Releasing a demo

[DarkClaymore]

I was thinking...

Since I work on my current VN mainly in order to improve my "games creating skills", should I release a demo (or many of them at different points of the project) in order to get early feedback? Or should I release it only when it's completed?

[Lanna]

Personally, I'd say go for it!

I mean, what could possibly go wrong? That way, you can get people really interested in your project and some of them might offer advice to improve your work further before releasing the completed version.

I definitely never regret posting demos or sending them to friends. I'll gladly take all the feedback I can get before the final release (and even afterwards, of course).

[SidVanHalen]

Definitely, Go for it. Do your best and release the demo. Its better to implement feedback that way.

[LVUER]

Releasing lots of demo is OK, but that could hurt your ego... and your popularity (for never releasing the full game).

I think you should make the game short (perhaps 5-10 minutes of game play?) That way, you could release lots of finished game.

[DarknEvilShadow]

Hi, I'm pretty new here myself, and since I didn't want to open another topic (since it's relatively on topic), I thought the original poster would maybe benefit from this question as well.

If I were to release a demo of what I have so far, what site would I go to in order to have the files stored? I already created a .zip form of it and I'm just curious as to what people use and where they go.

@DarkClaymore: I would say so. Early feedback lets you know if people like the idea or if something needs changing. Of course, you can't always have things change if it'll interfere with your work later on in the long run. Just don't get to the point where you're constantly releasing the same thing with little changes and no advancement in your plot.

[LVUER]

Hi, I'm pretty new here myself, and since I didn't want to open another topic (since it's relatively on topic), I thought the original poster would maybe benefit from this question as well.

If I were to release a demo of what I have so far, what site would I go to in order to have the files stored? I already created a .zip form of it and I'm just curious as to what people use and where they go.

@DarkClaymore: I would say so. Early feedback lets you know if people like the idea or if something needs changing. Of course, you can't always have things change if it'll interfere with your work later on in the long run. Just don't get to the point where you're constantly releasing the same thing with little changes and no advancement in your plot.

You could post them in Megaupload, Rapidshare, or other free hosting web. If you (or your friends) have private hosting place, you could make your own site and host it there.

Oh, and if it's already finished and it's renai, then you could upload it in Renai.us but you need to talk to PyTom/BlueLemma first about that.

[DarkClaymore]

Releasing lots of demo is OK, but that could hurt your ego... and your popularity (for never releasing the full game).

It actually one of the reasons why I wasn't sure whatever to do it or not.
I actually haven't finished tons of games during my life, so...

But I DID at least finish one short VN so far, so I hope I'll finish this one as well.
Guess I'll release a demo since most people said it's good... Let's see what'll happen

If I were to release a demo of what I have so far, what site would I go to in order to have the files stored? I already created a .zip form of it and I'm just curious as to what people use and where they go.

There are many sites...
I usually use:

http://www.sendspace.com/
http://www.megaupload.com/

[AllegroDiRossi]

Megaupload.com and 4shared.com are my preferred file-sharing sites because (at least in my opinion) they have faster download times than things like rapidshare (purge it with fire, please) or sendspace.

[Lanna]

I personally like MediaFire a lot. The download speed is great and there's no such thing as 'please wait 45 seconds' or 'sorry, no more download slots for another 483345 hours'.

Then again, there's always a reliable alternative to RapidShare, MegaUpload, and the likes, but it's... not exactly legal, so... >_>;

[luminarious]

Hi, I'm pretty new here myself, and since I didn't want to open another topic (since it's relatively on topic), I thought the original poster would maybe benefit from this question as well.

If I were to release a demo of what I have so far, what site would I go to in order to have the files stored? I already created a .zip form of it and I'm just curious as to what people use and where they go.

@DarkClaymore: I would say so. Early feedback lets you know if people like the idea or if something needs changing. Of course, you can't always have things change if it'll interfere with your work later on in the long run. Just don't get to the point where you're constantly releasing the same thing with little changes and no advancement in your plot.

You could post them in Megaupload, Rapidshare, or other free hosting web. If you (or your friends) have private hosting place, you could make your own site and host it there.

Oh, and if it's already finished and it's renai, then you could upload it in Renai.us but you need to talk to PyTom/BlueLemma first about that.

I like using my dropbox account for that. The public folder has the games for download and dropbpox doubles as offsite backup (free account has 2GB of room, plenty for backing up game files).

[Tsundere Lightning]

Hmmn.

It depends on the length of the project for me. To quote Stephen king, 'Write the first draft with your doors closed, and the second with them flung wide open.'

If the game and concept are complete enough to stand alone, then I would absolutely release a playtest demo and garner feedback for the next draft.