DeliciousBees

@deliciousbees

Hi, I co-run No Goblin with Panzer and our wonderful team. Sometimes I stream weird games too.

DeliciousBees @deliciousbees6/26/2023, 3:31 PM

nic tringali @nic

Chris Franklin @Campster6/26/2023, 1:27 PM

Man, I had really wanted to play/post about more Next Fest demos, or even do a video on a handful of them, but I got busy in the latter half of the week and the whole event just kinda came and went, huh.

I get why small devs with limited budgets can't keep demos available, generating support requests (and bad PR when the devs don't patch it) for a build from six months ago or whatever. I get it! But the limited time nature of these simultaneously grants a flurry of attention and yet closes the door way before anyone but hardcore enthusiasts can get to them. There were dozens and dozens of demos, and I tried maybe six of them.

And, yeah, some devs will opt to leave the demo up with a clear "THIS IS A JUNE 2023 DEMO BUILD" warning and such, but finding those demos is now gonna fall back on Steam's usual (dogshit) discoverability. When the festival was going they were all conveniently in one place.

Just kinda bummed about the whole thing, I guess.

DeliciousBees @deliciousbees6/26/2023, 3:31 PM

I could write for hours about this, but “your success and support is measured by the performance of hardcore enthusiasts who are logged in and participate in an online store community in a short time window” is one of the core fundamentals underpinning both the Steam Store discovery algorithm and Valve’s store team engaging with you as a developer.

It’s a real Jursssic Park novel “we only checked if there were less dinosaurs, not more” situation.

(Having said all that: I like the short time window for the event, but I think there are better ways of handling that “oh man, I took a look at the list of games, but then I blinked and it was gone” feeling and experience in a world where other industries already account for delayed engagement on “event” content - they just conflict with the kinds of data and store engagement Valve is gathering here)

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in reply to @Campster's post:

Kyle Labriola @kylelabriola6/26/2023, 3:56 PM

I know this isn't a fix for the problem, but you might be able to email some of the devs, explain that you're a you're a youtube creator who covers stuff like this, and ask for a key for their demo so that you can get a video or blog post up.

That way, they can give it to you privately and not have to worry about keeping the demo up publicly.

Chris Franklin @Campster6/26/2023, 4:02 PM

I'm always wary about reaching out to devs about this kind of stuff, mostly because with my production schedule being what it is I can promise no one any coverage of anything. I've already got a mountain of games I want to talk about that I haven't gotten to because I spent the last two months on the COD episode, and reaching out almost implies a commitment to engage that I can't live up to. :(

Kyle Labriola @kylelabriola6/26/2023, 4:05 PM

true :(

JP @vectorpoem6/26/2023, 3:57 PM

oh hey, i guess the demos i downloaded no longer work. guess i just won't play them or think any more about any of those games then! fomo successful.

Chris Franklin @Campster6/26/2023, 4:01 PM

I think as long as you downloaded them they still function (unless there's some multiplayer component, I guess?). I just tested an the El Paso Elsewhere and Home Safety Hotline demos both launched okay.

Really it's more that if you didn't download them most of them get delisted from the game's store page, and finding games that still have demos that were also part of Next Fest once the event is over is very difficult on Steam's current setup.

JP @vectorpoem6/26/2023, 4:11 PM

the Botany Manor demo is no longer launchable for me, the launch button now says "purchase".

(i actually support a dev's right to do that; having it be a platform/event wide policy is what i don't want to see)

Ecter B.@ecter6/26/2023, 4:15 PM

It depends on which option was used by devs/publisher to disable the demo. Some like Melatonin worked for as long as you had them downloaded, but removed the redownload option.
And others just invalidated the license to run it and you couldn't play the demo even if you had the content.

@Fachewachewa6/26/2023, 6:29 PM

A lot of devs keep their demos at least for another week (and a good amount had the demo available a week earlier too, there's usually a "press preview" link for the fest).
The ~20 demos I still have downloaded at all playable right now. Usually it's the big ones that get delisted because they can afford it, they already had the visibility boost. I generally tend to play the popular stuff last, but because of that I force myself to play them early.

spitfire @spitfire6/26/2023, 4:16 PM

wtf, indie devs just, delist demos nowadays?? i don't get it. i hope someone's archived all of them at least

Cassandra Matthews @ctmatthews6/26/2023, 9:44 PM

it's a rough situation. i don't plan on taking my next fest demo down any time soon, but as you said, visibility is an issue. on the bright side, the next fest page still seems to be up here and most of the demos still seem to be up. hopefully it stays that way!

in reply to @deliciousbees's post:

Jennifer/Aster Unkle @jen-and-aster6/26/2023, 4:12 PM

We managed to play a decent number of demos, approaching it the same way we would bounce from booth to booth at MAGFest, but that creates a different problem: how do we remember everything we played? If it weren't for the Steam Wishlist sending us pings any time a wishlisted game arrives or gets discounted, we're pretty sure we'd forget they ever existed.

It's a problem without an easy solution, but at least Next Fest, LudoNarraCon and similar online events give you the feeling of going to a convention, without the pricey tickets or COVID risk (especially since many non-MAGFest events completely dropped their masking requirements).