[casual_games] Installer/Packagers

[Joe Pantuso]

We use a similar setup; SVN -> CCNet -> NAnt/MSBuild -> Custom Deployment

Before we switched to all custom stuff for deployment we used to use Wise.
This was mainly for legacy reasons.  Wise is a much more efficient (download
size) solution to stand-alone installers than InstallShield, and is easy to
incorporate into an automated build system.  It gets two thumbs up from me
but isn't cheap on an indie budget.

The other thing we looked at seriously for awhile is WiX; this is an
open-source collection of tools started by MS which simplifies automated
creation of MSI (Microsoft Installer) solutions. (Free)

The downside to both of these of course is they are Windows-centric, so if
you are doing cross-platform you'll need to look at something else, or
something in addition.

One other solution that looks good but I don't have personal experience with
is NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) which has the admirable
qualities of being free and creating small stand-alone installers.  No idea
as to its suitability for build automation though.

Good luck.
-J


On 5/12/06, Todd Scott <todd.scott at tormentedgames.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi,
>
> I am interested in what people are using to package/install their games?
>
> Specifically, I have a continuous build process setup using Perforce,
> CCNet and NAnt. Once a build completes successfully I would like a task to
> package up the executables and all necessary art into a .zip, .msi, etc.
> type of file that would become immediately available to beta testers.
>
> I could create a task that would simply create a .zip file, but I'm
> wondering if there is a better way....
>
> Thanks
>  Todd
>
>
>
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