How Demos Should Be 0

by Adam Blue • Editorial

Demos were great back in the day. They were, like, a quarter of the whole game. I remember playing Wolf3D and Blake Stone thinking this whole game is great! …yet, there was more. Quantic Dream recently announced that they want to come up with a demo for Heavy Rain. They are just unsure on how to do it, what elements to convey; how do you let the gamer know what the whole picture is?

Well I have an idea, but I’m pretty sure it has been done before and I played it (help me out, would ya?). What developers should do is make a demo that is unique and not part of the full game. Give us some background information, maybe even a side-story that ties into the full game. That way, by creating it from the ground up, the developers can throw in specific game-play elements when the time is right. Remember the Brutal Legend demo? How about a ‘dream’ that Eddie has which has him roaming around a dream world doing some fighting and driving, then a Stage Battle? That way, gamers can see the different game play elements the game offers.

Heavy Rain could do the same thing. I don’t know the whole story of the game, but introduce a character that familiarizes the player with the setting and snippets of story. Along the way, the demo can bust out with the different game play elements the developer has in their finished product.

Now of course there could be problems with this. Development time on possibly new textures, models, text, voice-acting? It probably would just boil down to time and costs. But why not include it in marketing? Think of the to be continued possibilities that would only torture!

I hope developers see this and go forward with it. I think it’s great. As a hardcore gamer, I would collect these demos for games I love, as if it’s part of the final product.

Oh, and one more thing: Demos should never be pre-order bonuses. EVER. If that’s a publisher thing, shame on you. If it’s Gamestop’s thing, well, it’s just business for them.

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