Hi Josh, Thanks for that thoughtfully worded post, and you are right. It is a catch 22 situation precisely because games like Raceway, for example, were supposed to be released so long ago that XP customers have as much of a legitimate claim as the guy who just purchased a brand new HP laptop with Windows 8 on it last week. Fortunately, we are looking into solutions that will hopefully support both platforms as best as we can without using APIs and libraries specific to one or the other.
For example, we are looking at dropping support for DirectSound sometime in the not to distant future. However, we will probably be switching to OpenAL which works on everything from Windows XP to Windows 8 equally as well, is not too expensive for us to use, and will be the best third-party solution for us long term. Point being there are solutions for these sorts of problems, but it will take us a bit of time to address them and find solutions that will hopefully work for everyone. We understand the situation our customers are in, and we just hope our customers realize that we are in a bit of a tight spot too, and will hopefully do what we can to please both parties without having to charge extra for upgrades. Its hard enough to get people to pay once for a game or piece of software let alone upgrades. Cheers! On 9/13/13, Draconis <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Charles and Tom, > > I think it's a catch 22, especially in the case of the remaining games > started by James North, since they were ordered so long ago. You're going to > have a sizable portion of customers who, through necessity or what have you, > have upgraded from XP, and those who have not. Both groups would have valid > arguments as to why their OS of choice should be supported without > additional cost. The games were originally offered for XP, so XP users would > demand support, but the games could have reasonably have been expected to be > delivered long before there were three more major versions of Windows > released, giving those who have upgraded a valid argument to be provided a > game that is tailored to the newer OS's. > > You're definitely one of the more reasonable users in terms of being willing > to pay for upgrades. ChangeReaction 2 has generated some complaints from > those upset that it was not a free upgrade, and from others who felt that, > if they bought the Mac or Windows version, they should be entitled to a free > version of the game for the other platform, too. And all of that after we > decided to offer it for $9.99. > > I don't envy Tom in the spot he's in. All of these problems, coupled with > the attitudes of some in the community, is why we neither take pre-orders, > nor offer details in advance of what we're working on. > > Speaking of which…I need to end this message here, so I can get back to > coding our next new title. It's coming out very nicely. *evil grin* > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
