How Game Developers Use Demos to Build Better Products

In the ultra-competitive world of game development, the demo is a crucial part of a developer’s strategy, offering multiple benefits for those trying to craft a successful game.

The principle of allowing players to enjoy a spell of gameplay for free is common across the gaming sector, even in the world of casino gaming. Many of the sites featured on Casinotopsonline, for example, offer players the chance to play free versions of slot and table games, which can help to attract new customers and site sign-ups.

Sometimes the benefit of the game demo can be startling and obvious. One of the most notable examples was that of Just Cause 2. The first game in the series reached over a million sales, but it took three years to reach that stage. For the follow-up, Avalanche Studios decided to try releasing a demo ahead of the main game launch. The results were astonishing. The demo was downloaded two million times in the first two weeks. Encouraged by this reception, the development team went on to put the finishing touches to a game that ended up selling over six million copies.

While this is an extreme example of the power of the game demo, there are many other ways that the demo concept can be an important tool in shaping a better finished product. So, how exactly do game developers use demos to improve their games?

Defining the Demo

A game demo is a version of a game that is not the final version, and it can either be presented at a games convention or other form of showcase, or offered to players through gaming platforms. The public versions of the game have to be substantially complete, as a demo that is not playable beyond a couple of levels is not likely to be well received, but there are also internal demos that are used in presentations to stakeholders or investors earlier in the game development process.

Stakeholder Engagement

Perhaps the most obvious way in which demos can help to produce a better final product is by generating feedback from those who play it or see it.

The process of showing the demo to stakeholders can be invaluable in producing feedback that can then be used to improve the final product. Stakeholders can include team members, investors, studio executives, and, of course, gamers. The feedback that is received from stakeholders interacting with these demos, if it is properly gathered and channeled, can be used to make necessary changes to a game, helping to tweak and polish the original concept.

Of all these types of feedback, the most valuable is the feedback from gamers. Anyone who has ever spent any time reading the comments beneath demos and early-release games on any of the major gaming platforms will know that this feedback can often be brutal. Sometimes, it is unfair and unhelpful. But gamer feedback on demos is never non-comital, and for game developers who are able to see past any negativity, this demo feedback process can be a vital source of suggestions.

Some of the demo feedback that can help shape the direction of a game’s development can be delivered in a more straightforward fashion. On most gaming platforms, players have the option to add games to their wishlist or even to pre-order them. This means that there can be a numerical measurement of how well a game demo has been received.

If the numbers are at the high end of expectations, that could indicate that your game is on the right track. On the other hand, an unexpectedly low figure for wishlists and pre-orders may suggest that your game is not hitting the right indicators or is, perhaps, not as well tailored to the audience as you thought. Going back to the drawing board may be frustrating, but it is infinitely better to discover these issues during the production process rather than after launch.

Shared Development Goals

Demos can have other, less obvious benefits for a game developer. The process of creating a demo can give a development team something to focus on; a single goal that can help bring a team together and encourage closer and more effective working. This is particularly the case with demos that have to be produced for a game show or convention deadline, as these can often feel like a ‘sprint’ rather than the marathon that is the overall development of the game.

Focus On End Product

Another intangible benefit of working on a demo, particularly if the team working on the game is relatively new to one another, is that it helps to set expectations under pressure. The pressure to finish a demo or a game can shine a light on different standards among the members of the team, which in turn, enables the whole team to improve together.

This process, if it happens at the end of the game development pipeline, can have only a minimal impact on the finished product, but the beauty of the demo is that teams can address these issues and decide on common acceptable standards of work long before the game is finished. This means that when the team reaches the final stages of game development, everyone knows what is expected of them, which in turn, can help to ensure the best possible version of the game ends up at launch.

Getting a Finished Product

While some game development teams excel at hitting their targets and signing off on a high-quality polished product, others can become bogged down in the minutiae of their particular part of the game development process. When this happens, and the focus of the team is dissipated, it can lead to uneven quality, delays, and frustration.

By having a demo to focus on in the short term, teams can develop their skills at finishing a product and will find that they have a clearer focus on how their share of the project contributes to the finished article. Completing a game development process on time and to a high degree of quality is not automatically going to happen, it requires a particular set of skills and a particular mindset that are not essential during the earlier stages, where there is less pressure.

A team that has to produce a demo, or even multiple demos, during the game development process is regularly tested on its ability to deliver a finished product, which helps to enhance their skills and contributes to a better end product.

Conclusion

If you play a lot of games, you will be familiar with the idea of the demo, and may you not give them too much thought. But the demo is, in fact, a vital stage in the process of producing a high-quality game. By engaging with developers and offering constructive feedback after you play a demo, you can help the developer produce a better final product.

For gaming developers, the demo provides a great way to generate useful and actionable feedback and helps to sharpen the focus of the whole gaming team, which ultimately, leads to what they hope will be the best possible finished product.