Streamlining the installation

There have been too many failure points for getting new users to sign up and play
1. They go to the website but don’t sign up for alpha
2. They sign up for alpha, but a spam filter blocks the email
3. They download the game, but don’t understand how to unzip the zip file
4. They install the game, but when prompted to install dependencies, they uncheck them, and later crash
5. They try to run the game, but don’t have an account, and don’t create one
6. They create an account, but don’t understand how to type it in (stupid but it happens!)
7. They try to connect, but fail, because the server is not online
8. They try to run the game, but crash, either because a dependency was not installed, or their video card is too old.

A significant chunk of my last week has been spent trying to address these issues

1. They go to the website but don’t sign up for alpha

I added a better screenshot and a little bit more information about the game. So the alpha signup rate went much higher.

2. They sign up for alpha, but a spam filter blocks the email

Gmail was doing this a lot. After experimenting we found GMail won’t block itself. So now I sent the alpha signup replies through GMail, although it is a hassle.

3. They download the game, but don’t understand how to unzip the zip file

During alpha there’s no way around this, since I password protect the file. In beta this will go away.

4. They install the game, but when prompted to install dependencies, they uncheck them, and later crash

I just changed the installer to be completely non-interactive.

5. They try to run the game, but don’t have an account, and don’t create one

I added an account creation link to the start menu. The autopatcher will also be changed to let you create an account through it. The game itself already had a button to create an account if the username and password are blank.

6. They create an account, but don’t understand how to type it in (stupid but it happens!)

I don’t know what to do about this. We already provide tooltips.

7. They try to connect, but fail, because the server is not online

I’m going to keep the server online more from now on. A lot of users are complaining about this. It’s alpha so they should expect the server to be offline in my opinion, but I understand it’s better retention rate to keep it online.

8. They try to run the game, but crash, either because a dependency was not installed, or their video card is too old.

I added a message prompt if you didn’t install PhysX, and fallback techniques so even though the game may look worse and some stuff is invisible, at least it should run.