But I bet they’ll blame piracy when people refuse to fork out upfront for a game that’s on very shakey ground.

Demos being released BEFORE the game comes out is a Bad Idea because of all the detractors to the actual development of said game.

AFTER the game has shipped? Release a demo ASAP.

Bringing this to the world was one of the hardest things we ever did. No one knows the original source, but involved CD’s being flown across the States, files being sent to Serbia and distributed through several places in Europe, trying to learn how to operate what is in fact a pre-alpha that doesn’t have a lot of features of the final game.

Inside that code there are other maps, notes, some cool stuff for those more tech inclined.

Again being able to bring that to the fans was an incredibly hard operation, strange watching SI getting the credit, when they had nothing to do with it.

It still smacks of laziness. They don’t need to make a new area or NPCs, they don’t need to put voices in, it can just be an example of what the gameplay is like.

@Evangel: Hmm. Perhaps I should have said “RPGs that sold well”. Kidding. At any rate, you’re right. As I think about it, plenty of RPGs have demos. I wish F3 were going to get one. As a dev, though, I can think of a thousand reasons NOT to release a demo, most of them including the words “extra work”.

but honestly, demo or no demo, it’s going to be great, i’m sure, esp after all the gameplay vids, and then people will tell people how great it is and there won’t have had a need for a demo. go fallout!

You don’t just ‘take an opening level’ to make a demo, it doesn’t work that way. You have to realise that games aren’t built like: You build the engine, it’s playable but buggy -> you add all the levels -> you tweak all the settings -> you polish the game -> done.

If you want to use, say, your opening level as a demo, all mechanics needed have to be in place. The game can’t have any TRC violations. There can be no legal issues. If it’s international, there cannot be any unlocalised text. The game has to lock out the later levels. This has to all be tested. It has to be authorised by the producers. It has to.. etc.

A game isn’t a loaf of bread you can just slice off the front of and show it around. It’s like an airplane or something. You get the idea.

Not having a demo for Fallout 3 when they can just cut out a town, make sure it has all the elements of the game and ship that as the demo is just lazy.

I’ll be waiting for the Fallout lynchmob on my porch in a rocking chair with a double-barreled shotgun. Bring it >:(

You are aware of places like http://www.Gametrailers.com
or http://www.metacritic.com ? Places which show game media and list review scores? Which allow you to get a handle on what’s upcoming in the gaming scene and how good/bad a game might be?