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In Thought: Make the Demo Count
One of the many things I have always pondered was kickback for playing games. Now we have trophies and gamer points but I much prefer games where you unlock concept art, developer videos, etc. There has always been one other thing that bothered me, Demos.
I love when developers offer up a game demo to give gamers an early impression of the game BUT what I have always found annoying with game demos is that there is no point in playing them if you were planning to get the game anyway. I know, I know. Some of us just can’t wait for the game and we want to get an early peek at it but all that hard work goes with no reward. Sometimes that puts me off in the very beginning of the game once I get it. Off the top of my head, one game that I have played recently rewarded me for playing the demo and that was Patapon. Once you beat the demo you are rewarded with a weapon that you can use in the final game. Let’s take this concept a step further. Since a majority of the demo’s are the first level of the game, why not allow me to carry my play-through into a full game? Why not reward me for playing the demo?
Who will be the first to do this, or will this even be an obtainable request? If you are in the planning stages and you plan to provide a demo for your game, then construct it in a way that allows you to use the save file for the final game, or import the save file into the final game to unlock items. Alot of the game demos are old builds from various press events, or altered versions that differ from the final game. I would personally not use either of those two. I know a demo is an unfinished sample of the game but that doesn’t stop many people from judging the game and being the deciding factor for a purchase or not. Also when you modify the actual game play experience it alters or enhances what the users expect. So keep it simple, and if you can restrict the demo to being the first level of the game. Like movies, isn’t your first level supposed to be an epic opening to capture the player?
My point is to give it a thought. Entice more people to try your demo and reward them for doing so. Rewarding players can never be a bad thing right?
I strongly agree with you. The demo could be so much more than just the 1st level of a game. I didn't think of it as a reward though (unlocking an item), but this is a pretty good idea, too.
What I thought was, the demo could be more like a prequel or an intro to the game (to pursue the analogy with movies, where you get the intro sequence, then the main credits roll, and then the movie starts). Maybe even play the demo from a different point of view or in a different time frame. Of course, this is a significant workload (compared to just re-packaging the 1st level) but gaming's an ecosystem: everyone's starting to get the importance of the community that surrounds a game. It's the same here - as the demo is a communication tool mainly aimed at the community - and the community is always eager for more backstory, more info, more items, etc.
Thanks. I think it can be done it just takes planning. If you have a good production team, and great planning you can accomplish this without too much head-ache. The gaming experience has certainly changed over the past few generations but as developers create new experiences in the game to alleviate what could be repetitive and non-rewarding, they could extend that thought to the demo or as you have put it an intro or prologue.