He Is Coming: Demo analysis

all right this is Chris owski with how tomarket a game.com sfree to get your newsletter um and a book uh I'm playing games of nextfest I'm spending 30 minutes so let me start the timer I got a lot to do today so I'm just going to do like a 30 minute play I played this game earlier and I just want to show you kind of like what's selling well on Steam um and the type of games that are doing well on Steam nextfest I'll talk more about we'll we'll take a break at the end once I finish playing this look at the steam Page look at some stats to see how this game's doing but this game's doing prettyy well up on on Steam nextfest it's just below the fold in a lot of categories we'll look at it um but it's he is coming it's by hooded horse um here's the the thing it's kind of a retro um uh kind of like Rog like Adventure game some people are saying it's close to Loop hero which I don't really see but not really maybe um main menu they're doing stuff so if you make a demo the reason I show these demos is I want to show you people always like how do I make demo the demo I think is

arguably your most important marketing tool it's what actually gets wish lists all the Social Media stuff just doesn't work it's the demo and so what do they do to get the demo working how much content do you add to demo how much do you tutorial IE how do you get people from your demo to your wish lists here's here's how it is main menu add to wish list right there I would even put it in this main menu but that's just me their Discord here um there settings of course quit compendium is like um everything you've unlocked achievements that sort stuff I'm just going to play so you can see what it is um I've played this game earlier so I did all the unlocks I like to play the game first so you don't see me like learning how the game works but basically what you're doing is you're just this little guy running around with a sword and you have to uh collect items because here's oh I forgot to check who who's my guy I'm battling against um so what happens is see this guy tab if I hold tab the reason this game's called he is coming is because there's a

monster coming um up at the top and see when I hit the tab key it's the Black Knights coming it's randomly generated every map Is Random so let me watch this I'm just going to do this watch see it's random um see they've got a boss that I have to fight every day so watch I'm going to do new run it's it's a Rog likee so if you do a new run see it's a different boss see it's this uh brittle back Beast okay so every guy that you're going to fight has a different load out see This is 40 Health attack three zero zero this uh zero Shield is really fast um we'll do a new boss oh wait let me see how here's my house path has this kind of H shape watch this new run map is regenerated see totally different map different Beast I'm fighting a wolf This Time Blood Moon werewolf uh while the player is below 50 Health blood moon has five additional attack okay so in this day chart up here here is how soon the monster's coming um

and so I have to constantly move and what the the basic highle view of the game is knowing that this monster is coming in so many turns I don't know how many turns that is I got to prepare and so this game's kind of like almost preparing for a party and you go to like a thrift store or something and you buy a bunch of crap that you're not going to need for very long it's just enough to get you through the party um you're like ah let's just buy it buy a bunch of cheap um plates because we never we going to throw them out after the party you are building this is load out right here so this 1 2 3 4 you're building and getting items that'll protect you for this specific boss so you see how it's like oh when the player's below 50 Health this this guy goes crazy he just damages us so much so what we got to do is build up a lot of armor a lot maybe a lot of health because we need to survive long enough so that we don't get below 50 health so I'm going to go through this and kind of go through here so um so again we need armor and health um is not full restore to health I'm going to go with the armor so this is my load out

and then to keep things interesting after I beat this boss hopefully I'll get a new boss and I got to get rid of all my stuff that doesn't apply and I've got to get that load out working for them now the other thing that's happening is you'll see these monsters on the map I kill this monster it's an auto battle so I don't even really have to do anything it's just Auto runs see like my health versus theirs see whoever goes first is determined by the boots that that little Wolfie is faster than me so that Wolfie gets to go first so let get this um wounded restore four Health gain two gold at the start of every turn Shield of the hero more I'm going to get more armor I'm just going to armor up against this werewolf see this is this what I have to do so oh this is night time when it's night time I get to um let's just do it I'm just going to I'm going to be the healthiest most armored person when it's night time the monsters can move around and it gets a

little bit more dangerous see that monster is moving around um so let's see so the monster got to go first but I'm very strong so I defend myself and there we go okay so this cross uh this Waypoint allows me to do this map over here so that's the basic of the game um I got full health this this campfire if I use it it restores my health and and leaves it towards daytime so here's the thing this game is perfect for steam I always say what people always like oh Chris yours bag on Platformers what what kind of games should we actually Mak it's games like this this is what I call crafty buildy strategy simulation games um and the reason is it's random every time um and see how it's a buildout there's all this complex juicy stats and it's the metal layer that's that's doing it um it's like do I do this upgrade and gain two gold and it's attack and speed oh I need to be faster I think I'm going to go with this one see the Two Boots and the two sword I want to get this now

