Do you hate installers? especially with no uninstallers?
what about long download times? and shareware games?
well thats to bad because thats exactly what i got!
to be specific its 2 completely free sweet games (with semi-long download times depending on connection) and spacebar my only shareware game.
i created the installer from scratch, the look and feel is based on the standard install creator.
there are no messy files and program icons etc etc.. just desktop shortcuts and the installation directory, so it should be easy to clean up afterwards.
Well, most uninstallers leaves junk on your computer anyway, so not using one is atleast honest. I'd avoid using installers altogether, unless it's impossible for the game to be in a zip. Which isn't the case most of the time.
They can leave files around and generally prolong the wait in playing a game.
A good compression format will be a bit smaller than an installer (though bandwidth is no issue at all for me)
What the Doctor does like about installers-
They can make a good quality game/app seem more professional and add to the product.
Sometimes files need to be in specific places, installers ensure that.
Ideally I'd like people to use small apps that simply expand (think a zip file built into an .exe), but with art from the game or whatever to keep it consistent with the game. Something that leaves no files and is over in the blink of an eye.
obviously downloading a zip of each game works just fine.. thats what my program does
the advantages i see with my program is:
Newbie proof - it works on any brand new computer without unzipping software
Shareable - its easy to send the 500kb installation file instead of a 30mb game or instead of going back online and finding the url to the game.
Advertisment - users who only downloaded 1 game may be tempted to install the other games available (3 now, 4 soon) and desktop shortcut makes the game more likely to be played more.
TBH I've not tried yours yet (not on XP) but I'll give it a go when I'm back on Windows it does sound better and it's given me an idea, if yours isn't the same that is!
Unless the game is of somewhat acceptable quality and you plan to submit it to websites outside of the klik community, there's no need for an installer. TGF and MMF 1.5 only need 1 DLL to be directly beside the EXE (TGF needs the .GAM file) and MMF2 doesn't need any external files.
Clickteam designed their games to not need installers, so like I said, unless you're planning to make your game more appealing to a non-click audience, don't use them.
the quality of the 4 games i plan to have in my installer are pretty much my life's work so far i guess
so i hope they don't completely suck and that they can be semi-populare elsewhere.
Originally Posted by Dr. James What the Doctor doesn't like about installers-
They can leave files around and generally prolong the wait in playing a game.
A good compression format will be a bit smaller than an installer (though bandwidth is no issue at all for me)
What the Doctor does like about installers-
They can make a good quality game/app seem more professional and add to the product.
Sometimes files need to be in specific places, installers ensure that.
Ideally I'd like people to use small apps that simply expand (think a zip file built into an .exe), but with art from the game or whatever to keep it consistent with the game. Something that leaves no files and is over in the blink of an eye.
*nods*
It's true that a game can seem more professional when using an installer (assuming that the game already seems quite professional), especially if the installer is in sync with the games gfx, then it would be a pleasure to use it! But if the game hasn't made it past that eluding point where it seems professional on its own, the installer may have it seem even more unprofessional. So it's something of a two-edged blade, installers.
EDIT: Also, if the installers only function is to place an exe in a user-picked folder then it is pointless with an installer and also heresy. Make sure you need to use an installer before doing it, otherwise you're just gonna p*** people off.
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Edited by SoftWarewolf
it does sound better and it's given me an idea, if yours isn't the same that is!
