Back in '97, many of us played the AoE demo prior to buying Age.
Should the Definitive Edition get a demo? If so, what kind of things should it include?
Demos are always a good idea - Not that I’d bother with it, I’d just go straight for the big meal itself. But that’s because I played the original and already know what I’m getting.
I don’t think the old players like myself need convincing to buy this lol - I’m well deep in Steam for gaming, but even I’ll get the game regardless of the fact that it’s coming out on some “rubbish” M$ platform…
Demos aren’t really a thing anymore… you will probably have to be logged on to Xbox Live to play so you might as well have people download the entire game and have free weekends then put the paywall back up on Monday.
Should be there. My AoE player career started with the demo bundled on my Windows 98 (SE?) OEM CD. It definitly helps attracting new players and is a good tradition of AoE, the demo was very, very well built.
Yeah go for it, Old School remake of the original demo, no harm in it.
Well, I usually agree with demos release, it’s a very good thing. But in this case, Age of Empires is a game released in 1997, and this Definitive Edition is basically a remaster, not a new game, so it seems a bit nonsense to me releasing a demo of a remaster from a 20 year old game. I think most of us already played Age of Empires, so we already know about its playability.
In addition, AoE: DE will cost about 20US$: not so expensive. If you know Age of Empires (¿and who doesn’t?), there will not be any revelation in a demo. I prefer they release the game as soon as possible.
@Raw1812 said:
Demos aren’t really a thing anymore… you will probably have to be logged on to Xbox Live to play so you might as well have people download the entire game and have free weekends then put the paywall back up on Monday.
Halo Wars 2 has a demo in the Windows Store. Why not AoE:DE?
Given the first beta tranches seem limited and there is a secondary need to promote the Windows store seems eminently sensible. If they could do it in the 1990’s why not now? I doubt resource wise that it would be that intensive.
@rhrmn said:
@Raw1812 said:
Demos aren’t really a thing anymore… you will probably have to be logged on to Xbox Live to play so you might as well have people download the entire game and have free weekends then put the paywall back up on Monday.Halo Wars 2 has a demo in the Windows Store. Why not AoE:DE?
Well, I mean a demo is OK, but I think the better route is just allow people to download the entire game as it is a small game anyway and then put up the paywall around the buy features. For example, they can DL and play a random map 1v1 but can’t change any of the settings such as their civ, or map or vic conditions. I think this is conducive to sales as they already have the game (like, kids could DL for free and go bug their parents to get out the Mastercard)
Okay, IMO this is a very simple cost/risk equation.
How expensive is it to put up the demo? I’m guessing not very…put up one campaign map, like the Battle of Tunes, and leave it at that. Limit the ages or something, just to give people a taste of the game.
Would a demo lead to a fall in sales? I don’t think so, personally, but I appreciate everyone’s input on this. Maybe a Trial version would work - like, once you win the map you’re prompted with a “Buy on the Live marketplace now! Input CC info here:”.
I grew up in the times of game demos, and with the distribution methods at the time, I didn’t buy most of the games I played demos of. But you can bet I would have bought some of them, if I had a convenient way to pay & download the game immediately.
A demo with an easy pay option to unlock the full game would be a great way to get people interested in the game. The old fans will buy it regardless of what they do with a demo.
But maybe I’m just old-fashioned.
A demo would be nice for nostalgia, but if the game is good, I’m going to buy it anyway so there being a demo doesn’t matter much at that point. The development time would probably be better spent elsewhere, but if it doesn’t take much resources to make one, it could be a good way to promote the game regardless.
Well, the issue here is that it’s gonna be a Windows 10 Store exclusive. Step 1 would be to make the remaster really really good, not a lackluster like the other ones. Pathing and UI, not only looks. Step 2 is to actually release a demo, yes. Not only a demo, but one that is compatible with full version multiplayer, perhaps with limited features, such as only one civilisation beeing availible.
As the survey suggests, about 50% of the consumerbase is sacrificed to make it an exclusive. It’s meant to be a game to draw people towards the windows store - and that’s a hard sell, but if you can proove the game is good and people have no penalty in trying, it might actually succeed. Also you don’t want to lose potential multiplayer players, because the demo wouldn’t account for that.
Do not fail to establish a playerbase.
If you’re just counting on the name and hype and that many people are willing to swtich from steam to the windows 10 store, it’s not gonna work.
I would buy the game regardless, but I think that a demo would be great to get new players into it. Especially if there is some multiplayer functionality, such as 2 civs that the player can choose from and one scenario (NOT random map) that they can play. It would let it get competitive, give them a feel for the game. Most people don’t have as much interest in single player these days.
But after playing a few different maps in single player, they would probably want more maps in both single and especially multiplayer, to end the repetition of that one map. That alone would probably merit buying the game, and the new civs would be an added bonus.
And any other new features like recorded games and classic mode would also be out the window for a demo. (Maybe even give them the original OST so that the new one comes as a surprise when they upgrade. New players would be in for a huge surprise)
Mostly agreed, but not beeing able to play random maps would defeat the purpose of multiplayer functionality. I’d say, you should be able to join any game, but your empire selection is very limited, either 1 or 2 civs or free rotation and your host options are limited as well.
I think there should be a free demo version, with play vs. A.I only and population limit of 100.
It should be at least a short demo, that will limit the creation of endless cracks and of the entire game, also hacks, that no real fan will agree.
Demo?!? What’s that. Companies don’t make demo anymore. But if they are in a time restraints I would definitely want them to work on the actual game than updating demo.