I’ve been playing a few demos of indie games lately, and it had me reminiscing back to when I was younger. I would buy a magazine and they would usually have some kind of CD attached with all these demos you could play for games that would be coming out. It might be a level or two, and usually each CD would have some smaller titles along side the one huge game that was clearly there as a magazine seller.
Yet until recently I had thought that they had kind of gone out of existence. Perhaps that is due to my lack of console gaming lately, or maybe it’s due to games being released earlier, often in early access, and players get to see and test games a lot earlier than they did in the past. Gaming devs now have the chance to fix bugs and make adaptations to games after release. I’m sure we’ve all played games which have at some point been close to broken, despite out as paid early release games.
Another theory is that there is just so much content available that people don’t sit and wait for single titles as much as they used to. There’s always something else to play to get you through til the time when that title you always wanted comes out. Nonetheless, I’ve been playing some demos, and it’s a pretty cool thing to do!
For indie developers the demo offers a lot and I’m sure there’s much talk about strategy and design when it comes to releasing the demo to the public. For one, it offers the chance for bug testing, which is always handy to have. But more importantly, it offers the chance to get a game out there, in a very competitive market, and with the prominence of things such as Twitter, Discord and Youtube, you have the chance to interact with players during, before and after they play your game. This must be a nerve racking and yet rewarding experience.
My next Youtube clip I’m going to make is all about indie game demos that are out to play right now. Hopefully it’s going to be a good one, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing a few recently. I’ve just played through two classes in Vikings Vengeance, and it’s a really cool concept of a dungeon crawler following Norse Mythology! Also I’ll link my play through of Not for Broadcast below, which is a hilarious game i’m really looking forward to playing again in full where you take on the role of directing a news broadcast full of mishaps and interesting characters.
If you know, or develop, a game with a demo out there, please let me know as it is impossible to keep up with every single one!
Also, I’m about to buy a tablet for my PC, so I can try and get a bit better at Pixel art and my goal of making something resembling a platformer in the future!
Indie Game Blitz 