Post

Wabbaboy
@wabbaboy.dev

Now that Next Fest came and went I feel like I should make a blogpost about why a lil gamefeel polish takes almost no effort and goes a long way... The one time I tried to talk about it in a limited bite-sized format I did a poor job. But I feel it's important, many demos need it desperately.

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AlanWithTea || The Indie Ocean
@alanwithtea.bsky.social

I avoid criticising demos too much because I have no dev skills and it's probably vastly harder than it looks from outside BUT from a purely player perspective it baffles me how many demos are just the first (and usually most boring) intro part of the game, complete with scene setting and slow start

Wabbaboy
@wabbaboy.dev

It is a common instinct to do that and it's not wrong per se. Indies have limited resources and this is a way to circumvent this. I think it's fair criticism for something on Next Fest, you can only participate once and it's a last opportunity to get some eyes and that needs a good first impression.

The Wondo
@wondo.bsky.social

the bravely default demo on 3ds was a masterclass, dumps you right in the middle of the game, it even has a “superboss” of sorts and gives you a few items as a bonus, just 7h of pure game, actively sold me on it

AlanWithTea || The Indie Ocean
@alanwithtea.bsky.social

I played a demo (I forget the game) that had a brief tutorial and then explicitly said "Now you'll play a side quest from later in the game. It won't spoil any of the main story but will give you a good sense of the gameplay." I was impressed that they put some thought into how to approach it.