Demigod Demo - DOs and DON'Ts

Lesson learned?

from Demigod Forums

The demo seems to be out soon, so I just wanted to remind GPG and Stardock of the lesson they hopefully learned.

You should expect a dramatic increase in player activity, so upgrade your servers and connections in time. Another fiasco like the f*****-up connection problems at the official release of the game would hurt your reputation and future sales pretty bad imho.


I'm not yet sure how a good demo would look like, content-wise. On the one hand you should put enough content in it to allow for interesting teamplay, so at least 3 Demigods should be included:

  1. Support (e.g. Sedna)
  2. Tank (e.g. Rook)
  3. Damage dealer (e.g. Torch Bearer)

On the other hand you have to make the demo-player want more, so I'd recommend only putting in one map (Cataract) with only one game mode (Conquest). I'm not sure if capping the player level or disallowing certain skills would be a good option. Maybe you should just remove all items and citadel upgrades above 3000g, maybe disallow all favor items above 1000 favor points. This way the game would be heavily trimmed, but still enough to allow for interesting and fun matches. Please do not think of putting in a time limit, this would frustrate a lot of players.

Furthermore, if you would upload the demo of Demigod onto p2p tracker sites (like The Pirate Bay) personally, that might just give you some more publicity. Just mention other Developers/Publishers who make exclusive deals with some gaming sites for their demos. We all hate that. ;)

Lastly I'd also recommend putting in a hint towards this forum or the Demigod Wiki site. The lack of documentation of ingame mechanics may confuse a lot of demo-players.

demigod
4,644 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

The demo seems to be out soon, so I just wanted to remind GPG and Stardock of the lesson they hopefully learned.

You should expect a dramatic increase in player activity, so upgrade your servers and connections in time. Another fiasco like the f*****-up connection problems at the official release of the game would hurt your reputation and future sales pretty bad imho.
End of quote

I'd assume the demo would not allow for MP action. Most games don't, unless they're strictly MMO's and this has the single player option.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

Demo should allow for MP, but perhaps not let people level past 5 or 7 or something, and only include one or two maps. Should keep them wanting, without being too anemic.

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Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

I really hope they at least put a tutorial in the demo, or they'll lose a significant demigraphic.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

Not level past 5 or 7? That's kinda lame...they'd be a hindrance more than helpful in the late game to teammates not using a demo. I definetely think MP would be...unwise. They can get that same "wanting" feeling from SP and also think "man MP must be even better!"

 

A tutorial would be awesome! 

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

a demo with single pplayer option would get a person like me intrested but not enough

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

I think Frogboy said somewhere that the demo will be MP only. Which, IMO, is the right thing to do. That is what the game is. I can't wait for the sudden, massive increase in ppl all playing the same demigod :D   Will make no duplicate games hard to find for a while if they use a popular map like Cataract for the demo.

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

It's already been confirmed that the demo will be MP only and will not be able to interact with full game players. The exact details of content have not yet been released as far as I'm aware, however it will be limited.

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Sacrificial_Soul, reply 6
I think Frogboy said somewhere that the demo will be MP only. Which, IMO, is the right thing to do. That is what the game is.
End of Sacrificial_Soul's quote

Quoting ZehDon, reply 7
It's already been confirmed that the demo will be MP only and will not be able to interact with full game players.
End of ZehDon's quote

Well throwing new players at the mercy of seasoned twats isn't a good idea, so not letting them interract with owners of the full game makes sense.  Making it MP only with other demo people tho?   I have no idea what the demo population will be so I won't comment on that, but I don't see what the harm is in including one or two tournaments, people like learning at their own pace.

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

Personally I don't play demo's and I care more about a good review from sites like IGN

Which gives you a pretty good clue about the game singelplayer and multiplayer and as they statet

Quote "April 17, 2009 - There's a dilemma in reviewing PC games that come out broken for some reason or another. Yes, it would be nice to give the publisher and developer time to fix things"

Closing comments!

Now, it's safe to say that Gas Powered and Stardock will eventually get a handle on all of the networking issues plaguing the game. However, in its current state Demigod's netcode is almost like a craps shoot at times; unless you know people who are playing and can set up a custom game with them, you're not going to have a lot of luck playing multiplayer. We have to review the game in its current state, and we've given Gas Powered and Stardock time to implement some improvements. And while there has been some fixes, there's also a lot more that must be done to get the game to an acceptable level of multiplayer. That's a pity, because there's a great multiplayer experience to be found in Demigod when it works. So unless you're a glutton for punishment, you'd best wait a while for the developers to get things working before you dive into Demigod.

17 APRIL is a loong time ago now,

So In my experience the connections are working very good with the exeptions of some errors now and then, but since the ladders,rankings and the strange talk to talk comment's from the developers without dooing somthing about it, I'd say this game is going to go under due to lack off support and prework from release date.

A game who survives is the one who get's attension and getting worked with as the times goes by.

The developers and people working with the game is very good at talking, what we are going to do, what we are going to implant, what does the people want, what is the first thing we should do somthing about and the list goes on..

Vacation is no exuse for letting a game stand still in it current state or "It's unfortunate that the game release was in the summer" GET REPLACEMENT'S"

It's not like you have to invent the wheel all over again, pick up the phone and call EA, "Hi there! How did you guys make the ladder, matchmaking so successfully with your games like: CC Gen,Zh or Battle of middle earth 1 and 2 ?

(Yes I know all about Copyrights and trademarks)

 

Reply #10 from Demigod Forums Top

Free weekend(s) deal would be better IMO. Less work on SD's part and players get the full experience.

Reply #11 from Demigod Forums Top

I think the Demo is a great idea, they work wonders because not everyone is available to enjoy those free weekends that Steam employs and it gives them a chance to play on their own time. Having said that, I think they should definatly do the free weekend deals when the new Demigods and/or maps are released because that type of demonstration sold me on Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead on Steam which I other wise wouldn't have purchased.

Reply #12 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting MABManZ, reply 10
Free weekend(s) deal would be better IMO. Less work on SD's part and players get the full experience.
End of MABManZ's quote

+1

Free weekends are one of the great things about Steam. Demigod would benefit from them in the same way TF2 has. I always like looking at the server list for the places I play on (Internode) and seeing that theres 800/816 players/slots when theres a free weekend.

I think you would need team automatch sorted out before a free weekend though.