so this is what I call easy hard easy I wrote a whole blog post I'll link to it below easy hard easy games are like this game at in the second to second's easy I just run around the battles fight themselves I can play this game onehanded my choices aren't that hard um armor or damage I want armor remember I am trying to protect myself as much as possible um so it's not that hard in the moment in the second to Second gameplay but the hard part is this game is very hard in the 5 to 10 minute time span so I'm going to be battling this BS this is hard I've died most times I beat one boss okay I haven't beat the game but then that's hard but because I learn Mastery and you unlock more items as you play and you lose you'll do different things and that'll unlock different items and stuff for next runs so I'm stronger every other run and that's the why I call it easy hard easy it's easy

second by second hard in the 30 minute time frame but the like 10 hour time frame as I play this game it gets easier and easier this is a very classic um Rog like uh strategy game simulation these games all operate on that easy hard easy which is steam loves the game that I played yesterday um sorry I'm just trying to look for what I'm going to do I'm going to get this helmet you can wear two helmets I'm just like a stack of helmets um this is an opposition to that game that I was playing yesterday um shotgun cop man shotgun cop man is just hard like it's a very hard game and if I'm not good enough that's it I can't do any better because I'm just not good it's like get good um um transform an item so remember I'm looking for health and that I'm going to do this one um good what' I get a lot more heart lot more ATT okay and so that is what

I'm trying to do is become I'm going to camp out tonight um that is why those games had much lower like Platformers puzzle games is they have a hard wall that you can't get through if you aren't good enough you can't proceed you're just like done and streamers don't like those games as much cuz they're like well it's too hard and notice how I'm commentating and all I'm doing is running around remember this is the easy part I'm just I just run around touch a a spot and pick something um remember I want to get more armor because I got this big werewolf coming see he's coming and he's gonna hit me really hard so I'm not really doing that much I'm just just walking around so I can talk that's the easy part and I think this is why streamers like these types of games is the easy part makes it so I can talk I couldn't really talk when I was playing shotgun cop it was like really hard see this bear let's battle this bear it's again I'm not touching anything it's just Auto battling for me uh that's it I I did that without

even touching the controls easy hard easy now we're about to find the hard part um I want to find out where this guy is he's a farmer if you go to him I think I get to buy good stuff so I get to head over there but see how up at the top I got like three little signs before that skull comes that means I got to battle a bad guy and I got a lot of Health I got a lot of armor remember my whole build is to protect myself against this big wolfy man who's just kind of like covering his junk there he's just kind of like don't look at my junk um let's battle it so he's got I've almost got as much health he's got a lot of armor but remember the rule is if I dip below 50% Health he really wrecks me so I think we can do this so let's go okay again I'm not touching the thing this is all automated everything's going I got a lot of armor I'm I'm Wheeling them down 7 10 uh-oh it's getting close okay now I'm below 50 M oh I just healed

myself I think I got this I think I got this come on come on yes I beat him so I beat that boss so see less is more is completed I've got I beat that so I get these achievements and this is the easy hard easy remember that outer ring that I call the easy which is in the like hour by hour gameplay it's getting easier like I don't know exactly but that unlocked by beating that boss unlock some other upgrades that I can get in subsequent runs of this game making this game easier like those powerups are going to be more powerful all that other stuff and that's easy hard easy these are the types of games that steam loves again I can commentate I'm playing this game but I'm commentating oh boy I am I'm going to be beat I just beat a giant wolf that covers his junk I beat him and I just died to a bear that's my that's on me that is just bad but here's Here's the the the easy hard easy part um I'm gaining these power will allow me to do better in subsequent runs

so werewolf uh completed so I beat the werewolf blood chain whenever the enemy has lost 50% all things so win against the blood moon werewolf for the first time I got that achievement yes so what happens here what do I unlock Cherry Bomb I get the Cher bomb defeat the first spots with only common items in your inventory I did that I think that was a good achievement um so here it is this summary of who defeated me this s little bear like he's so cute um but here it is game over screen you're going to see this a lot in Rog likes but look at this add to wish list you click this pulls up the API to wish list the game very smart always have a wish list on your game over screen I didn't beat this game I haven't beat whatever so I don't know where the edge of this demo is I honestly don't it would take me hours and this is and we'll get to the stats I'm now that I've done a run you have an idea of how it works I'm going to go look at some stats but let's just go to the main menu so if I do a new run it just immediately pretty much drops me right in here new map new boss I'm fighting the new boss that I have to

fight is Black Knight so look Black Knight has a lot of armor um Knight gains attack equal to players attack plus two so hits hard based on my attack has a lot of armor attack equal to the players attack plus two so whatever I however strong I am this Knight's going to be very strong so now I got to set up my build to counter that see how it's kind of like a deck builder and this is what I mean it's crafty buildy simulation there's no levels it's not like I have to do this you know go on this Advent or anything it's all randomly generated procedurally generated I could play this game forever it's very deep it's very complex the other thing that's interesting is and I didn't I played the game you should try it's free demo very little tutorial it just let me explore again there's not much tutorial I I just move around all right I just move the the rules it's what's called Progressive disclosure in the information architecture world where they only tell me what to do when I absolutely need to and part of the fun of this game is learning the rules as

