How to end a demo?

[glassbetelgeuse]

My current project is nearing demo-readiness, but I'm not sure how to give players closure while also leaving them excited for more. Anything I can come up with just feels too abrupt. Currently I have progress gated behind needing a ride across the sea (a la Mr. Briney) after 2 gyms. But it feels like having the NPC who would take them across the sea announce the end of the demo there feels weird and out of place. Do I just have the character say their boat isn't ready yet and provide no out of character explanation why the player can't progress, and hope that people read the description and don't try to progress past 2 gyms? Or do I break immersion to be overt? Or do I do some other thing I haven't even conceptualized yet?

I'm also not entirely sure if I should post a demo at 2 gyms; it was only about 2 hours worth of gameplay for me, and I tend to play a little slow compared to what my peers in the community probably do. I've added some content since then, but I don't think it's enough to make a huge difference in terms of time spent playing the game. It's honestly mostly teasers for later in the game; 2 badges in isn't very far. So there's the first encounter with the evil team, some introductions to the game's unique mechanics, and your starter should have evolved once but you shouldn't know the final form yet. Is there anything else relatively traditional that I should be introducing or including at this stage, and is this stage too early for people to get invested in a demo, especially for a game that follows a more traditional formula?

 

[Desperado]

I recommend going with your first option of having the characters in-game say the boat isn't ready yet, and then having your post on this site sharing the download overtly state where the end of the demo is.

In my experience most partial demos are about 2 gyms and ~2 hours long. If you're not confident in what you have so far then keep working on it to have more than the typical small amount. If you want feedback now so you can use feedback to continue, post your demo when you're ready.

If you have any plans for any returning interactions such as an object or character that you can interact with early in the game that comes back and remembers what you did from earlier, set those up immediately. The usual example of this is the starter choice variable where your starter choice affects the team composition used by rival(s).