let's asses the situation shall we?
Q: WHY is there a lack of interest?
A: people seem to lack a will to try out your demo.
Q: why do people seem to lack the will to try out your demo?
A: according to the people who have seen your pics, (even me) your maps feel empty, too big,
and by the looks of it, sorta repetitive on the tilesets.
Q: why do people criticize it like so?
A: when people play a demo, thy expect that you have at least a half-fleshed out character to
take out for a spin, on some (at least) diverse populated maps, with at the bare minimum the main
objective in their sights (the single sentence describing Alex leaves little to no incentive on players
wanting to know who he is)
Q: What can you do about this?
A: First off, your character, who is he? the only thing we know is that he's an amnesiac in a
car crash, but what about his backstory? what's so special about that character surviving the car crash
where might he go and why? (I DO take in mind that he is an amnesiac, but even then the player
should at least know SOMETHING regardless of the character knowing what to do or not)
Q: OK Improve the character, now what?
A: Most people would tell you, that the following step is mapping, eventing etc.... not quite.
I'd say first and foremost you need a solid plot, you don't NEED to reveal it to us, but make SURE you
know what your plot is from start to finish, why? because later on when you're map designing the
areas of your plot it HELPS to know what to map and what to leave behind (many designers make up
areas that they never use later on, or if the plot contradicts itself, some of your maps wont even make
sense etc...) long story short.... stabilize your plot BEFORE even starting map/event/battle designs.
REMEMBER: your audience does NOT know what the full plot is, therefore you must have some form
of way to attract players into the setting, if you keep players for more than an hour without figuring
out what to do (or even worse, how to properly play the game) expect them to lose interest.
Q: OK I have my plot designed and know where to start, now what?
A: You're gonna need some maps, not just ANY old map though, what calls people into trying out
a demo more than the plot itself is the gameplay derived from the maps and/or battle-system (if any)
when it comes to making a map, bigger isn't always better, having small yet properly designed maps
is good if you know how to populate them, the point is that no matter what size your map is, it should
always have some (optionally interactive) eye candy to go along with it, (forests should have winding
trails instead of just a road line from point A to B, caves should look irregular, while buildings should have
small features to make them look like someone actually lives there), in short keep your maps with good
content WHILE making them look natural, bonus points if you have the player interact with it.
NOTE: Try using some new tilesets, the standard ones aren't bad but you can certainly make
maps look even better with other ones, lucky for you, this site offers some great tutorials on
mapping if you get lost.
these are SOME ways to start off your game,
not ALL of them, just remember, it's always better to have a short yet functional game over a long cluttered
mess of featureless maps.
don't give up, and if you feel you're lacking skill on either mapping/eventing/battle-systems etc... feel free to ask around.
Lastly, sorry for the wall of text, but it's kinda hard to cover the essentials on a single post.