you play you're like oh so if I go to a chest I get this and that this is why these games are so addicting and is I learn as I play and so you don't have to over tutorial eyesee and I think that kills a lot of demo play times is cu they're too much tutorial iation um I'm just going to look at the compendium again I can't tell how much in this demo it where this demo stops but look at all these unlocks I could do so there all the stuff I unlocked I think I get get to buy these upgrades or something I don't fully understand this part but um see as you win achievements you get further unlocks like see this Thorns this is an unlock that I've done um there's this swamp land I haven't even played the swamp maybe this is demo only if I was making this game and this is demo only uh like it's not unlocked in the full game I would right under here unlocked in full game um that's what that is compendium is all the stuff that I've

unlocked and I think I don't know what these are this is the one area where I'd add just a little bit more text oh available in full game that's what I was talking about so see this x oh he is let's see they're so smart scratch what I said before they're doing it they're didn't see available in full game so you get a tease you're like because I think this is an important thing that you got to do in demos you got to set expectations do you want to PE leave people saying like wow that was a great demo what there's even more to this game than what I saw oh my goodness so that's that's the feeling but now that I see all this this means this demo has so much content look at all this like I've been playing for about an hour and a half and this is how much I've unlocked so there is so much in this demo it's a very generous demo um with that let me switch over I'm going to go and we're going to look at um Let me let me make this full screen here um I I pulled some stats um let's maximize this let me even go maybe I can do full screen let me see if I can do this um Let Me Go full

screen on this that works okay so I've been looking at their steam page I like to look at a little stats we'll end with this um before I end this stream um so um hooded horse one of my favorite Publishers smartest Publishers um this is their they're publishing this game Chronicles the developer um let's look at some stats okay so um um let's see here let me see if I can shift let me see how to switch tabs um let me pull this up just a little bit here okay so he is coming let's look at how they're doing on Steam nextfest um so here's steam nextfest um let me make this full screen again so here's steam nextfest um all the games I'm looking at um charts top demos and somebody told me after my last stream uh another uh the CEO of a different company different enti company was like Chris you know they kind of tell you what it is I was like what's top demos mean I forget if you look up here in the URL look it says

daily active user demo this the URL gives you a clue of what they're tracking here steam's not that I see what you're doing there steam I see what you're doing so top demos look popular upcoming is top wishlisted so these are the most wishlisted games trending upcoming trending wishlisted so I think these games got the most wish list recently popular upcoming is all wish lists top demos is most players of these demos um um so let me see let's find out um he is coming is is he here coming not in the top um let's keep going I think he's like this game is in like the second set of games so he is coming he was just below the fold so um I looked up well how many wish lists is he is coming uh wait no that is Knight is coming um he is coming is here here so it's still it's below night is coming so it's pretty far down

in this list and if I look at their stats on steamdb um this is all their games this is their follower history so the game came has been in production since May 20124 so not a full year I think they launched the demo here notice you can always tell when the demo drops it's like right here boom huge increase maybe that's when publisher um hooded horse signed with them maybe but they've been in this nice progress increase ever since and then I think they did a big push I don't know exactly I didn't research what they did but February 10th see this you can see this pop up I have a feeling this this follower chart I have a feeling the publisher being a smart publisher that's like 16 days ago when they started this they're pushing two weeks trying to get into that trending um wish list like how many wish lists leading into nextfest that's how you get into the trending charts and they got a lot that's 13 100 that's 13 thou they were at 13,000

wish lists and if nextfest started just a few days ago what was that 15 to 20 let me just do some math here let me just do my math I'm terrible at just basic math especially when I'm talking on a stream so 2235 minus uh 1351 so in the last like two weeks they gained about 8,850 wish list thereabouts which is a lot but still wasn't enough to get them on that top trending list that's like second order like that you had to click view more to see more so I don't know how many wish lists those top games are getting but they're still doing fine like anybody should be happy with this it's just this wasn't enough I like to do this because what are the benchmarks how many wish lists do you need to get in the two weeks prior to nextfest it's looking like 8,000 isn't enough to get right on the front front page of these things okay the other thing I like to look at is look at this um whoops I'm going to go over to this

one let's go to top demos um he is he is coming again they're not he is not in the first list he's in the second list so he is coming I think comes down here so he is coming you have to click view more so he's in the second page of stuff to get into he is coming so how many remember this is daily active demo players so how many is it let's look if we go to steamdb I didn't mention this before I'm looking at steam DB you can look at Players right now um notice the player count let's look Max see they're doing great this is I they launched their demo was I right or was I right you saw that big spike that's when they first launched the demo they got about 154 people playing the demo they've got even more people playing it at the peak it's like 230 so that tells me you need about 230 even if you get two um 232 people simultaneously playing you're still on the second page okay it's

