Matrix Games Forums

This game got me very interested, but I can't find any information about a demo. These are tough times, and there is no way I will spend 50$ for a pig in a poke.

I couldn't find no demo for Forge Of Freedom either.

I don't think there is going to be demos. I believe you'll ether have to pass this gem of a game or buy on of the two anyways

No demo, but we are planning promotional videos. (These would have been released when the game was, but our narrator got sick, and then working on the patch became a priority.)

Regarding demos, I've explained this in more depth before, but in a nutshell: producing a playable demo for a game as complex as COG:EE or FOF takes an enormous amount of programming time (at least a month, is our programmer's estimate), so doing so would hold up work on other projects -- and, at the same time, there is no reason to think that doing so would lead to a gain in sales. (I used to be pro-demo, but have come around to the anti-demo position. If we were ever to do a simpler game, though, I think we'd consider it.)

There are also the video tutorials, which we hope give a feel for the game:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/366 ... %20Edition

and, at the same time, there is no reason to think that doing so would lead to a gain in sales.

What makes you think that? I already said that I never buy games blind. If I don't find a friend to show me (which will be kind of impossible as no one will have it), I'll have to pass.

And is making a demo really so hard? Delete scenarios , remove menu entries, hit compile .. ?

Anyway, nuff said. You won't do it.

I will go elsewhere.

I was going to retorte, but it seems he's gone elsewhere

'If we were ever to do a simpler game, though, I think we'd consider it."

not gonna happen,at least as long as I am in the stable

GlobalExplorer (if you're still around),

Yes, it would be that difficult. Making a good playable demo is more than just deleting a few files. For a game this complex there's a lot of work involved to ensure that we're not giving away for free the full game, and yet are providing a good example of what the game is like.

If you decide not to buy the game because there's no demo, that's regrettable but acceptable to us: we have made a business decision based on our belief that a demo can lose as many (or more?) customers as it gains. What I mean by this is not that people will discover what an awful game COG:EE or FOF is by playing the demo and wisely not fall into our trap, but rather that when people download a free demo they have no investment in the game, and if their first impression of the game is bad they'll delete the demo and not buy it. And a game as complex as this one too often takes some time to learn appreciate. The FOF and COG/COG:EE forums are filled with posts from players saying essentially "The first time I played this game I couldn't figure it out and regretted my purchase but now that I've spent time with it I love it." My guess is that a good number of those people would never have bought the game if that had been their initial experience with the demo. So, overall, when people research a game like this one carefully and decide to buy it that means they've made an investment in it and will try to learn it, but when people just download a demo they're more likely to make a snap decision about the game. And games like FOF and COG:EE simply can't be judged that quickly by most players. As you can see, then, we're prepared to lose potential sales by not providing a demo, knowing that through videos and this forum we provide more than enough information for people to make an informed decision regarding whether our games are for them... and a decision arguably more informed than if someone played around with the demo for a short while.

Hard Sarge,
You know that project from which I posted the screenshot of my work in the developers' forum? I'm thinking that a demo might be a good thing for that game, since it's less complex and easier to learn right away than COG:EE.

It has been years since I bothered to dl a demo. If there are AARs, that's where I go to see how a game works.

The forums, if they are active, are the final proving grounds. If the forum is dead, the game is likely not a plum. As one can easily see, between CoG and CoG:EE, there is an enthusiastic crowd of both grognards and tyros here.

Anyway, good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun, er, game