impressing them with the demo.

Again, I think you would need many more responses, perhaps from dedicated RPG Maker game enthusiasts to get a realistic sampling.

I wouldn't let this discourage me if I thought making a demo was a good idea and I had time to do it.

Just my opinion.

 

[Beewo]

Just gonna leave this here to agree with kvgreeley, a demo is never a bad thing. And no doubt there are people who appreciate them being mad, us 19 are just too tiny a sample to tell.

Thinking on it, a demo is specifically a good chance to drag in ppl who are putoff by the negative reputation rpg maker games have (a problem usually not shared as much around here, this being a rpg maker forum and all), but seeing a demo figures oh well might as well kill a bit of time. Lure them in and they might buy it now that their interest is caught.

 

[JohnDoeNews]

Purely judgung on my own experience, players who play my demo, are very positive about my demo. Yet the same players do not buy the full season.

I would expect that those who like the demo, would be triggered to buy the full game.

But that is just when looking at my own game. Even though there is not that many votes in yet, the choice to play a demo and then buy the full game got pretty much no votes at all.

That makes me think, it would be better to have no demo at all.

I think, in my case, I will cut my demo short. Instead of playing the full 1st chapter, I might cut it short to playing just the 1st 3 battles. It shows different types of cards and powers.

 

[SomaelCK]

Purely judgung on my own experience, players who play my demo, are very positive about my demo. Yet the same players do not buy the full season.

I would expect that those who like the demo, would be triggered to buy the full game.

But that is just when looking at my own game. Even though there is not that many votes in yet, the choice to play a demo and then buy the full game got pretty much no votes at all.

That makes me think, it would be better to have no demo at all.

I think, in my case, I will cut my demo short. Instead of playing the full 1st chapter, I might cut it short to playing just the 1st 3 battles. It shows different types of cards and powers.

Playing demo and buying the game doesn't really correlate.
Logically, demo will be mostly play by those who are interest in your game but somewhat on the fence about buying it. So playing demo might make them interest more and buy the game OR they found out that the game may not be their cup of tea and ended up not buying the full game in the end.

The primary factors for getting a booming sales are all about the actual quality of the game and how well you marketed it. I don't think having a demo or not will ever influence the sales.

However, a demo IS a great tool for gathering feedbacks. You might even ended up building a small loyal fanbase. Their input will be a great asset in the game's development cycle. You might even ended up building a sizable community when the game is done and ready. Having a community around your game is a great, if not THE greatest, boon for any indie developers out there. I'd say, from that angle, getting a well-made demo out will ended up benefitting your game in a long run.

 

[Storyteller-Hero]

Granted, the game I played usually focused on the mechanic rather than the narrative. So that is probably why it didn't work.

This is probably going to be the case for the majority of RPG Maker games, because the majority of users, even the majority of those putting out for commercial sales, are probably neither professional quality writers nor able to present a past portfolio of good quality written works.

As such, for an indie RPG, belonging to a genre in which story quality is super high priority, if the potential player or customer can't get hooked on how one presents the game's story quality on the download page and trailer(s), it's going to be that much harder for them to consider trying the game or even trying out the demo, especially when their time is limited and there are so many other games on the market.

Almost nobody will care if the dev says the game is good if the presentation isn't good. Less people wanting to try it also means less reviews, less word of mouth, less everything.

There are still going to be people who will play regardless, but the potential pool of players will not nearly be as large as the general market if presentation doesn't hook them in even before trying the game.

P. S. If you're not confident about your writing but still want to put out a commercial product with a well-written story, there are always the options of studying the art of writing (take classes, watch videos, read books, etc.), and taking on a partner who is well-trained in writing.

 

[CraneSoft]

Most people that are already interested tend to not bother with demos unless you are making something that can generate AAA-tier hype.

If anyone bothers playing a demo at all before buying, it means they are DOUBTING if your game is worth their money. In such scenarios, not having a demo means the potential sale is lost because you don't even give them a chance to decide.

Always have demos as they are good potential for exposure besides advertising.

 

[JohnDoeNews]

I common reaction I read here is that demo's are played out of doubt. That is how how I experience it, though. I always saw a demo as an interactive advertisement method. Play a bit of the game for free, and then get lured into buying the full game. (Lured not meant in a negative way. But that is what advertisement is, right? Luring in new costumers.)

I have told you guys my experience with my demo and how that reflects (or doesn't reflect) on my sales. Do you guys have any experiences with your demo's and how that translated into actual sales?

(Edit: I realize I use the word 'doubt' because it was used in the last reply. But even though others used different words, it is kind of the same deal as others had as well, right?)