Castle Paradox

Newbie_Power · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1762

He probably wants his game to have an aura of professionability so he can impress others.

TwinHamster · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:56 am Post subject:

Frankly, professional or not, this would seem like a huge waste of time for a first-time game. Installers are generall used when files are simply to huge for a zip file, like SOJ.
Running an installer would make me seem a little hopeful that the game I just downloaded was worth cramming into an installer.
But there have been a few times when I am heavily disappointed that so much time was wasted into the package of the game instead of its content.

Bob the Hamster · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:17 am Post subject:

Newbie_Power · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1762

AutoT · Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 28

Not really. It's just that my friends absolutely loath having to have multiple programs and running the player and all that stuff. And it's not the full game it's just that I need BETA testers before I continue on.
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Rinku · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 690

I agree with James, whether to use installers or not depends upon your target audience: technically sophisticated people are fine with zips or rars, people who are new to computers need installers. The main benefit of installers is not registry manipulation, but creating desktop icons, which a lot of people rely on exclusively. I can't imagine my mother being able to figure out how to install and run a program from a zip for example, but she can click on a desktop icon just fine.
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Tower Defense Game

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:46 pm Post subject:

and not everyone has a .rar or .zip archiver program... but everyone can run an .exe (although versions prior to windows 98 might have problems)

Uncommon · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:59 pm Post subject:

Well, most OSes come with .ZIP support these days. Well, Windows, at least.

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:05 pm Post subject:

true, i had discarded the os change.. tar.gz and zip works in linux but I doubt installers would without a clone such as X-window emulator... But reasonably, the installer is to make it simpler for users and well, these users probably don't use linux...

Newbie_Power · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1762

There's nothing stopping AutoT from making separate .zip and .tar.gz files, though. In fact, I would recommend it in addition the .exe installer.

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:36 pm Post subject:

which brings me this question... does ohr work under linux?

Jack · **the fool** Joined: 30 Jul 2004 Posts: 773

And it's not like zip archivers are hard to find. 7-zip can unzip most anything, and it's completely free.

Bob the Hamster · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:48 pm Post subject:

Rinku · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 690

Zip support consists of treating a zip as if it were a folder. But most people new to computers, and people who use them very rarely, don't know anything about working with folders. They are likely to try to run the game from within the zip, which would cause problems with some games.
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Tower Defense Game

AutoT · Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 28

ok... that's all very nice and all but that still doesn't help me with the installer. I copied the files over and it's still saying the program doesn't exist.
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