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[Aamp]

Posting here after reading Too Soon for a Devlog? which got me started, however I notice it's a good place to show new art, moves, animations, or whatever but in the case of my game, showing anything that could give away the controls can be a spoiler as I want the player to figure things out for themselves..

It takes me a decent amount of time to create content for my game though I'd love to be early to show a creative take on controls.  While a demo could offer essential feedback, I'm not so sure it would be the greatest way to get the concept out without possibly having someone more capable do in less time what It's taken me a lot to come up with?

What are thoughts or experiences on what to prepare for when releasing demos?  Seeing as how novice my project is right now, should the focus just be more about making the game or should some of the thought-out, unconventional aspects that could be duplicated and done well / made mainstream by others who see a potential be of concern?  My idea may be crap too fwiw lol! 

Thanks

[Tanner Fruit Fly]

I think when working on a game, it's important to get people trying it out and looking at it/playtesting it as early as possible.

That being said, I think it's also important to give yourself some time to really evaluate whatever you have at the moment (whether that's a full demo or just a small snippet level) and ask yourself "Is this communicating the message and direction I'm aiming for?" When the answer to that question becomes "yes" (remember to be as objective about it as possible), that's when people should start sitting down and looking at it. They'll be able to tell you if "yes" was the correct answer to that question or not.

Good luck!

[Aamp]

@Tanner Fruit Fly thanks you've helped me out with some thoughts on this.  I think bringing objectiveness to the forefront is good.  Even though a demo could be released sooner, I think maybe waiting a bit and possibly aiming for hitting the target device simultaneously would get the message out right and wouldn't be perceived as clunky that way.  I'll see about getting some friends to test it out first so I can see how they manage haha.

I was kind of on the fence thinking of releasing a little snippet soonish as a sort of collect some items in a sandbox type thing and see if everyone could get them or wait much longer and drop a full level.   

[Tanner Fruit Fly]

No problem! If you are jonesin' to have somebody try things out at an earlier state just to get some first real gut reactions, friends are great for that since you'll be able to get immediate feedback. If you still wanna show us progress on what you're working on without any sort of playable build yet, that's totally fine! If not, that works too. The idea is to make the demo something that a person could play for more than just a minute or so. Make it worth their time to download the thing and get it going. If it's a small level snippet that only lasts about a minute, I'd just devote more time to content generation. That way people have longer than 60 seconds to get a feel for what the game's about in terms of playability, storytelling, etc.