Trial Object

Hello. My feature request is: A trial object, for create trial and shareware games.

For example: A 60 minutes trial game.

Thanks

Hmmm, sooo..., how much would you be willing to pay for said objects?

I wonder how an open source plugin that did this would work...

can't you just use a global object with a timer?

how would that persist through multiple plays?

You could do what most of those trial games do... add a registry entry that says the time is up.

update remaining time in the registry on application exit.

or you could make an ini file on the desktop, then keep track of minutes in it.

Be free, give it for free.

Trial is one of the shittiest things in our world.

P.S. ALso there is no protection that noone could hack

Not to mention A) Anyone with an ounce of computer knowledge could either 1) hack the .ini file easily 2) just delete it if its on the desktop wich even non computer users would end up doing.

B) Windows defender would probably pick up any attempt to modify the registry. So changing a key at the close of layout all the person would have to do is say no

you would be better off releasing a cut down .exe if you wanted to make a trial rather than implementing some kind of registry modifier.

Windows defender would probably pick up any attempt to modify the registry

I doubt it would since almost all applications modify the registry as a matter of routine. Bearing in mind almost any system you come up with can be cracked, I'd come up with some basic system that writes something to the registry, simply to prevent casual piracy where you can copy/paste files to someone else and it works.

I tried to play Subject 66 a few days ago and that writes a file to the hard drive and windows said no way. I had to run in administrator mode to get it to play I'm sure it would do the same thing for registry keys.

Just release a cut down version (delete a few layouts from it) as your trial version. No saving anything to the registry or modifying ini files and uncrackable on account of it not containing the rest of the files to begin with.

Then when they buy a full version off you, compile a customized copy of it just for them, along with their payment/address details displayed within the game intro and no anti-piracy protection (the pirates aren't going to crack something that doesn't need cracking.. no sport), and if Joe Bloggs tries passing around their paid for version to the rest of the public, all their private details are made public.

It's not perfect, but it's the least amount of messing around. Course the data protection act might have issues with you including their credit card details in it.. Just say you left a briefcase with their details on a train somewhere, always works for politicians.

I tried to play Subject 66 a few days ago and that writes a file to the hard drive and windows said no way. I had to run in administrator mode to get it to play I'm sure it would do the same thing for registry keys.

Vista and 7 allow the application access to certain parts of the registry and disk. For example, an application can write to temporary files without security privileges, but not your Windows directory.

If the application steps outside this boundary, Windows hits the user with a UAC prompt. You just have to know what you're allowed to do, and you can avoid it. It's fully documented on MSDN, Microsoft want everyone to know what these limitations are so applications are more secure.

Then when they buy a full version off you, compile a customized copy of it just for them

Try that when you're selling 10,000 copies.

> I tried to play Subject 66 a few days ago and that writes a file to the hard drive and windows said no way. I had to run in administrator mode to get it to play I'm sure it would do the same thing for registry keys.

>

Vista and 7 allow the application access to certain parts of the registry and disk. For example, an application can write to temporary files without security privileges, but not your Windows directory.

If the application steps outside this boundary, Windows hits the user with a UAC prompt. You just have to know what you're allowed to do, and you can avoid it. It's fully documented on MSDN, Microsoft want everyone to know what these limitations are so applications are more secure.

> Then when they buy a full version off you, compile a customized copy of it just for them

>

Try that when you're selling 10,000 copies.

Hey if I'm selling 10,000 copies of a game I made. I could afford to hire people to do it for me, lol.