Demo?

[pomakli]

Hi!

Will be here a demo?

[Vic]

Hi Pomakli,

A demo is not planned.

best regards,
Vic

[Birdmon]

ORIGINAL: Vic

Hi Pomakli,

A demo is not planned.

best regards,
Vic

No demo, no buy. I'm sorry, I will not buy any game in todays PC market without a demo. I just dont understand why no demos from Matrix. I know I'm only one person but I've walked away from several games here because of no demo. This one looks kewl, but so did Elemental:WOM

[Erik Rutins]

Hi Birdmon,

We do demos for some games, it just varies. We also find that demos are counterproductive for complex games - they don't work the way they do for more casual or mainstream titles. Most people who try demos give them five minutes or less, which is not enough to learn a wargame, so we rely rather on developer's notes, previews, AARs and direct interaction with the development team to answer any questions you may have before purchase.

Regards,

- Erik

[Birdmon]

Most people who play war games know it takes several hours to even understand its concept. I think you underestimate the "war gamer IQ". This is your sandbox, so I geuss no demo.

[Erik Rutins]

Birdmon,

That's been our experience with wargamers, unfortunately. With that said, there are certainly those who use the demo "as intended" (and it sounds like you are one of those) but we've seen demos work against a perfectly good game, just because the person trying the demo isn't willing to put in the time. There's just a different level of investment. With that said, we will continue to have demos for some games where we feel they "demo well". Our upcoming Hannibal: Rome and Carthage game will have a demo, as will Panzer Command: Ostfront.

Regards,

- Erik

[Llyranor]

Though, it can push fence-sitters into buying the game as well (as happened with me for the Airborne Assault series), whereas they never would have considered buying the game otherwise.

Whereas the players who would spend 5 min with a demo are not the players who would spend money on a time-consuming game to begin with. Thus, it is not exactly a lost sale.

It's a juggling act, I suppose, gauging whether the cost of making a demo is worth it.

I'll be picking this one up without a demo, however. The awesome word of mouth + co-op PBEM (great great feature, thank you!) has sold me.

[GlobalExplorer]

Never buy the cat in the sack.

[GlobalExplorer]

It is a bit like matrimony: If you have never slept with your wife before you married and you find that it is not fun. You would try and probably come to terms with. But if you find out before the marriage you probably not marry her at all, right?

[GlobalExplorer]

And that's why our grand-parents were not allowed to have sex before they married.

[GlobalExplorer]

I am still unmarried by the way.

[Josh]

ORIGINAL: Birdmon

ORIGINAL: Vic

Hi Pomakli,

A demo is not planned.

best regards,
Vic

No demo, no buy. I'm sorry, I will not buy any game in todays PC market without a demo. I just dont understand why no demos from Matrix. I know I'm only one person but I've walked away from several games here because of no demo. This one looks kewl, but so did Elemental:WOM

Well it 's you call ofcourse, but what I do in cases where there's no demo, I just check the forums, and especially the AAR's, if I like what I see I buy.
From Vic I buy even without having seen an AAR.
With FPS or RPG games where there is sometimes no demo too I check the forums. how active are they, how "busy" is the "technical help" department (less is better).

[Tordan69]

Any chance of a downloadable manual then?

[TPM]

With all the forums and AAR's, etc., in some ways a demo is not needed. Of course, it's great to "try before you buy", but from checking everything out on this forum, I already have a pretty good idea of what the game is about...heck, you can almost learn how to play the game from these forums...

[Xornox]

There are currently many interesting Matrix games which I would probably buy if demo would be available. However because demos are not available, I buy currently only "sure" top games...

I do not agree that deep strategy games could not be demoed well. I am not checking deep details from demos, but usability of UI and basic concepts of the game. Good example for this is Field of Glory which I would probably love, but I do not want to buy it without understanding first how game works.

It is very unfortunate that Matrix games is probably creating many great games but many buyers skip them only because games should be purchased blindly.

[Ctaardvark]

Totally agree with you Xornox. I have seen so many Matrix games which have tempted me, however without being able to test whether they "feel" right I wont get them. I picked up Korsun Pocket on ebay for £5 which led me to get BiN and BiIt (Normandy did have a demo which just made me buy the game quicker!). Without this stroke of luck I wouldn't have tried either and Matrix wouldn't have had my money.

I played the demo of Command Ops:Battles from the Bulge and loved it. I then bought the first one in the series with the view of working my way through. BftB is just too expensive at the mo' (maybe a kindly relative at Xmas).

I think the cost of Matrix games prohibits dipping the toe in. I know they have to make money, and I don't begrudge the initial cost of the games, however for games that are a few years old surely price cuts are in order - all other games do.

[Phatguy]

ORIGINAL: Ctaardvark

Totally agree with you Xornox. I have seen so many Matrix games which have tempted me, however without being able to test whether they "feel" right I wont get them. I picked up Korsun Pocket on ebay for £5 which led me to get BiN and BiIt (Normandy did have a demo which just made me buy the game quicker!). Without this stroke of luck I wouldn't have tried either and Matrix wouldn't have had my money.

I played the demo of Command Ops:Battles from the Bulge and loved it. I then bought the first one in the series with the view of working my way through. BftB is just too expensive at the mo' (maybe a kindly relative at Xmas).

I think the cost of Matrix games prohibits dipping the toe in. I know they have to make money, and I don't begrudge the initial cost of the games, however for games that are a few years old surely price cuts are in order - all other games do.

But then most fence-sitters would wait a year or two to buy it cheap therefore giving Matrix less money to help develop new games.When a consumer knows that a product stays the same price for a long time they tend to buy it earlier.While I personally dont like paying full price for old games I do understand it from a business standpoint

[bairdlander2]

ORIGINAL: GlobalExplorer

And that's why our grand-parents were not allowed to have sex before they married.

Thats a myth,pre martial sex has been happening since the beginning of time.

[bairdlander2]

Im glad Matrix has some demo's saved (me from purchases I would have regretted).This game is well worth getting.If no demo,I usually just read posts here on forums,I pretty much know who has good judgement and who doesnt here so thats what I would base my decisions on.

[TPM]

ORIGINAL: bairdlander

Im glad Matrix has some demo's saved (me from purchases I would have regretted).This game is well worth getting.If no demo,I usually just read posts here on forums,I pretty much know who has good judgement and who doesnt here so thats what I would base my decisions on.

That's what I'm saying...it seems to me that you can get a pretty good idea of the game by looking at the forums, screenshots, AAR's, people's opinions, etc.