I don''t really see the difference. A good playable demo should be similar to the full game but with a limited set of game data e.g levels, units etc. Shareware is a chunk of the whole game but only the first x levels. The two seem similar, but with a demo you can spend time tailoring 1 or 2 levels to be really good to entice people to buy the whoile thing, whereas in shareware they just get the first part of the game. Any comments on this anyone?

Shareware is a marketing method, a demo is a limited version of a game. It is true that many developers selling their game via the shareware method tend to just offer a "chunk" of the game as you said, but this is really just up to the developer (or the publisher). When you market your game as shareware you are in fact giving the user a demo of your game. It is important to understand this distinction.

[edited by - alex mcandrew on June 24, 2002 4:31:51 PM]

I seem to remember Doom being available in the stores only as the shareware first episode.

The full game was available only as a mail-order from the publisher.

Yes Shareware is just the method of selling the game and not the form (demo) in which it is distributed. The only real difference is that sometimes the shareware demo is actually the full game that has later levels locked. The user buys the code to unlock the game.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions