Reply To: For Ouya Increasing Choice For Devs Means Decreasing Choice For Gamers
I agree with you when it comes to standalone demos. But the Ouya does not require the use of a standalone demo, but merely a “paywall” of sorts. As I mentioned in the article, this can simply be placed after the first few levels or after a certain period of time. Many games were successful using those methods.
The hit Towerfall let players play just the first multiplayer arena and the first challenge level in each training arena. This allowed for enough exposure to get people excited about buying the full game.
Another popular game, Bombsquad, used a 1 hour time limit. You could play all you wanted for one hour and then you had to buy it to keep playing.
Another game, Ice Rage, gave you a handful of play sessions each day. If you wanted to play more than that, you had to pay.
These are just three examples of ways developers have implemented the free to try aspect fairly well. It seems odd that other developers were complaining about this requirement.