SVIEL'S PROFILE

That seems to work well provided that:
-The demo is just a smaller, incomplete version of the main game, and thus,
-There is little reason for the demo to exist after the game's release.

I think you answered my question, though. The problem is likely that my idea of a demo is not in line with the concept of a demo here.

Would I be right to say that a demo here is more of an alpha? That is, it's playable from one point straight to some other point with minimal workarounds or missing systems? This isn't too uncommon in practice since demos tend to be requested/expected during the time a game is still in an alpha stage.

I was thinking more along the lines of a hook demo, which might be a term I just made up, but I can't remember the actual one just now. The goal here is to have a short, stand-alone showcase of key game elements. Not much depth, but plenty of breadth, so to speak. All systems should be working and ideally present. Most importantly, the segment shown in the demo does not appear anywhere in the game.

The point of the hook demo is to give people something to review that doesn't take much time to complete with the idea being that a 10-15 minute session is more agreeable to reviewers than several hours. The hook demo is the super-condensed version of the game.

Since I don't have any sort of reputation here, I thought it would be a good idea to give people a low-entry way to judge me before asking them to consider a much larger bite.

So, in the end, I want to keep the two separate so that the demo persists...but I can't really ask people not to review the demo as that was almost the entire point of creating it. It'd also be nice to have that reviewed demo to point to rather than just a link in the description.

I'll figure something out that doesn't feel like gaming the system, somehow...I still have plenty of time to do that. Though, in future updates, I think a demo tag would be a good idea...albeit, the restructuring...could be a bit of work.

I've been nosing around the 'new to RMN' FAQ and such, but haven't really found a solid answer to this. It's implied that demos should be released in the same fashion as a game, but this seems kind of odd as there is then no distinction in terms of makerscore.

For example, I have a game that I'm going to release later that is actually a game. Right now, I just want to put up a demo that is a sampling of the game, but necessarily has different production goals as the point is to give players an idea of what to expect from the main. One has several hours of content, then other is 10-15 minutes long. One is obviously recognizable as a game, the other is vastly tighter in terms of progression and choice.

It seems like a poor idea to replace the demo dl with the actual game later on as any ratings would become inaccurate and, ideally, the demo would persist even after the main release.

But at the same time, it doesn't seem right that both projects are valued equally. Not necessarily because of length, some sort games are fine, but because a demo is not a proper game, in the same respect as the game is it demoing.

So, yeah. If that's how it's done, I won't get my panties in a bunch over it, but I don't want to inadvertently look like I'm making a cheap grab for makerscore.

Playing games? Who has time for that q_q

I somehow missed dinner (reading articles on this site), but I made it to late dinner and now the greasy fish is trying to leap out of my stomach.

Mission. Accomplished.

I spent a bunch of time making a fishing-by-hand mini-game that was sort of a pain to get scripted due to inexperience with VX Ace q_q. It turned out marvelously, in the end, but took much longer than expected.

Then, watched a friend do a test-run via screenshare and made another list of things to fix/tweak/implement. Ended up catching a bad bug, that I managed to fix, but now I need to get a new version uploaded which means no in-progress things to avoid corrupting save files as much as possible.

For now, eating generic granola bars and reading reviews, then I'll move on to a bit more item design, possibly updating all of my icons, and maybe cleaning up a few images, if I feel really masochistic.

Personally, the best way to knock out a game quickly is to get a handle on the scope well ahead of time and then to stick to it.

If I can make a checklist, I can get it done. If I'm constantly adding here and there, it'll never be over.