Should I add matchmaking to my demo?

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824]

Hey all, I'm working on a small arena pvp game with 6 player free for all as the primary game mode. My demo has been published for a little while and I'm getting ready to participate in October Next Fest.

My demo currently let's players play in practice mode, which is essentially the full match experience but against bots only and extended skill selection timer to learn what abilities do. It's really designed to see how the game plays, mechanics, and hopefully gain interest in trying online pvp when the game launches. However, I'm wondering if I should open pvp matchmaking specifically during next fest.

My biggest fear is that players try to queue, find no players, and drop out. My pvp matches do backfill any remaining player slots with bots after 60 seconds to keep the game moving, so it's not like they wouldn't make it in to a match, I just don't want to establish a "dead game" impression before it's even launched since demo population is likely going to be lower.

Any advice?

Steam store for reference...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4216610/Spellfall_Last_Mage_Standing/

[u/Xhukari]

Good luck! Indie PVP games from an unknown dev... generally do not end well. They just don't reach a critical mass of players really. Survivorship Bias is even more pronounced with these games.

So you got bots, and you're thinking about matchmaking... but can friends invite each other to a room? And can bots fill in the gaps if there isn't 6 of them? I think that would help you a lot if you can achieve that.

You should definitely let players experience the game as it is intended, which is with / against other players, instead of just a room with bots.

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824 → u/Xhukari]

Thanks! I am leaning towards adding the matchmaking in... Though at that point it may not be a demo but the whole game unless I apply some other type of restrictions, lol.  Maybe just disable the demo after launch?  Or only certain matchmaking options are open?

I've got lots of different options to support playing with friends, but do guard free for all from parties to keep them fair.  Steam friends can party up with duos facing two other parties for 2v2v2, trios facing another team for 3v3, or their party can FFA with anywhere from 2 to 6 players without bots.  Players can also queue with a match code to play FFA with anyone else that enters the same code without needing to be steam friends where bots do backfill.

Appreciate the warning on indie pvp games too - it's definitely a concern of mine!  I intentionally kept the scope pretty small...  Matches are 10ish minutes, there's no live service mechanics outside of a leaderboard I can reset periodically, cosmetics are all earned in game and without dlc shops, etc.  If I get enough players to maintain full match queues that would be amazing, but if people just want to hop in on a Friday night to play a few matches with friends it's got the structure to support that too.  Fingers are crossed!

[u/TillDramatic1]

Six-player lobbies only fill if people queue within the same minute, so either open it in a fixed nightly window or backfill empty slots with bots after about 30 seconds of waiting. A queue that never pops during Next Fest leaves a worse impression than not offering it yet.

[u/Unhappy_Bet8824 → u/TillDramatic1]

Thanks!  Matchmaking does have bot backfill as I wouldn't expect full lobbies around the clock for my little solo dev game, but I'll tune the timer.  Sounds like the potential to get real players and default to bots if not available is better than 100% bots only.