competitive out there folks now one thing I was interested I know this game I want to play this game this guy's in my Discord I've seen him posting his game's doing very well this game's also doing well he's doing well in nextfest I was curious like okay well he's just above sandest stre what is Sandry doing so I looked up sandst stre demo I will be playing this this is a factory automation crafty buildy see folks crafty buildy games um sand stre demo um they're at 369 players and the 24-hour Peak was 464 it is below he is coming demo and their demo got 232 sometimes the stats on Steam will drive you mad I don't know why Sanda stre is listed under him even though it has more concurrent players there almost double the concurrent players steam uses some averaging notice how um they released the demo in January oh that's a steam page well steam charts I don't

know I don't I let's see I guess he I think he's kept his demo up since January 1st so basically he's had a month maybe because um he is coming launch their demo like a like in August there's been that they count all total not just recent because the recent look he even had man look at that his Peak players like a week ago was 7 00 which is more than I think he is coming has ever had that's crazy so I don't know steam is kind of drunk you will drive yourselves mad if you're trying to figure out the the ranking don't spend too much time doing that just know the kind of I like to just average it up so this one has like right now has about what was it again I forget he has about right now he's sitting at about 400 500 and then he is coming has about 200 so somewhere in the 500 to 200 range

is what you need to be on the second order we'll be looking at some other games on the higher charts and later videos but that's what you basically need to get ranking on these charts now remember how look at this game 232 concurrent players for this game remember how deep this game is like all those things every time I push new game it randoms the map it feels like a different game there's a new boss there's all those unlocks you saw all that stuff it is hours and hours of content on that demo and it's fun over and over again when you look at a game like the one I played yesterday shotgun cop gun cop man demo look at their demo median playtime 27 it is a fraction of the number of players versus these crafty buildy games because I play through it all one one is it doesn't have that easy hard easy gameplay Loop that I was talking about and linked below it is just hard it is just a hard game

like you have to be very dextrous to be able to play it I can't talk over it and so people either bounce off very fast because like this game is just way too hard or they beat it because it's just level based there were I think like was it what did I calculate I think it was like 30 levels there's like 30 levels so the very nature of the type of game you make determines your player count it just is it's not marketing I mean this is published by devolver shotgun cop now he is coming is also published by a really good publisher but it has so much more an order of magnitude more concurrent players and that's just because of the type of game it is it is much easier to add more content like for he is coming they can just add some new power upgrade like uh armor that gives plus five damage and Thorns if you're below 50% you know you can add that somebody will spend an hour trying to grind to get to that and all he had to do was code in a little bit create a little icon turn that icon of color and it's a new item and you added

an hour of content whereas he is um a shotgun cop you have to make a whole new level and somebody can beat it I can beat those levels in like two minutes in fact there's little speed runs that say like two minutes this is why folks this is why crafty building games do so well on Steam because they just naturally have long play times all right I don't want to belabor that but that is um he is coming great steam page oh one of the reason I love hooded horse is they know how Steam Works look hooded horse you click it you get the hooded horse page this is awesome um let's see their featured games featured yeah the only thing is I'd feature their nextfest games I'd go into my hooded horse T leader thing uh you know thing back bend i' I'd feature all the Steam nextfest games see how it says release games upcoming games you can set what's featured I would create a little category says in nextfest now it's not going to do a big thing but it's just just kind of a nice touch um the other thing is Chronicle this is why I like hited horse they know how Steam Works watch what happens when I click

Chronicle it goes to Chronicle page I don't know if Chronicle set this page up themselves or hooded horse is like listen we're going to create a Creator page for you just listen just we're going to do it for you hooded horse and I see this a lot with other Publishers could have just when I click Chronicle redirected to hooded horse but hooded horse good publisher they're just like no Chronicle we want to support you as a developer outside of us we're going to create your own page so I think that's awesome stuff um the other thing that one thing that I would kind of fix on this look no update see how there's that little you can see when I highlight there's this div here this div is where you put news updates I would have created a news update that says hey the nextfest build is live go play it again if you haven't and then maybe detail in a blog post what's new with the um Nexus build maybe they added some new stuff get people re-engaged but I would totally have um put something there see look at how just empty that looks that's sad anyway um that is he is coming um

that's it that's that's it so uh thank you so much for watching um don't subscribe to my YouTube channel because if you subscribe that's not fun uh YouTube sucks so stop watching YouTube it's time uh let's do something else do something active today get outside um start working on a game don't stop watching YouTube you can close the browser now close close the browser send up from the newsletter how Market a game.com sfree and then as soon as you do that close the browser all right thank you bye