How do you make a demo?

[xoferew]

Do you make a copy of your game and delete most of it? (Scary!) And then just edit events to tie off the bleeding, like change a transfer event to "Sorry, you can't go that way in the demo"? Or do you just keep the whole game, if it's not too big, and block off some of it? Is there a length, file size, percent of game that's considered optimal? Thanks for any advice!

 

[MushroomCake28]

I have a switch named DEMO, and when it's on it restricts most of the things in game (locations, some menus, other features, etc.). I also delete a couple of my important maps in my data folder so that if someone tries to decrypt the game and reverse engineer it would be harder.

 

[Oddball]

What about taking a bit of the game in the beginning of development before scripts and thus are added, and releasing that with a list of the planned features you have plugins for, only importing your graphical assets into the game?

You can do a lot more in the RPG maker editor than can be seen at first glance. With variables, conditinal branches, adding states to user through damage formula's and common events. Heck, you can make it look like a boulder is falling down a mountain with move routes. You can make enemies that react to skills players use with those skills inflicting invisible states and using the state condition in the skill and rating part of the enemy area. Or a fast travle system with common events attached to an unconsumable item, opening up new paths with switches. Though, i digress

Taking a snippet of part of your early project, before plugins are added and releasing that gives the players an idea of what your game will be like, and gives them something to look forward to

 

[HexMozart88]

I actually make the demo before moving on, as much for myself as for others. Most of the primary systems are in the demo, and so the bugs can be ironed out early on, leaving something far more manageable later on. This is especially useful given that a lot of my systems will be events copied and pasted in different areas. If there's something about my battle system that needs to be changed, I'd rather know now than when I've made 10 copies of it. But as for how I make it, I tend to start with the core element (in this case, story) and add any other systems I feel are important for the game. Some primary locations are included, which for me is 2 of 3 of the islands. As people give me feedback, I change things.

 

[xoferew]

Thanks, @MushroomCake28, @Oddball, and @HexMozart88. So it sounds like I don't have to delete stuff, just block it off. I don't have any plugins and don't plan to, but I get the point about not needing all the bells and whistles in place before releasing a demo. Hmm, maybe everyone is a lot more organized than me about game making, I've been working on this thing on and off for a few years and this is the first time it occurred to me to make a demo. ^_^;

 

[Oddball]

Iv'e had a lot of time to think about how i would do it. Either something i make would be a peice of flaming garbage, or i get something cool that i'm having fun making, with cool events and stuff, and the data loss goblin comes and throws it into the garbage dump of lost things

Edit: By the way, back. Up. Your. Files!

 

[BitBrosGames]

It's ok if you don't want to delete any stuff (like events, scripts, maps and such... just in case), but at least take the resources out of the folder you want to build the demo from and back up the files somewhere else safe.
Downloading a 900MB game may be acceptable, but not a 900MB demo.
It's my opinion, though.

 

[TheoAllen]

Do you make a copy of your game

Yes, to address the bug validation and verification from my players who're reporting it. Since it's going to be more relevant because I have the same file.

and delete most of it? (Scary!)

And yes.
My work station includes a lot of raw files I put inside the game folder for easier management, and it serves nothing more than just clutter. I try to remove all unused asset to make it as small as possible.

And then just edit events to tie off the bleeding, like change a transfer event to "Sorry, you can't go that way in the demo"?

I put a blatant roadblock. However, my game is unencrypted. So they can see what is it I'm blocking and why I'm blocking it.

Or do you just keep the whole game

I tend to keep the whole game. With blockers

Is there a length, file size, percent of game that's considered optimal?

As long as it's enough to demonstrate what is going on or the concept I'm trying to bring, it's enough.

 

[CraneSoft]

If your game has a ton of colorful CGs and custom assets as one of the main selling points, and you don't want to risk unwanted people ripping your game's resources before its release, then you will want to delete everything that is not supposed to be available to the player in the demo. Otherwise, some simple roadblock events will do the trick.

I am the one that support bigger size = better when it comes to RPGMaker games so there is no real optimal size to advice here, there isn't alot of things that can take up that much space outside of pictures, so I know I can expect quality content from games that actually puts effort into that and of course, knowing to identify the ones that's clearly a result of bad file compression or are deliberately trying to be misleading.