I started entertaining ideas of some separate demo story maybe following Collie and some other character... but I think that's the way feature creep lies, so it'd probably be wiser to just use the starting bit as a demo. I mean, the whole point of Atonal Dreams is to serve as a shorter prelude to Divine Dreams (if I ever even make that), so having an even shorter prelude to that short prelude seems a bit... regressive? Is that the word I'm looking for? Maybe! I should upload a demo of the demo, or maybe a demo of that demo-demo...
I was definitely intending to add some plot stuff between the battles for a demo! It's the next thing I need to do, though I've been delaying because I was unsure whether to add that before doing any private alpha testing...
I can understand the loss of interest if there's too much time between the demo and final release! Seems a lot of Kickstarters begin with a demo to encourage funding of the not-yet-finished game, so I suspect there's a months- or years-long gap there. I wonder whether being a part of the Kickstarter helps keep interest somehow.
2
Astreon152~4Y
I was precisely going to suggest using the demo as a way to temporarily quench the thirst for the full game.
You teased with a video, then game development info.
Now, you release a demo, and it can serve to both keep people interested, and attract new potential players who weren't yet aware of the game being made.
Then, you'll publish and other video of some other part of the game, more updates on game development, and finally publish the game.
Of course, there's no guarantee that it'll work 100%, but surely that's the 2 purposes of a demo: inform, and incite.
Remember that time when we got demo cd's with a magazine, or even another game ? It was designed to inform you that the game was going to be out soon, and let you try its main features to see if you liked it.
Sure, that didn't mean you'd eagerly wait for the game to come out, but when it did, you would go "oh yeah, i know that game, i played the demo, i remember it was cool", and then bought it.
I was definitely intending to add some plot stuff between the battles for a demo! It's the next thing I need to do, though I've been delaying because I was unsure whether to add that before doing any private alpha testing...
I can understand the loss of interest if there's too much time between the demo and final release! Seems a lot of Kickstarters begin with a demo to encourage funding of the not-yet-finished game, so I suspect there's a months- or years-long gap there. I wonder whether being a part of the Kickstarter helps keep interest somehow.
You teased with a video, then game development info.
Now, you release a demo, and it can serve to both keep people interested, and attract new potential players who weren't yet aware of the game being made.
Then, you'll publish and other video of some other part of the game, more updates on game development, and finally publish the game.
Of course, there's no guarantee that it'll work 100%, but surely that's the 2 purposes of a demo: inform, and incite.
Remember that time when we got demo cd's with a magazine, or even another game ? It was designed to inform you that the game was going to be out soon, and let you try its main features to see if you liked it.
Sure, that didn't mean you'd eagerly wait for the game to come out, but when it did, you would go "oh yeah, i know that game, i played the demo, i remember it was cool", and then bought it.