this is probably the noob-question of the day:
So I've written this game.
Now there's the .exe file that does the work, a folder with my beautiful, beautiful assets and a bunch of .dll files and other stuff that I probably shouldn't touch. To run the game, I copy the whole lot to the desired computer, double-click the .exe file and start shooting some dudes. Yay!
But what exactly is the difference between that and using an installer? What else does an installer do besides copying files and looking more professional than a .zip-file? Is there generally a lot of patching/configuring involved when trying to make a game run on a different computer? I tested my game on all windows computers I could get my greedy fingers on and it works great.
Answer
The installer is typically there to make things easier for the end user. It does some combination of the following:
- Unzipping
- Creation of directories
- Installation of required runtimes (redistributable like: .Net, Visual C++, Direct x)
- Registration with the OS (for later clean uninstall)
- Display beautiful, beautiful screenshots to prepare the player for your game while it works.
- Offering the user the chance to register their game
- Downloading updates for the assets or patches for the game
- Add icons to the start menu or the desktop
- Set correct permissions for various game directories (temp folder, save directory, etc.)
- Just install it already, allow the user to mindlessly click next and get to playing the game!
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