Will arma 3 have a demo and when will it be released

[jw custom 56]

I have to disagree with that.

A demo is there to give prospective players a glimpse of the quality of your product. To me, concerning Arma3, that means full hi res graphics and sounds, one or two basic MP missions (I'd say one coop and one PvP), some of the tutorials and some SP content that hints at the campaign quality (perhaps something using the main character, but not an actual mission from the campaign).

You could put in a simplified editor aswell, but I'm not even sure that's necessary. People who want to create and play custom missions should buy the game.

The goal is to give people a feel for Arma3, meaning the visual and audio quality, the controls, the atmosphere and the actual gameplay.

I agree, i really enjoyed the ArmA2 demo while waiting for full version to arrive :cool:

[sorophx 25]

the only demo i would vote for would be ARMA 3 Free route ...

if it's with crappy graphics and DX9 support, I'd vote for it too

[cm. 10]

fuck me please do not go the free route straight away....

when a3 comes out everyone will be on vanilla, which means all the people using the free version will mass grief the legit players.

chaos ensured.

[echonyne 1]

fuck me please do not go the free route straight away....

when a3 comes out everyone will be on vanilla, which means all the people using the free version will mass grief the legit players.

chaos ensured.

..... :D

[kylania 568]

when a3 comes out everyone will be on vanilla, which means all the people using the free version will mass grief the legit players.

heh, happens with the paid version anyway. ;)

[mattxr 9]

Demo will prob come after release, been like that since OFP

[gonk 0]

Demo will prob come after release, been like that since OFP

Actually....The first OFP demo came out way before the game.... it gave us time to use and ask for features to be added.... I remember playing the demo with the folding trees... and no kneeling..

[looter 10]

I have to agree with Dwarden, if an ArmA 3 demo would be anything like the previous demos, for the love of god dont waste the time. Awful. I usually had to convince friends to not take the game at face-value when they played the horribly buggy, unstable, broken demo. OFP had a fantastic demo though.

[jblackrupert 14]

I have to agree with Dwarden, if an ArmA 3 demo would be anything like the previous demos, for the love of god dont waste the time. Awful. I usually had to convince friends to not take the game at face-value when they played the horribly buggy, unstable, broken demo. OFP had a fantastic demo though.

Which is why they should make the demo patchable and the patching is done within the client itself.

Releasing a free version is guaranteed to damage the reputation of Arma 3 1000x more then the buggy demo did for Arma 2.

nobody plays vanilla Arma 2 anymore because the free players have completely destroyed it.

[kylania 568]

So wasting time making and patching a demo instead of fixing bugs in the retail product is a good way to get a bug free game? I don't think so. No demo needed I say. :)

[maddogx 13]

I've been thinking about the issue with a free version potentially FUBAR'ing the multiplayer, as has apparently happened with Arma2 ("apparently" because I have only ever heard about the "freetards" but never come across one - I hardly play public MP at all, and then only CO).

What if the user IDs generated by the free version keys were different to those of the main version in some way, so that public servers could opt to bar free players from entering? If the server could reliably distinguish between full game owners and free players, a simple config setting like "allowFreeIDs = 0;" should suffice. Obviously such servers should show up red in the MP browser for free players. There should also be a filter setting, so that all players can choose whether servers that allow free players show up in their list.

Btw. I'm still against using a free version as a demo, for reasons stated before in this thread.

[moizeus 1]

So there will be a ArmA3 free-to-play with utter low res texture and LD sound systems, low VD, without mod support and campaign?:rolleyes:

That would be nice so I could play with my friends. But of course am still buying the game cause of the open world campaign

[overvolts 0]

the only demo i would vote for would be ARMA 3 Free route ... the usual demos are waste of resources ...

Ever since the first Arma the core gameplay formula hasn't changed and probably never will. I'm sure how you will like Arma 3 will be the same with your impressions of Arma 1 and 2. I'm not going to mention no names but sure that BI will never do what a certain publisher did to a series, that took over rights to a developers game title, and severely perverted it. BI developers probably have an unwritten sworn oath to never do that to Arma.

[Flogger23m 2]

I would like a demo. If ArmA 3 does not bring sufficient improvements, my PC is not capable of running it I would not buy the game until it is cheap.

[BobcatBob 10]

Id want a traditional "Demo" if you will That is:all basic tutorials + Full 2 or 3 quality missions/scenarios taken from the full game along w/ one multiplyer scenario for PvP and one for Coop. (No mod support and no editor: just make sure to notify players that these features are containted in the full game!!) Full graphics quality and all that jazz.

[djfluffwug 10]

You need a demo leaving the player wanting more. That is basically the technique used with most sucessful demo's.

