Shareware games have a horrible tendency to be terribly, boringly easy. Is it because they are demos, and they will get harder and more interesting if you get the full version? How does anyone find that out, when the free version is so easy as to not be any fun? I can see a twisted sort of reasoning behind it, that if people can't finish the demo then they won't buy a full version, but I think you probably lose more sales to your game being no fun than to people being useless players - and if that reasoning is valid then surely the customers will be angry when they get stuck a few levels further on after buying the game.
But I don't think it is just the demos, I think the problem is that shareware creators for the most part just aren't good at making games difficult. Perhaps this is wise. It may be that most people who will pay for a full product are people who like winning even if it wasn't a challenge. But surely there's something wrong with the games when I can play through the entirety of the demos of five games without losing a life or failing a single level at any of them?
[19:55]
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