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Hi everyone!
We've recently run into a few situations that revealed some genuine ambiguity in our Demo + Lite policy — not because anyone acted in bad faith, but because some of our wording could reasonably be read more than one way.
We'd like to clear that up. None of this is a sweeping change; it's a clarification of intent, plus one rule about duplicate posts. Please give it a read if you publish paid content or anything that accompanies it.
1. "Demo" means a sample of paid content — not a tutorial or demonstration scene.
The word "demo" has been doing double duty, and that's caused some confusion. In the context of the Demo + Lite category, "demo" means a free sampling of your paid content — a taste of what buyers get. It does not mean "a scene that demonstrates how to use a resource."
If your plugin or scene needs an accompanying demonstration scene — something that shows users how to set it up or use it properly — that is not Demo + Lite content. That demonstration file should be attached to the same resource upload, after your main plugin or scene file.
Both the main resource and its demonstration scene will then be downloadable from the same resource post. A how-to-use scene belongs with the resource it explains, not as a separate listing.
So, to put it simply: "Demo" = a sampling of paid features. A demonstration or tutorial scene = an attachment on the resource it supports.
2. One free companion post per paid resource. Whether or not you advertise sets the category.
Beyond your Paid resource post itself, a paid product may have one free companion post on the Hub — and only one. You don't get to post the same content twice, once as a clean free resource and again as an advertising demo. Pick one of these two paths for your companion:
We created the category so that members who don't want to see paid advertising can filter it out, and so that the Free category stays free of marketing for those who'd rather not see it. As long as your companion follows the rules for the path you pick, you're good.
3. A demo has to offer real value — not just be an advertisement that happens to function.
Our existing rule says demo content must be "fully functional," with no fake buttons or dead "hooks." That's still true, but we've learned it isn't the whole story. Working buttons are the floor, not the bar.
The purpose of the Demo + Lite category is to let players download something free that they can actually use and enjoy — a real taste of your work — even if they never buy the paid version. A demo whose only function is to display marketing material for the paid product does not meet that bar, even if every button works perfectly.
If the only thing a user can do with your demo is consume content that advertises the paid version, then it's an advertisement rather than a demo, and its proper home is on your Patreon page or reformatted as a video and included in your Paid resource description.
A good demo is a reduced-feature version of your plugin or scene that still does something genuinely useful or fun on its own — a user should come away feeling they got something worthwhile, not feeling baited toward a purchase.
We know the large majority of you already build your demos in exactly this spirit, and we're grateful for it — this clarification just makes the expectation explicit so nobody sinks effort into something that was never going to qualify.
As always, if you think your resource has been miscategorized or you're unsure where something belongs, open a support ticket and we'll help you sort it out.
Thank you everyone!
~The VaMHub Staff
We've recently run into a few situations that revealed some genuine ambiguity in our Demo + Lite policy — not because anyone acted in bad faith, but because some of our wording could reasonably be read more than one way.
We'd like to clear that up. None of this is a sweeping change; it's a clarification of intent, plus one rule about duplicate posts. Please give it a read if you publish paid content or anything that accompanies it.
1. "Demo" means a sample of paid content — not a tutorial or demonstration scene.
The word "demo" has been doing double duty, and that's caused some confusion. In the context of the Demo + Lite category, "demo" means a free sampling of your paid content — a taste of what buyers get. It does not mean "a scene that demonstrates how to use a resource."
If your plugin or scene needs an accompanying demonstration scene — something that shows users how to set it up or use it properly — that is not Demo + Lite content. That demonstration file should be attached to the same resource upload, after your main plugin or scene file.
Both the main resource and its demonstration scene will then be downloadable from the same resource post. A how-to-use scene belongs with the resource it explains, not as a separate listing.
So, to put it simply: "Demo" = a sampling of paid features. A demonstration or tutorial scene = an attachment on the resource it supports.
2. One free companion post per paid resource. Whether or not you advertise sets the category.
Beyond your Paid resource post itself, a paid product may have one free companion post on the Hub — and only one. You don't get to post the same content twice, once as a clean free resource and again as an advertising demo. Pick one of these two paths for your companion:
- No advertising → it lives in the Free category. The companion must be a fully functional, standalone plugin or scene, and it cannot mention or link to any paid version. Members find your paid content on their own.
- With advertising → it lives in the Demo + Lite category. Here you are allowed to advertise and link to your paid version. The content must still be fully functional (see point 3).
We created the category so that members who don't want to see paid advertising can filter it out, and so that the Free category stays free of marketing for those who'd rather not see it. As long as your companion follows the rules for the path you pick, you're good.
3. A demo has to offer real value — not just be an advertisement that happens to function.
Our existing rule says demo content must be "fully functional," with no fake buttons or dead "hooks." That's still true, but we've learned it isn't the whole story. Working buttons are the floor, not the bar.
The purpose of the Demo + Lite category is to let players download something free that they can actually use and enjoy — a real taste of your work — even if they never buy the paid version. A demo whose only function is to display marketing material for the paid product does not meet that bar, even if every button works perfectly.
If the only thing a user can do with your demo is consume content that advertises the paid version, then it's an advertisement rather than a demo, and its proper home is on your Patreon page or reformatted as a video and included in your Paid resource description.
A good demo is a reduced-feature version of your plugin or scene that still does something genuinely useful or fun on its own — a user should come away feeling they got something worthwhile, not feeling baited toward a purchase.
We know the large majority of you already build your demos in exactly this spirit, and we're grateful for it — this clarification just makes the expectation explicit so nobody sinks effort into something that was never going to qualify.
As always, if you think your resource has been miscategorized or you're unsure where something belongs, open a support ticket and we'll help you sort it out.
Thank you everyone!
~The VaMHub Staff
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