What you should have before releasing a demo?

[wakagana]

So, I'm nearly done with the first two 'chapters' of my VN, but I'm lacking a good deal of character art. What is it that most people prefer seeing from a Demo that will catch their eye enough to make them want to play/read the full Vn once its done? Is it the art, or the story?

Over all I'd like general critism on all aspects of the VN I'm working on, but I'm worried that It'd be a waste of time to upload a demo with such little art so far. (My Main character/sprite artist is MIA for the new feek weeks and she wont be able to finish the basic character art until she gets back.)

So in the mean time I'm plowing through the story development and writing and I'm left wondering as to whether I should even leave a first draft of a demo or just wait until the game is done artisticly, proofread, and scripted perfectly...?

Any suggestions of what people personally look for in demo's/beta testing? Or any suggestions as to what I should do in general? >.o

http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 43&t=15270 :: If you're interested in what I have so far without actually playing this forum post is following my progress, I haven't updated it as of late because of no new art, but I've progressed alot with scripting and storyline.

[FatUnicornGames]

It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for constructive criticism on the parts you DO have done, a demo with dummy art will do the trick. If you are looking to drum up enthusiasm for a project (people to buy it or download it) I would wait until it looks more like it will in its completed form.

That is how I view it at least.

[wakagana]

Hrm...I guess I'm looking for opinions on how characters are mapped out, It's hard not to have a 'favorite' as the creator, so at times I feel like some of my characters have better routes then others. But other then that I'm just looking for over all critism/feeback and a little bit of advertisement to get people interested in the project in general.

Being the creator has its downfalls because you don't realise small mistakes as much as some one would if they had nothing to do with it would.

[redeyesblackpanda]

Wit my project, even thought I've completed a significant amount of writing, I don't plan on releasing a demo until there is enough art for it (I'm also planning to release with music). That's some time in the fairly distant future though. I'm relying on feedback from friends and the members of my team right now when it comes to the writing. Funny enough, my favorite character doesn't have my favorite path I'd say that, in the end, it's a matter of taste. I don't want to parade my half finished work around, because it'll give the wrong impression

[chocojax]

Hrm...I guess I'm looking for opinions on how characters are mapped out, It's hard not to have a 'favorite' as the creator, so at times I feel like some of my characters have better routes then others. But other then that I'm just looking for over all critism/feeback and a little bit of advertisement to get people interested in the project in general.

Being the creator has its downfalls because you don't realise small mistakes as much as some one would if they had nothing to do with it would.

If you feel like there's a character that you don't particularly like, you could try to add in more depth into their character so that they would be more appealing to you, and to many others? :v?
Maybe for the demo, you could show the beginning of each route or some of the character developing scenes and ask for criticism/feedback on your storytelling skills/character developing skills. And for advertisement, include 1 or 2 of the "star scenes" of your vn? ovo

And for me, the art is what first catches my eye, mostly if it's well done or if it's interesting(like Umineko's art, lol). Then I take a look at the story, and if it's too uninteresting/bland, I have no interest in it. :v Though from the 2 sprites in your other thread, it may be better (for catching people's eyes/advertisement) to have a few more sprites to show off/a CG or title screen that shows "what your VN is about" kinda thing.

[macuyo]

Art is what attracts me to download and play the demo while the plot is what makes me want to play the full game. So if I actually played a demo, that means the game passed the art hurdle as far as I'm concerned haha/// Although generally speaking, I would like it if the art was more complete because it would just be a better playing experience. ^^

If it's criticism you want, maybe it's better if you just send your script to a few people to look over? In my opinion, it's really difficult to show much of a game's potential without the basic art done.

[Arowana]

Since it sounds like you are mostly concerned about the writing, I agree with macuyo. You could just ask some people to look over your script for story/character development things. Unless there are also visual or programming features that you want feedback on, I don't think a full demo is necessary.

If you do want to do a demo, maybe you could do a more limited initial demo, where you just send your game to a couple volunteers to test and give preliminary feedback? Then once you have a more complete version (art and all), you can release a public demo that better represents your true "vision" for the game.

That's what I'm eventually hoping to do with my game, at least. I get nervous about making a bad first impression, so the idea of releasing an incomplete or buggy demo into the open public worries me, haha.