I do find installers annoying but its only a minor niggle because you need to install/uninstall it and often the game doesn't put a link on your desktop, making your look for it in your start menu.
But they don't turn me away from the download, even though someone usually makes a comment so it's clear if a game is or not.
But some indication that people might be turned away and maybe a link to an article explaining why would help.
Depending on the knp/tgf/mmf generation, installers can leave directories and files all over the place-- in the windows folder, Program Files, The Start Menu... And if you're like me, not knowing whether or not you got every single one keeps you awake at night. O_O
Likely, the people whose games have installers are the same people whose games are still n00bish, which will likely warrant low download numbers anyway. There should be a sign when uploading, "Please refrain from using installers if at all possible". And then a little warning on the download page if it does.
Personally, if a game is good, I don't care if it has an installer. It doesn't bug me all that much. I just see if the game is worth downloading by others' comments.
Originally Posted by OldManClayton Depending on the knp/tgf/mmf generation, installers can leave directories and files all over the place-- in the windows folder, Program Files, The Start Menu... And if you're like me, not knowing whether or not you got every single one keeps you awake at night. O_O
This only applies to those install routines created by the built in one in click program used. I use Setup2go for most of any installation routines and it does evrything you would ever need to do including creating/removing any required registry keys.
I think requesting that people avoid installers completely would increase the number of cmplaints about the size of games as installers generally reduce file sizes.
I think there should be a radio button like Boothman suggested, but make it optional. Or, have a third option that says "Read the description for further information" or something.
If someone sees that the game has an installer, they're probably not going to bother looking at the game anymore. That could be a substantial amount of downloads, too.
I say it should be optional or say that such information is provided in the download description because I plan on using an installer for my game, but I know that I'm going to make my own installer. An installer that doesn't actually install the game, but just puts everything where it needs to be, like font files or a shared media location.
Originally Posted by OldManClayton Depending on the knp/tgf/mmf generation, installers can leave directories and files all over the place-- in the windows folder, Program Files, The Start Menu... And if you're like me, not knowing whether or not you got every single one keeps you awake at night. O_O
This only applies to those install routines created by the built in one in click program used. I use Setup2go for most of any installation routines and it does evrything you would ever need to do including creating/removing any required registry keys.
I think requesting that people avoid installers completely would increase the number of cmplaints about the size of games as installers generally reduce file sizes.
Not by much. Compressed archives do the job fine. People would rather have a little bit bigger of a filesize than an installer.
Even with other installer programs, there can be minor loose ends that add up. That's why it's not a good idea to install thing after thing after thing on your computer, even though you can uninstall them, because it still gunks up.
Let the submitter enter 2 seperate urls; one for a zip, one for an installer. But don't display which (or both) downloads contain them on the downloads list (do not discriminate against the 2, else you'll likely exclude some people from playing what could be a great game). Folk like me with more webspace than sense can easily upload both... Zip for convenience, installer to make sure folders and the like are set up.
People, with all due respect, you are wasting more time of your life in moaning how bad installers are than what the actual installers would take of your time. This "installer omg omg!!" is a tradition, which spreads around the community with a snowball effect. It's a legacy. Of course an installer is a worse option than a direct exe, but it's not that much worse. It's not the end of the world - it takes seconds to install, seconds to uninstall.
I have used a zipped installer on TDC, and will use it again.
How about we just make it a rule that you need to either use Clickteam's Install Creator, an archive, or just include the EXE. That way if we do have installers, we know they aren't some crappy third party install program like that one with all the adware.
This wont happen though, because it's more work for the admins.
I actually like cecil's idea of simply putting a message next to where you upload a game that says "We strongly recommend not using an installer as your game will receive substantially less downloads"
This would clarify to people who haven't submitted a game before how much people here hate installers. Putting that message in would be easy to do and from there we could guage how much of an impact it's making.
the problem isn't just the extra time and hassle, nor the fact that it puts files on your computer in god knows where, and makes it damned impossible to hunt it down and remove it later, nor that it puts an icon on your desktop or start menu, nor the possibility of ads like that god awful installer on the george bush game. Its a combination of all thats, its the feeling "You don't know what is happening" when you hit install. I will not click install, simply because I do not trust what it is doing with files. It could be copying viruses into hidden parts of my C drive, for all I know. At least if I'm simply unpacking a game, I know all the files are contained in that folder. If you have any files that need to be on the computer in specific addresses besides the ones in your game like fonts or DLLs, than INSTALL THEM AT RUNTIME. Have your game check if a font folder exists and copy the font file into it if its not there. Put the cncs232.dll & cnc32.dll files into your .zip. Don't ever, under any circumstances, include an installer with your game if it weighs less than 200 megabytes.
It's not even like games truly have a viable excuse for using installers anymore.
Lets see:
$AppPath
$AppDir
We can assign extensions associations right inside MMF2.
Any DLL files needed for anything we use, can be sitting right beside the EXE file and work fine.
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There should be a sign when uploading, "Please refrain from using installers if at all possible". And then a little warning on the download page if it does. 
Edited by the Author.
