Demo or not demo ? That is the question

[Meg']

Hey !

I'm not sure if it is the good place to ask this, but I think it should...

I have a question that may seem stupid, but well, I'm still going to ask :
What is a demo?

People use that word everywhere and for different cases. What do people mean by demo ?
I looked for a definition on the net and it says that it's either a limited version of something, and if you want to get the complete version, you have to pay.

Do you think we can call a demo, a version that will be used as a test version to see if there are things that can be improved or any mistakes ?
Isn't it more a complete game than a demo ?

I have a complete game, but I'm thinking about calling it a demo version, because I first want to see what can be improved and if people find errors.

Well, demo or not demo ? That is the question...

[Pugfarts]

The complete game submitted for proofreading/error-checking would be an alpha version.

I'm assuming in regards to the VNs on here Demos are more like teasers to show people what the game is going to be like.
e.g. I'm going to release a demo for my game that will just consist of the first opening segment and then a page that describes what to expect next in the full game.

[Anima]

Demo is simply short for demonstration. That can be an early tech or interface demo, basically a prototype. It can also be an open alpha, which usually means that the basic frame for the game is done, but the finer details are still being worked upon, at least for part of the game. The purpose would be to get feedback on critical parts of the game before it's to late to change them. (Works less well for pure VN or KN games, since their critical parts are usually the branches and/or the stories twists and resolutions. Normally you wouldn't want to spoil those. It's a good idea for games with heavy gameplay elements like RPGs. It's a real pain to change things later on, but the gamestate is often too big and complex to be properly tested by a small team.

An open Beta is mostly for marketing and device related bugfixes. A demo of a complete and published game is again for marketing reasons. It also allows players to test if the game works on their device, before committing to a purchase. So it mostly makes sense for commercial games.

[Meg']

Thank you your for your replies !

So, what I'll release will be a first version of a complete game.
I now know that demo are meant for commercial game.

[papillon]

Demos aren't necessarily only for commercial games - many people want to put something together to show what they've done so far if they have a free project that isn't finished yet. If you're planning to write a story that's three chapters long, you might decide to release just the first chapter as a demo so that people can see that you've made progress.

Others like to have the whole thing as shiny and complete as possible before letting others see it. It's a personal choice.