I remember a while back playing the Knights of the Temple demo. I played the first level and it really left me wanting to play more.

The demo had a really interesting level keeping the action going and that is really what lead me to eventually buying the game.

I really don't think it would be a waste of resources as if the demo was made properly (Not rushed) then it could get ArmA 3 some potential buyers.

[kernriver 4]

You need a demo leaving the player wanting more. That is basically the technique used with most sucessful demo's.

I remember a while back playing the Knights of the Temple demo. I played the first level and it really left me wanting to play more.

The demo had a really interesting level keeping the action going and that is really what lead me to eventually buying the game.

I really don't think it would be a waste of resources as if the demo was made properly (Not rushed) then it could get ArmA 3 some potential buyers.

Exactly.

Personally, I don't care. I will preorder the game anyway.

[Przemek_kondor 13]

IMO opinion demo should come with at least one good (showing game's potential) MP mission (kind of current Warfare or coop with many tasks), not bunch of DM / TDM we got last time (which are totaly different to what you get with full version)

Btw: For some (including me) demo (whatever form) is really important. It's not only ~40E for DVD. New arma always means new computer what takes another 500E (MoBo, CPU, RAM, PSU, GPU)

[Robster 11]

Even with some fancy "carrier command models" (avoiding licence & legal issues) we will buy ArmA3 anyways ...

:P

[gossamersolid 155]

the only demo i would vote for would be ARMA 3 Free route ... the usual demos are waste of resources ...

If ArmA 3 free exists, make sure we can prevent free users from joining our servers because we know how impossible it is to have a decent match with a boatload of ban bypassing free players ruining our fun.

OR

If you guys can additionally figure out a better way to handle keys going out for the free version.

[antoineflemming 14]

If ArmA 3 free exists, make sure we can prevent free users from joining our servers because we know how impossible it is to have a decent match with a boatload of ban bypassing free players ruining our fun.

OR

If you guys can additionally figure out a better way to handle keys going out for the free version.

I got a better solution. You now how Take On Helicopters runs on a different server system, or whatever the correct terminology, than ArmA 2 (basically TOH/TKOH servers don't show up in Arma 2)? BIS could do the same thing with ArmA 3 and ArmA 3 Free if there is one. So that way, the FREE players can play by themselves, and the regular players can play without the FREE players.

[Flogger23m 2]

Id want a traditional "Demo" if you will That is:all basic tutorials + Full 2 or 3 quality missions/scenarios taken from the full game along w/ one multiplyer scenario for PvP and one for Coop. (No mod support and no editor: just make sure to notify players that these features are containted in the full game!!) Full graphics quality and all that jazz.

I would prefer if there was an editor like the Arrowhead demo. Of course, limit the maps and whatnot. Many people buy this game for the editor. I spend far more time in the editor than I did with the single player missions.

[wipman 1]

Hi, a demo will be very helpful to check the performance on our rigs and then make a better plan about what to upgrade or not; it could be released after the game's release... some weeks later, with:

- 1St SP mission.

- 1St Campaign mission (with Intro).

- No MP.

- No Editor.

That way will be useful to taste the game's graphics & mechanics aside of it's performance; if you like what you see... then go and buy the game. Will be the best thing IMO, but i'll preffer it before the game's release, a week early or so. Let's C ya

[PuFu 4600]

if you ask me, there should be both MP and Editor(even if it has limited functionality - as in no external files being able to be loaded java, sqs, sqf etc) in the demo. Both are a huge part of the franchise, and the aim of such a release would be to get everyone (not just their community) have a taste of what their game is about.

[purepassion 22]

To be honest, I think the OA demo was doing it quite good.

A demo, as also pointed out by others, is all about getting a taste of the game and making you want more of it or in other words buying it.

Arma is all about the units and all the possibilities resulting from this broad range of units. If the demo or "Free" version already contains all those units in a low quality, it's obviously not meeting these requirements.

Another substantial element is the high graphical standart. Taking this element out of the preview version would make it far less attractive for possible new users and next to that, provide no tool to roughly evaluate hardware components.

To get a good impression of a game, wether I am already familiar with its predecessor or not, I would prefer a small selection of units which are representative of the "real" game quality than all of them but in a stage different to the one in the final game.

Therefore it should contain:

• a small selection of units
  
• a small selection of the map
  
• the editor
  
• single player scenarios
  
• a selection of the tutorials
  
• no mod support
  
• Intro of the campaign so you get to know what it is about
  

I am undecided wether it should contain the multiplayer as this would most likely oppose problems. I am curious where exactly you see the waste of ressources and more importantly, advantages of the "free route" Dwarden :)

But overall, a demo containing these elements above gives the user a good impression and understanding of the basic game mechanics while simultaneously making him curious for more. :)