XP Only, Non Vista Games

[2dnoob]

My dev tools currently do not work under Vista and I do not want to invest any further on my old technology to make them work, so I'll be using newer dev tools for Vista dev, in the mean time, how long do you think an XP only game will still have a market?

[Nexic]

2 years before Vista becomes mainstream is my guess. I would try to make the switch ASAP, the longer you leave it the worse it will be.

[Sybixsus]

My dev tools currently do not work under Vista and I do not want to invest any further on my old technology to make them work, so I'll be using newer dev tools for Vista dev, in the mean time, how long do you think an XP only game will still have a market?

That's a little bit of a "how long is a piece of string?" question. If it's a casual game, none. The big portals want Vista-ready games now, because casual gamers are going to be trying Vista out on every new Dell, HP, etc whether they ( and we ) like it or not.

With a niche game, which you're selling ( at least ) predominantly from your own site, it's likely to be much less of an issue, and you'll have a decent market for a couple of years.

Would you mind sharing your dev tools and the problems they have with Vista? As well as keeping others informed, perhaps there are workarounds or solutions which can help you out.

[Pi Eye Games]

My dev tools currently do not work under Vista
I installed .NET the other day on Vista and got a 'This program has known compatibility issues' dialog :(

I think I'm going to be developing using XP for quite a while to come as I don't want to purchase new versions of all my dev software ... but I'll still be developing Vista compatible games (I love that Vista means everyone will get a half decent Video card btw :) ).

By 'dev tools' do you mean an engine you are using that isn't Vista compatible for some reason, otherwise you should be able to get your current work Vista compatible ... it's mostly just a few storage location tweaks.

[Sybixsus]

(I love that Vista means everyone will get a half decent Video card btw :) ).

Sorry to go slightly OT, but why does it mean that? Surely Home Basic is the one that's coming pre-installed on most machines? And that doesn't feature Aero, does it?

[Greg Miller]

Sorry to go slightly OT, but why does it mean that? Surely Home Basic is the one that's coming pre-installed on most machines? And that doesn't feature Aero, does it?

My understanding, prior to the launch, was that OEMs were expected to ship Home Premium on the bulk of their systems.

[Sybixsus]

My understanding, prior to the launch, was that OEMs were expected to ship Home Premium on the bulk of their systems.
Ah. Then indeed that would be nice.

[Pi Eye Games]

Sorry to go slightly OT, but why does it mean that?
I'm sorry too, my fault :p ... I just bought a Vista system, 90% of the machines I saw had Premium and the 10% that had Basic actually had the same video cards! ... Happy days :)

[Greg Miller]

I'm sorry too, my fault :p ... I just bought a Vista system, 90% of the machines I saw had Premium and the 10% that had Basic actually had the same video cards! ... Happy days :)

I just did a little further research on Wikipedia, and it appears that Home Basic defaults to a "Windows Vista Standard" interface that has roughly the same hardware requirements as Aero, although it also supports a "Windows Vista Basic" interface with smaller requirements. There's also a "Windows Classic" interface that imitates Win2k.

Wow, MS really made this confusing.

[Pi Eye Games]

Wow, MS really made this confusing.
Yeah, what made me laugh was the big 'upgrade' button where you can upgrade your version of Vista if you realize you bought the wrong version, I'm guessing you purchase these upgrades directly from Microsoft =D

As for XP only games (trying to get back on subject ;) ), Sybixsus said it all, if you want your game on the portals I think it's going to have to be Vista compatible. For your own site (and probably most affiliate sites for a good while) you'll be alright with XP only ... but I still think the difference between Vista compatible and non-compatible is too small to write off your old games/tech?

[woo]

I installed .NET the other day on Vista and got a 'This program has known compatibility issues' dialog :(


Not to go off topic but...

It's, um, already... uh.. installed on Vista. Do you mean the SDK? What version were you trying to install?

In terms of being on topic: We're moving to Vista first and asking questions later.

-Andrew Douglas
http://theoreticalgames.com

[James C. Smith]

My dev tools currently do not work under Vista and I do not want to invest any further on my old technology to make them work, so I'll be using newer dev tools for Vista dev, in the mean time, how long do you think an XP only game will still have a market?

How is this possible? What tool is that that doesn't work in Vista? Does running it in XP Compatibility mode help or running as an admin?

It is the authoring tool that doesn't work in Vista or the game created by the tool or both?

[Pi Eye Games]

It's, um, already... uh.. installed on Vista. Do you mean the SDK? What version were you trying to install?
Sorry, I meant Visual Studio .Net ... I have a friend who's used it and it seems okay for him, I guess there'll be (or is) a patch to get rid of the warning. I need to get round to trying Vista out more ... I might not need XP on my next dev PC after all.

My dev tools currently do not work under Vista and I do not want to invest any further on my old technology to make them work
It would be good to hear what dev tools 2dnoob is talking about :)