I am now halfway through my 2025 Staying Inside Conference. Honestly, I think I put on this conference mainly to learn from really interesting people in this industry. It really is just a conference for me, but I let you watch. The biggest theme coming out of this year’s conference is how absolutely important demos are before you scale. 

I am not just talking about a vertical slice prototype here to “prove it’s fun,” it has to be something with nearly final art, the core gameplay loop (and probably a second) polished and playable. It has to look like the final game.

The chicken and the egg

But over and over people across the industry are finding that life doesn’t start until the Demo is public. 

But, if you think about it, is a little tricky:

If you need money and visibility, you can turn to publishers. 

But you can’t get a publisher until you have a demo. 

But you can’t get a demo until you have money.

So you consider kickstarter, but you need a demo to prove to backers that you are a safe bet.

Obviously this is hard and takes a lot of resources. 

I am not a studio head, or a producer so take all of this with a grain of salt. But from a product and marketing perspective, the demo is paramount so here are some ham fisted ways I can think of orienting your studio in a demo-first position. 

Demo first development

From your very first prototype you should be thinking of how you can eventually turn that into a playable demo. Prioritize playability, delay implementing any feature that would appear late game. 

You must focus on getting something public. 

Stay small until the demo is proven

Don’t hire up or expand the team right away. Hire just the staff you need to get that demo ready at first. 

If you are forming a new studio maybe you and your partner keep things open until you ship the demo. You only commit to becoming a full partnership if and when the demo does well. I am not a lawyer so please consult with one and get a contract put together to work this way. 

Before you hire artists and designers full time, start them on a short term contract that lasts until the demo is done and public. If things go well, then hire up full time. 

Also keep the team focused on work that is visible in the demo. Don’t spend weeks implementing and designing the final boss. 

Jam it with a bad, cheap demo 

Another alternative is to make a demo based on a slightly scaled up game jam. Game jam games can indicate there is some interest. Both Peglin and Dome Keeper started as game jam games that got a lot of early traction after a successful game jam. 

A 2-day game jam game is too janky to show as a Steam demo. But, if you take a few more months to polish or refactor the original concept, that might be enough to make it good enough for a demo.

Government funding

If you live or work in a country that provides arts grants or startup funds, you can usually get those without a demo. Use these funds to get the demo built so that you can unlock the next round of kickster, publishers.

A note to publishers or investors

“Ideas” are cheap and the industry is waking up to the fact that just having a good “pitch” isn’t enough to sell an idea. But the infrastructure to bridge from an idea to demo is lacking. 

This is the biggest opportunity for people with capital. There should be more funds and programs that invest small amounts enough for a team of one or two people to get a demo public within a couple months.

Making smaller games

This goes back to my argument that indies shouldn’t make their dream game their first game (read the full blog post here). Building smaller games that are more focused can build up your studio name and build your fanbase. Embarking on a multi-year project without ever having shipped previously is incredibly risky because you don’t have the proof that you can ship so that publishers or kickstarter backers are less likely to trust you.