Off to a bad start

Hi, I saw your game on the Jay Is Games blog and thought it looked worth a try, so I downloaded it. Unfortunately, it won't open on my computer. It just comes up with an error message saying it failed to initialise (it didn't even say why, so I don't know what the problem is).

On your site it says I need something called .net or mono, and not only do I not know what these are or do or how to use them (for all I know they could wreck my laptop), but I've never heard of either of these in my life. I'm not a hardcore techie or computer geek, I'm just an average girl/casual gamer who wants to try this computer game. I think you're making it really inaccessible to most people by not at least explaining what they need to do to play it (because most internet users aren't techies who know what you're talking about). It's really bad marketing for your game.

Anyway, I just thought I should let you know. If nobody can open your game without downloading all this other obscure software they know nothing about (that's a really huge deterrent, by the way - you'd be better off including it with the actual game in a zip file or something), or get past the technical jargon, there's pretty much no point to making it in the first place. You need to make it more user-friendly for your audience, or you will cut off more people like me who would otherwise have been willing to give it a chance.

PS: I've played one roguelike game before called ADOM, and it came with really clear instructions on what to do with errors, how to start it, and so on. It made it nice and simple, instead of needlessly confusing. You should really do something like that.

Fair enough. I'll look into writing some sort of guide on installing MageGuild.

I appreciate you taking the time to let me know about your problem, because if this happened to you, I'm sure it's happened to others, and I can't very well fix what I don't know about. I hope you'll give MageGuild another shot, and I'll be glad to do whatever I can to help you with the install process.

As to your specific issues: the .Net Framework is part of Windows itself. So, if you're on Windows, and you've let Windows download updates sometime in the last 2-3 years, you should be fine on that count.

If you're not on Windows, you need Mono. The installation is a little bit more complex for Mono, and varies by your specific operating system. This page is the starting point for getting Mono on your machine. I'm not sure how much help I can be on that count, because I'm really not very familiar with the process of installing Mono on anything but Windows.

The framework is probably the most likely cause, but it's always possible that you've got something else going on. If that doesn't help, please let me know.

Hi, i just wanted to let you know that i've experienced the same problem as iamaperson. If it matters, i'm running windows xp media center that came bundled with my just under two-year old hp desktop, and AFAIK it's been fully updated (i just installed the newest updates today). I plan on trying to use mono, but i thought you might to know that she wasn't the only one experiencing problems. If there's any more info i can give you that might help you figure out why this isn't working for me let me know.

P.S. I too ventured here from JayIsGames. Thought you might like to know where your traffic is coming from.

Yeah, I had a sneaking suspicion that something else might be going on. Is there now an "error.log" file in the directory where you unzipped MageGuild, by chance?

No, sorry, it doesn't look like any log files were created.

I get a pop-up ".net framework initialization error" that says i "must install one of the following versions of the .NET framework: v2.0.50727".

Hunh...interesting. What version does this page say you have installed? It should show up right under the ".NET Framework Test Code Starts here" line.

It says:

Azaleos software supports the Firefox browser but is unable to detect the .NET Framework version installed. If the application does not function, please install at least .NET Framework version 3.0.04506 by visiting the Microsoft web site. For further assistance contact Azaleos support at support@azaleos.com.

So i guess i'll try the microsoft website.

Ah, crap, it's using some sort of Internet Explorer-specific code to check for the .NET version. You might try that page again, in IE; I'll see if I can dig around to find another means of checking for you.

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On your site it says I need something called .net or mono, and not only do I not know what these are or do or how to use them (for all I know they could wreck my laptop), but I've never heard of either of these in my life.

.NET framework is required for various Windows application. No, I don't know why, they just need it. It is a Microsoft program, so it shouldn't hurt your computer any more than any other Microsoft program.

You only need Mono if you are running on Linux. You do know which OS you are using, right?

You should pay a little more attention to what the site says.

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I'm not a hardcore techie or computer geek, I'm just an average girl/casual gamer who wants to try this computer game. I think you're making it really inaccessible to most people by not at least explaining what they need to do to play it (because most internet users aren't techies who know what you're talking about). It's really bad marketing for your game.

It's hardly anything "technical".

Just google " 2.0 NET framework" and you'll get a download link from Microsoft. Download the file and install it. Hardly difficult.

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Anyway, I just thought I should let you know. If nobody can open your game without downloading all this other obscure software they know nothing about (that's a really huge deterrent, by the way - you'd be better off including it with the actual game in a zip file or something), or get past the technical jargon, there's pretty much no point to making it in the first place.

There is no "marketing" for Mageguild so much, because its not only a rougelike but a freeware. There is little point in marketing a game that you won't sell.

And downloading and running a file is by no means "technical jargon". Have you ever tried using Linux or even ye oldie DOS? Try that and you will get a better definition of "technical".

The fact is, that the game simply needs this program the same way that various commercial games need DirectX. The fact that a game requires you to download something is not excatly an unknown requirement.

Furthermore, allot of games required you to purchase graphics cards (opposed to just video cards) yet it still didn't stop the gaming industry. Downloading an application that other applications require is hardly unreasonable requirement.

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PS: I've played one roguelike game before called ADOM, and it came with really clear instructions on what to do with errors, how to start it, and so on. It made it nice and simple, instead of needlessly confusing.

Make a step-by-step guide for the obvious?